Bloody marvellous!

[Frenchie]

Took the Defender in for its 140,000km service today. You may recall that I had a strange glitch with the temperature gauge on a recent trip, which between us we decided was mild overheating. Hosed out the radiator (externally) and had no more problems, temp gauge has been reading normal, just below half, however the thermo fan has been running more than normal.

And so, blown head gasket. :evil:

Now what really gets me, is that apart from an intermittent glitch under heavy load (100kmh towing camper trailer, hot day), there was no indication that anything was wrong. I had the vehicle, including cooling system checked over before the trip, and otherwise it has behaved normally.

So what use is the temp guage. None at all!

:evil: :evil: :evil:


Lease is up at the end of the year. Perhaps I should be turning Japanese. :evil:

[Lucy]

It is bloody marvellous, blown head gasket and she still kept going, and going, and going. If it had been japanese, it probably would have stopped somewhere inconvenient.

The temperature gauge only indicates temperature, yours may not have overheated (there are other causes of, and results from, head gasket failure other than overheating) . And also, just cause the gasket went, doesn't mean you were losing coolant.

In otherwords, your cooling system worked properly, you may not have cooked you engine, and you should thank the deity of your choice that you drive a landrover :wink:

[Frenchie]

Lucy, I really really hope that you are right, because I have an aftermarket warranty, which specifically excludes problems caused by overheating.

If they can show that overheating wasn't the cause it won't cost me. :?

[seqfisho]

Originally posted by Frenchie
Lucy, I really really hope that you are right, because I have an aftermarket warranty, which specifically excludes problems caused by overheating.

If they can show that overheating wasn't the cause it won't cost me. :?


Hard to tell what came first, the chicken or the egg :roll: :evil:

[loanrangie]

My wifes Telstar just blew a head gasket and it only overheated when the top rad hose burst, otherwise it ran as normal - $1100 later :evil: its like a new car now https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

[Frenchie]

Originally posted by loanrangie
My wifes Telstar just blew a head gasket and it only overheated when the top rad hose burst, otherwise it ran as normal - $1100 later :evil: its like a new car now https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

Jeez I'll be happy if $1100 is all this costs me. Somehow I don't think so. :evil:

[stevo]

If they say it was from overheating how do you prove it was'nt I'm not a big fan of these after market warranty deals where you have to get the car serviced by a certain garage or at the main stealer just away to keep customers.

Hope you have a win and ask for proof if they say it was overheated

[LandyAndy]

Hi Frenchie
Not good news mate.
Im not sure about the Landy computer but most do record any"gliches".
You should be able to get the computer read,if its been overheated the computer should have stored the info.If it shows overheating get it wiped and then you can claim on the warranty,tell them to get the computer read as evidence there is no overheating.
Best of luck
Andrew

[Frenchie]

Went to visit the poor girl in "hospital" yesterday. Doesn't appear to be any real damage, the head was just being sent off to be faced. There is no evidence of overheating, no real way of telling why it happened, except that according to the mechanic, "they all do it" around 150,000km, similar to the 300 Tdi. :evil:

So I'm going to try claiming on the warranty and see what happens.

[Frenchie]

All fixed.

Cost $2800 all up, which included the 140,000km service (which would have been around $1k), so not really too bad considering. I was bracing myself for a bigger bill. https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

Of course the warranty doesn't cover head gaskets. Not really surprising. I'm not a fan of these warranties either in general but it's only effectively costing me $300 a year and the first year paid for itself when I needed a new wheel sensor.

Now I need another mud trip to make me like it again! https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

[Sequel]

Hopefully mine hasn't done the same.

Noticed the thermo fan staying on after the ignition is switched off recently, and didn't think much of it (maybe my first mistake, but I have been very busy and only bought the car recently and so put it down to something I was only just noticing).

The other night was a little down on power, thought it might just be a glitch, as 5 mins down the road the accel pedal "switch off" (dont you love fly by wire). Sitting at an intersection with Mrs Sequel behind the wheel, and there is no response from the accel, press it to the floor and back a couple of times and just idle through the stop sign (very lucky there was no traffic!). Ignition off/on and everything is back to normal and has been since.

Yesterday I was behind the wheel, noticed it down on power - I was having to use so much throttle that it was droping down gears where it normally doesn't, and after 5 mins of driving I noticed the temp gauge was at 3/4 (normally sits spot on half). That was the first definate sign (as in not just wondering "is it down on power or is it just me?). Pulled straight over to see that the water level was down, the second sign.

Can anybody give me a positve spin on these problems or am I up for a new head gasket? Any recomendations for someone to do the head gasket in Brisbane (I live southside, 10 mins out of the city, so dont fancy a trip to Redcliff with a blown head gasket).

[spudboy]

Sequel: this is how they diagnosed mine:

- Open Header tank (not if hot though - scalding warning etc etc)
- Start engine and watch for bubbles in header tank, or big splots of air suddenly letting loose and sending coolant overflowing.

Also - mine would hiss after the engine got hot, and if you (carefully) released the header tank cap, you would get kettle boiling sounds coming from deep within the engine, which I presumed was fresh coolant hitting a hot-spot with the release of pressure.

Also also - in the weeks before it really went, there was a sloshing sound coming from under the dash which was probably air working its way through the heater matrix.

[amtravic1]

If I was you I would fit a proper auxillary guage such as vdo, autometer etc. My Rangie guage never showed the temp getting anywhere near hot but under the bonnet you could tell there was signs of heat stress, such as hoses failing too soon, oil weeping from gasgets etc. I fitted an aftermarket guage and found my thermostat was not opening until 120dgrees then it would rapidly drop to 90. After I removed the twin falcon thermo fans and put the standard fan and shroud back on the temp now sits on just over 80 with no more problems. Changed the thermostat and no more problems on warm up either.

Ian

[stevo]

just did my head gasket in the weekend,I fitted one of those black boxes awhile ago this gave me an early warning that I had a problem when the low water alarm came on

[Sequel]

Ater I first noticed the temperature, (and then the low water level), I filled it back up and ran without the cap, and it didn't bubble that I could see and didn't blow water everywhere. On the negative side, I have noticed a sloshing sound under the dash, but that has been happening for a while, and I just thought it was normal.

It is sounding more and more like it will be a blown gasket, but not a bad one (if there is such a thing). Now all I need is someone to fix it. I have a nice double garage you can use Stevo if you are not busy next weekend and are looking for something to do?

[ak]

This sloshing sound under the dash. Can any one tell me when you would be able to hear it. Like at idle at lights only or all the time?

[spudboy]

Mine was when the revs were up, not at idle.

You could especially hear it between gear changes from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd, or if you held the engine revved for a few seconds, and then backed off (sloshing when backing off).
HTH