TD5 - Does this sound like 1 problem 2, or 3??????

[Yorkshire_Jon]

Guys,
TD5 110

Had a look under the bonnet this afternoon, trying to track down an oil leak.

Problem #1
The Passenger side of the sump is all wet (the vertical bit, not the bottom). The bottom of the block also looks wet with oil and theres a bit of oil staining around the block where the feed / return (?) to the turbo screws into the block.

Problem #2
I then looked a bit further up the engine and spotted soot right along the very back edge of the head, to the back end of the exhaust manifold.

Problem #3
On long trips Ive noticed the coolant expansion tank blowing a little water over the cap and the coolant staining on the outside of the tank.


To put some sort of perspective on this, the car has done approx 13,000km in the last 7 weeks and has lost about 10-15mm of water from the expansion tank (it was slightly above the fill mark when I set off 7 weeks ago. As far as oil is concerned, it was full, its now about half full.

For the last 4 years Ive never had to touch water or oil in between services, even then it never used to us any of either.

So, the question - Does it sound like 1, 2, or 3 problems?

Im leaning towards at least 2 (manifold stud / exhaust manifold gasket leak) and some sort of a problem (Head gasket???) for the oil and water.

Oil appears free of water and water free of oil.

The car has now done about 75,000km.

Thoughts and opinions please.

Thx
Jon

[Blknight.aus]

1. possibley the rocker cover gasket or the cam plug at the back of the block is leaking, they do that, its a landrover thing.

2. broken exhaust stud or loose stud bolts, may also be the turbo flange joint bolt at the back.

3. if you're lucky its a failing expansion cap, if not thats the start of the head gasket.

[Psimpson7]

Hi Jon,

I agree with Dave,

1. Could also be the oil return pipe, or a loose oil filter?

2. is almost bound to be the exhast manifold gasket / stud

3. Thats what mine did. Has it ever been overheated atall? As Dave said, change the cap to start with. All TD5 defenders I have seen run about 15mm under the full mark, but if its doing something it hasnt done before and the cap doesnt stop it, I reckon you could be looking at the head gasket.

good luck.

[strangy]

x 3

cheers

[Yorkshire_Jon]

Thanks guys. You have pretty much confirmed what I was already thinking!

Its a new rocker gasket (about 12 weeks ago) cos it had started to weep on the other side towards the back. Will check the cam plug though.

Will need to do a bit more in depth looking at the weekend.

How many expansion tank caps fail over here? I think Ive had 3 defenders now (all tdi's) over the years when Ive replaced the cap in the hope it would be a cure, it never has been!!

Pete, its never overheated or come anywhere close to it (according to the temp gauge). Once upto temp it always sits just below half or so.


Thx
J

[Blknight.aus]

my average time to failure on the newer caps is about 36 months,

on a tdi I replace it at the same time as doing the timing belt, I havent yet worked out a service interval for a TD5 that has you replacing another part on the mean failure time of the cap.

I always replace it and the tank when I do the hoses, which is every 5 years

[George130]

I don't know about the cap but when I bought mine they had fitted a low pressure cap to hide the engine issues.

[Yorkshire_Jon]

Firstly, thanks for all input to date.

Finally got around to removing the engine cover to get a good look today.

As you can see from the photo, bottom rear nut to manifold is missing, the stud also feels sort of loose. I can rotate it but not more than probably half a mm each way - Im 99% certain that its sheared and is hanging on by a wing and a prayer:(

Any thoughts, or have the photos just confirmed peoples previous experiences?

Re the fix:
Ive read about grinding out the webbing on the manifold and drilling the manifold holes out to 10mm.

Surly a 10mm hole in the manifold at the offending stud would allow for that little bit of movement and thus solve the problem?

The cause???
The TD5 is remapped, about 30%-40% extra torque and has a large intercooler with EGR missing, it also has a BAS boost box.

Is this the result of excessive prolonged EGT's? It was fine when the car was in the UK. Im wondering if the higher ambient's and long drives on cruise (uphills etc) would raise the EGT and cause the problem?

If so, time for a Madman EMS me thinks!

Thanks
Jon

[Yorkshire_Jon]

Previos post forgot to add the pictures! doh!

http://www.ventureoverland.com/~pub/DSC05431.jpg

http://www.ventureoverland.com/~pub/DSC05432.jpg