Defender Puma 130 Head Gasket, Head & Turbo Failure

**clive22** · 20th September 2019, 04:21 PM

Hi All

Gotta say I am pretty miffed at the whole defender experience.
I have a 2012 Defender 130, dual cab. 88,000 kms on the clock.
Had 4 weeks long service leave booked, 3 days in the engine over heated.
It was towed to Dubbo Land Rover, a faulty thermostat was diagnosed & replaced.

It was using a fair amount of fuel 15 Litres/100km @ a steady 100 km/hr loaded but not too much <600kg estimated.
It was alos using a bit of oil over 1 litre a 1000 km.

Busted Landy.jpg

Continued on our way overheated again. 3 hours drive in.
Pulled the pin and drove it back to Melbourne slowly watching the temp all the way. Using BAS phone app guage, dash gauge is too normalized.
Still overheated a couple of times. I know wrong thing to do. But I would have had to pay for a tow, accommodation and regional air fares
and transfers, so it was a gamble as to further damage. We had been sitting around in hotels for a week and everyone wanted to go home by now.

Anyway it is back at the mechanics and the head and been removed and it has been hardness tested and is below the minimum parameter so need a new head, the turbo is also stuffed
with a lot of axial play in the shaft & oil leaks.

I was running a BAS 170 tune. But I am pretty gentle with it.

It been overheated twice before a faulty leaking OE radiator and again with an leaky oil cooler. Warranty both times.

I have authorized the mechanic to get the thing all fixed as the vehicle is very useful to us.

Am I just unlucky? Is the earlier overheating episodes a major contributor to the the cause this time?
Do the turbo's fail much on these?
I thought the motors in these where reasonably reliable, but a few failures but not excessive amounts?

I want to keep it as it is set up for us, but these failures are difficult to tolerate.

Clive

**1nando** · 20th September 2019, 05:27 PM

The 2.4 does seem to be a little more susceptible to cooling and head issues compared to the 2.2 going by reports.

What's it costing to fix?

**clive22** · 20th September 2019, 08:14 PM

Somewhere around 11k as an early estimate

**1nando** · 20th September 2019, 08:27 PM

Originally Posted by clive22

Somewhere around 11k as an early estimate

Mate I had a alive tune and a mountain of mods. I believe that running a tune you need to free up exhaust flow. It helps keep egts under control and let's the motor breath easier. My theory is that running hotter egts over time is what has probably caused the head gasket to go on your vehicle and some others that are pushed hard when in standard tune.

If you get a minute read through this: Puma 2.2 Egt's

It's a lot of decent info and money spent to get that information and back it up with factual numbers (and the egt gauge set up is in the most accurate location; upstream of turbo), so the numbers are as accurate as can be!

**alien** · 20th September 2019, 08:35 PM

Originally Posted by 1nando

Mate I had a alive tune and a mountain of mods. I believe that running a tune you need to free up exhaust flow. It helps keep egts under control and let's the motor breath easier. My theory is that running hotter egts over time is what has probably caused the head gasket to go on your vehicle and some others that are pushed hard when in standard tune.

If you get a minute read through this: Puma 2.2 Egt's

It's a lot of decent info and money spent to get that information and back it up with factual numbers (and the egt gauge set up in the most accurate location; upstream of turbo), so the numbers are as accurate as can be!

Any chance of a link that doesn’t require tapatalk?

**1nando** · 20th September 2019, 08:40 PM

Originally Posted by alien

Any chance of a link that doesn’t require tapatalk?

Puma 2.2 Egt's

Hopefully this works.

**alien** · 20th September 2019, 08:46 PM

Originally Posted by 1nando

Puma 2.2 Egt's

Hopefully this works.

Link works, time for a read. Thank you.

**Tins** · 20th September 2019, 08:58 PM

Originally Posted by clive22

Somewhere around 11k as an early estimate

11k? Have a chat with Glenn ( Grinna1965 ). He puts the Ranger 3.2 into Puma Deefers. Of course it won't be cheaper, but it might be better. Worth a look.

3.2L Ford Ranger Engine in a Land Rover Defender!!!!!! - YouTube

**Robmacca** · 21st September 2019, 06:47 AM

Originally Posted by 1nando

The 2.4 does seem to be a little more susceptible to cooling and head issues compared to the 2.2 going by reports.

What's it costing to fix?

being a 2012 model isn't that more likely to the be the 2.2 and not the 2.4?

**clive22** · 21st September 2019, 06:47 AM

It’s the 2.2. Early one

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