The Banana. 300tdi soft-dash.

Head/HG on a TDI is one of those issue that can vary greatly in degree of damage.

Using coolant, overheating, over pressurising cooling system (dumping coolant out cap), bubbles in expansion tank and air lock at thermostat housing are all symptoms that will be obvious in a bad case.

At the other end of the scale - let's call it a slightly leaking HG - you might not see any of these symptoms unless the engine is run up to temperature and driven under load.

I would start by running engine while standing in engine bay at expansion tank with the cap off. Rev the engine by hand (can reach throttle cable while standing at expansion tank) and see if air bubbles appear.

If that seems good, you might need some load on the engine. The problem with this is you need to track engine temp, only the factory gauge is rubbish and won't show any movement from the half way point until you are almost certainly dumping coolant out the expansion tank cap from overheating or over pressurisation. :o

Thanks. No bubbles so far, I had it running for quite a while doing a coolant flush before anti-freeze a few days ago. I was wondering about the coolant reservoir vs thermostat housing. But the Tstat housing isn't one I want to have open while I run and rev it.
I've had Nissan and even Isuzu head gasket issues before and so far this one hiding from me.

I found the reason for the body rumble. None of the body mounts are assembled properly. Only the rear two had bolts through and they're not right either. I did the fronts the other day and wondered why it was soo hard to line them up..:eek:

yeah I've never tried running with thermostat housing bung out, but I'm guessing a green fountain would occur.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dougal

So, is there anyone with experience of a cracked/blown head/gasket on a 300tdi who can help with the symptoms?

So far the cooling system is holding fine, but it's only tootled around the patch of dirt I live on. Do they normally spit when warm, just spit under load or something different?

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1st time blew big time between 2/3 and engine would not even run.

2nd time slight pressurising of coolant - had it towed to save new head.

I had an industrious day today with some excellent results.

The cause of the rumbling and vibrating body was a block of wood wedged between the body and transfer-case. Huge improvement removing that and sorting out all 10 body mounts. None of those were done right. It's a great warm fuzzy feeling knowing your body won't part company under heavy braking.

Speaking of braking, that was a surprise. I took it for a spin on the wet grass once the body mounts were all sorted, got it up to 70km/h and the bloody thing didn't want to stop.:o
A first round of bleeding has helped heaps, it took a lot of wire-brush work to uncover all the bleed nipples. She has seen some mud, the vented rotors are now just mud carriers.

The head gasket is clearly leaking. Nothing showing under light load, but put it on full boost and the bubbles collect fast in the cooling system. Speaking of full boost, looks like someone has been twisting screws on the pump. Clouds of black smoke under full throttle, but only at full boost. Clearly they didn't have the full set of instructions, which should make it easier to put it right. At idle I have what appears to be steam out the exhaust.
Excellent.

Hopefully the head isnt cracked, i had similar symptoms of no coolant leaks but pressurized cooling system.
Gasket was fine when i took head off.

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Originally Posted by loanrangie

Hopefully the head isnt cracked, i had similar symptoms of no coolant leaks but pressurized cooling system.
Gasket was fine when i took head off.

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I bought it on the assumption that the head was buggered, so anything else is a bonus. The turned up pump and black smoke makes it almost a certainty. No egt gauges on this vehicle.

For those of you who know the body-lift kit that was probably fitted to this vehicle. Why did they bother lifting the radiator?

The lower radiator mounts are on the chassis. The engine stays with the chassis and lifting the radiator just put the shroud and fan out of line so both were butchered.
If the radiator wasn't lifted only the top brackets would need stepped down (easy), the gap filled and everything else would be good.
:confused:

I saw this disco in town yesterday. I think it might be the one that got all the off-road parts off my banana.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...1&d=1404953095

V8 disco. Tick.
Body lift and spring lift. Tick.
Flares matching the holes in my panels. Tick.
Aftermarket wheels and tyres. Tick.
Aftermarket bumper requiring panel trim when fitted to a rangie. Tick.

Interestingly no radiator lift on this one. You can see the frame sitting down on the chassis mounts.
It's only got 33" Nankang Mudstars. Lift seems overkill for that.

33's might only be the church tyres with a set of play wheels and tyres at home to keep things slightly more legal? looks like a bit of a weapon though :):):)