Major Prob's after a Major service!!

First up I am a diesel mechanic with a long time in the trade.
I just love threads like this..
It is easy to blame the service mechanic first up.
You will find the mechanic who did the service put the thicker oil in because the motor had blow by and high Ks?(trying to do the right thing ?)
Cracked head,valves, rings..............a ticking time bomb.
A cracked head can cause so many different problems and different effects.
One problem will hide another.
DO NOT BLAME THE MECHANIC !
All mechanics do their best to help.
If you blame any one blame the Landrover engineers
Us mechanics must work with what is placed in front of us.
Give me a Jap diesel with push rod and cast iron head any day.
The thing is it is getting harder every day as engines high tec electronic controls, cheaper components used to cut manufacturing costs in this throw away world, plastics, alloy heads, and a mass of cheap rubber cooling and vacuum hoses just waiting to fail or go hard.
Just touch one of these hoses doing a service and crack it without realising it can lead to a problem( mechanics fault again)
TDI 300 1970s tech..........dont think so !
The TDI 300 was cuuting edge when introduced in the early 1990s and I remember no could believe how such a small motor could pull around so much weight.
I am glad it is fixed.
It is so easy to blame and judge especially from a key board and not from a spanner over a hot motor trying to sort out a manufacturers short comings and owners expections /
Ron

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by incisor

there is no test that will tell you that 100%, unfortunately, with the other problems that the motor has / had at the time . some things you just have to work your way thru.

---

urmmmm yes there is...

its called a flat deck leak down test or a pressure test.

it works the same way as a pressure test on a head thats not on an engine works its done by professional old school engine builders.

While I agree that picking shot rings/bores/pistons would have been made more difficult by the cracking on the head and all the other problems I just cant buy that there were no other signs of trouble, metal bits in the drained oil or in the filter and scoring/damage to the bores for starters.

In the mechanics defense all of those things you have to be looking for to find and if he found the head damage first and didn't have access to all of the old school engine building info or tools he could have easily concluded that he had the problem nailed. All the symptoms are the same for failure on both sides of the combustion chamber on a TDI.

It really falls into the chicken or the egg problem of a head/gasket failure. Did the motor die because the head/gasket was shot or did something else fail and take out the head/gasket?

Currently I am a workshop and mobile field repair mechanic.
It usually goes something like this.
Phone rings.........your mechanic has recently serviced the vehicle and it has broken down.
Can you come and fix it straight away as we are in the poo with out It.
You arrive on site and it gets repeated to you it was serviced by you recently.
Looking at the service records at work before you left tells you no one has touched the thing in Six months.
You tell the customer this and they shut up.
You walk over and do a few checks with someone looking over your shoulder trying to suggest what is wrong with it instead of helpful information or facts on how the problem developed.
You find some has accidently knocked the dual fuel switch to the off middle position.
You switch it over to its normal fuel and jump start it and hope the old battery has not chucked the towel in after being cranked over until it has nothing left in it or you will be blamed for stuffing the battery too.
It starts and runs .
You do a call out invoice and they thank you .
NO apology for a round about way of being accused of causing the problem.
You point out before you leave that the air cleaner is totally blocked and should be replaced,,,,,,,,knowing full well nothing will be done until the thing doesn't go again.

A leak down test is helpful.
But how any people can cover the cost of having a adaptor for a TDI 300.
Would the customer understand if you charge them time to made one to fit the preheat hole in the head ?
The leak down may or may not show a cracked head ?
All bases are not completely covered.
The thing I am getting at nothing is black and white and it is so easy to judge.
I am not saying people do not stuff up.
People mostly do not want to stuff up.
People find it very easy to come conclusions and the whole story by all parties may never be fully understood.
Just look at the way our court system works.
It is very hard the change the way people work too.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 101 Ron

A leak down test is helpful.
But how any people can cover the cost of having a adaptor for a TDI 300.
Would the customer understand if you charge them time to made one to fit the preheat hole in the head ?
The leak down may or may not show a cracked head ?
All bases are not completely covered.
The thing I am getting at nothing is black and white and it is so easy to judge.
I am not saying people do not stuff up.
People mostly do not want to stuff up.
People find it very easy to come conclusions and the whole story by all parties may never be fully understood.
Just look at the way our court system works.
It is very hard the change the way people work too.

---

Agreed Ron. I am a part time amateur mechanic with basic skills. However I suspect the more complex repairs are a little like the tricky electronics faults I used to repair.

Much easier to diagnose the probable cause after it is all fixed. :wasntme: I also agree with you that the vast majority of people are trying to do the right thing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 101 Ron

A leak down test is helpful.
But how any people can cover the cost of having a adaptor for a TDI 300.
Would the customer understand if you charge them time to made one to fit the preheat hole in the head ?
The leak down may or may not show a cracked head ?

---

urm you do have a generic diesel compression tester kit dont you? the fitting in that fits the glow plug hole for doing your leakdown test.

no a leak down test may not show a cracked head and I can guarantee that a flat deck leak down test wouldnt as thats done on the block only and is simply a flat metal plate that gets bolted on over the top of the block (after the head is removed) sandwiching a sheet of rubber as a gasket over each cylinder in turn allowing a measure of oil to be pressurised in the bore above he piston via an air fitting in the plate. by locking the crank in various positions as the pressure is applied the sealing condition of the bore and rings can be approximated.

I treat everyone on this site as friends and we could go on for hours for what ifs etc.
The last time I purchased a TDI 300 glow plug it was different from the run of the mill in thread ,in depth etc.
( I did this for a cylinder compression tyre pump I was making and general air pump.)
You could do it though the injector etc and it goes on.
Is the time of fitting a plate on the top of the block and getting all to seal verses to just dropping out the pistons.
All what ifs and we could go on and on.
I am just saying everything is not back and white.
This would be a good one to debate around a fire and alot of the worlds other problems.
With the highest respect.
Ron

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

urmmmm yes there is...
its called a flat deck leak down test or a pressure test.

---

no way would i stake dollars on a leak down differentiating between them set of problems. you a way braver man than me young fella...