Plastic dowels in TD5 cylinder head

I have just had a £2200 bill for replacing the cylinder head on my TD5. The gasket failed because of plastic locating dowels in the cylinder head distorting, causing the head to move, scoring the head itself. As the head cannot be skimmed .... I needed a new head. Why the hell they ever used PLASTIC dowels is beyond me ... you'd think they would distort. Oh sorry - they DID distort. My insurance company has refused to pay because this. Does any one else know of this happening?

Yes its quite common especially on early vehicles, why plastic? Well, with the high torque of the head bolts you wouldn't think the head would move and I'm suprised it does, the dowels are there to locate the head to aid fitting and at the time during production it seemed a sensible and cheap way to do it.
Only vehicles above 50,000 miles are likely to fail, steel dowels are now available.

Sounds like the old rover k series engine classic all over again!

wreckhunter said:

Sounds like the old rover k series engine classic all over again!

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Its nowhere near as bad as the k series and nowhere near as many will fail, at least with this, once the steel dowels are in it'll never fail again, unlike the k series which is guaranteed to fail again cos it's ****.

keith simmonds said:

I have just had a £2200 bill for replacing the cylinder head on my TD5. The gasket failed because of plastic locating dowels in the cylinder head distorting, causing the head to move, scoring the head itself. As the head cannot be skimmed .... I needed a new head. Why the hell they ever used PLASTIC dowels is beyond me ... you'd think they would distort. Oh sorry - they DID distort. My insurance company has refused to pay because this. Does any one else know of this happening?

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Crap - of course the head can be skimmed,LR said TDI heads couldnt be skimmed either,but they are and it works.Drag it out of the main dealer and get it to someone who will do it.(Do you think the main dealer chucks your old head in the skip ? )

I Agree Its Total Crap,i Have Had All Td5 Head Jobs Skimmed With No Problems.
Skim And Pressure Test,set Of Bolts,head Gasket(thickest One),new Injector Seals.
Run Great With No Problems.

In the olden days we used to lap alloy heads flat on a great big glass plate, using grinding paste.The glass was inches thick, and supposed to be absolutely dead flat. This process removed only a tiny amount of metal from the head, and it was easy to see when it was as flat as the glass plate.

Hillman Imp heads were a favourite, and our Coventry-Climax engines sometimes needed done if they over-heated.

There would be NO reason why this would not be a good fix for a slightly warped TD5 head.

CharlesY

wreckhunter said:

Sounds like the old rover k series engine classic all over again!

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I did a HG on a K series earlier this year, it had been fitted with plastic dowels (now replaced with SS) they were so loose in the inserts into the block, no wonder the head moved about.