Thread: 300td head gasket failure - with photos

Nope, i havent overheated it so obviously the previous owner didnt want to deal with its issues....damn them.

How do you tell if the head has been machined before?

i have just taken a few more photos of the bores and i dont think they are as bad as the first set of photos make out - ill get a second opinion from a mechanic.

Worst case is i have to part out the car and it came with a few extras so shouldnt be hard to make my money back...Safari snorkel, ARB bar, side steps, dual batt, Rancho shocks, auto box (drives fine) etc.







And yes i have since removed the coolant from the bores and coated everything in a smear of oil.

Bit of an update - pulled the pistons and the skirts and ringlands are fine, there arent any signs of the piston seizing which is good.

The head had no cracks in it, but it had a hardness of ~55 in one spot on the exhaust side of the head with an average of 70ish. so i couldnt get it machined.

Soooo, I have bought a heap of stuff from Turners Engineering in the UK. I have just ordered a new head, and gaskets etc plus new rings and a few extras(piston rings, conrod bearing and thermostat). hopefully they arrive soon!

Now the only job is to clean up the bores and then start searching for the reason the engine overheated in the first place!

thanks to everyone for the help and advice on Turners.
Cheers, Steve