300 Tdi manifold gasket repair

[Epsom]

Hi there, Not proposing to do this repair myself, but just hoping for some feedback please to keep our newly located country mechanic honest.
The vehicle is sounding each day more like a very unwell VW beetle.
Roughly how many hours work would this job devour? And approx how much for the gasket? His quote was "approx. $300". Thanks guys.

[justinc]

Also would pay to check the rear of the head at number 4 cyl for a head gasket gas leak. This will make a ticking type of noise like a blown exhaust gasket, and you may also notice some black soot etc on the air intake pipe from the air filter to the turbo intake around the back of the head... IME the actual exhaust gasket on these is pretty good and unusual to blow unless a few studs are actually missing.
Hope its only the exhaust gasket though, on a 300Tdi the gasket is between 25 and 35 $ (Get the best quality one, Elring is OE) and it should take a max of 2 hours because sometimes the studs are a bit of a pain if they all come out when undoing them, you'll need to remove the locknuts and reinsert them in the head before refitting it all.

JC

[Epsom]

That's a really informative post Justin, thanks so much. I'll probably just hand it to the mechanic to give him a lead on this. Pardon my ignorance....IME? (know I'm going to regret asking that! cheers EG. :)

[justinc]

That's a really informative post Justin, thanks so much. I'll probably just hand it to the mechanic to give him a lead on this. Pardon my ignorance....IME? (know I'm going to regret asking that! cheers EG. :)

IME = In My experience :D

The head gasket leak out the back of number 4 cylinder has been the result of so called manifold leaks before...unfortunately. The best thing is it is easy to ID when looking closely at the back of the head where it meets the block in a Defender, a Disco is harder to see.
Also, the advantage (If you could call it that:o) of having a head gasket failure there, is that it didn't blow somewhere else and cause a serious problem.
Heres hoping its only the exhaust manifold:)


JC

[Epsom]

Ah, yes, of course that's what it means. Thanks again Justin, I'll pass all that on. As you say here's hoping it's only the manifold gasket. cheers Epsom.

[discomuzz]

...This will make a ticking type of noise like a blown exhaust gasket...JC

JC. Any way of confirming head gasket vs. exhaust gasket without dis-assembly (suspect head gasket 'by ear')?

Your explanation re. 'the noise' I have fits perfectly.

Also, should I, as a matter of course, replace any thing else
while rebuilding (eg. injector seals, etc.)?

Thanks

[harry]

search is your friend pedro the swift keeps telling me,
thanks for the posts here.
got home tonight and found a serious blow out of the manifold gasket at no. 1 cylinder, shooting hot exhaust over the coolant hoses and towards the bonnet, also melting some wiring.
i will get a new gasket from Ricks 4wd in Nerang and attack it.
one of the hoses is the strange land rover hose with the tee piece, i would like to meet the land rover designer that thought up these stupid hoses, it wouldn't be an 'off the shelf' item at the servo in geralton i bet.
luckily i am not there.

[Michael2]

...one of the hoses is the strange land rover hose with the tee piece, i would like to meet the land rover designer that thought up these stupid hoses, it wouldn't be an 'off the shelf' item at the servo in geralton i bet.
luckily i am not there.

You could get the expedition version of the hose. I Googled images for the p/n and found a pic here : Defender Bottom Hose 300tdi PCH119060 (http://shop.defenderbits.co.uk/defender-bottom-hose-300tdi----pch119060-223-p.asp)

I've posted this link for the pic, not to promote the vendor.