Thread: Have I bought a lemon? Help wanted please!😢

Sorry I didn't get to finish damn iPhone .
My advice is not to waste your time doing bits and pieces on your engine such as head gasket, head etc it will cost you many thousands and more then likely the rest of your engine is in just as bad shape and will need repair in the near future. Consider buying a rebuilt engine, engine conversion or a low km engine with less then 100000km and warranty.. It sounds abit scary but its the reality that I and Im guessing many others currently facing.. Hope you can get your head around it and all works out for you cheers

Look if it is just a head gasket it is not a huge job. As preventative measure me and my boy did ours. We did a full engine out replaced clutch etc. as well.
If it is just a head gasket it can be done in situ in less than a day.
Can you eloborate on how it overheated as a lot will depend on how hot it has gotten.
If the head is damaged it will be much more expensive. This will be the hardest thing to detect. If it is not warped and you repair fit a coolant alarm as this will save any further drama.
You will need the correct head gasket, new head bolts, preferably an angle gauge, but the bolts can also be done up by marking, steel dowels, rocker cover gasket. You will also need a couple of tools to remove the viscous fan and maybe a pin for the cam shaft and keep the timing chain correctly aligned.
I would also replace the coolant overflow bottle and maybe look at the exhaust manifold and grind the webbing. You may also need inlet and exhaust gaskets.
If you can do yourself it will be much less than $500 or if you can get someone to help may be much less than a workshop. Even with purchasing tools will still be under $500, but you will need some basic mechanical ability. You will need to be sure of your model and get correct head gasket and this will be done with the VIN.
Below are my costs but are for a Defender TD5. I can email you some details and a company to purchase through if you can do this on your own with their catalogue.
My parts cost from last invoice:
LVB000260 <A> GASKET - HEAD - L/R TD5 (3 HOLE)(1.35MM) 75.60
ERR5384# <B> CYLINDER HEAD BOLT KIT - L/R TD5 103.68
ERR5617 <A> CYLINDER HEAD LOCATING DOWEL - L/R TD5 2.78 ea
YLL500040 <A> DOWEL - CYL HEAD TO BLOCK - L/R TD5 (METAL) 0.93 ea
ERR5369 <B> OIL SEAL - CAMSHAFT - L/R TD5 (REAR)(BLACK PLASTIC PLUG) 2.94
LKJ000010 <B> GASKET - MANIFOLD - L/R TD5 (INLET) 8.05
LKG100470 <A> GASKET - MANIFOLD - L/R TD5 (EXHAUST) 13.00
ERR7094 <A> GASKET - ROCKER COVER - L/R TD5 (>1A736339) 23.33

Private message me with your email if you want the details.
Cheers
Craig

Originally Posted by James445F

Sorry I didn't get to finish damn iPhone .
My advice is not to waste your time doing bits and pieces on your engine such as head gasket, head etc it will cost you many thousands and more then likely the rest of your engine is in just as bad shape and will need repair in the near future. Consider buying a rebuilt engine, engine conversion or a low km engine with less then 100000km and warranty.. It sounds abit scary but its the reality that I and Im guessing many others currently facing.. Hope you can get your head around it and all works out for you cheers

Sorry that is rubbish unless it is in severe disrepair maybe like yours may be. If you can get a good buy on a new TD5 which is unlikely. Have you looked at the cost of a replacement TD5? If you are buying second hand you may be buying the same problem. There are very few good reconditioned TD5 motors on the market. Unless you determine there is more damage why would you replace the engine. The TD5 is infact a good strong engine and if it is just a head gasket can be done quite easily as long as it has not overheated and warped the head.

Originally Posted by Sames1972

Hi, so against better judgement, I bought a 2001 disco 2 td5 auto through eBay. I'm in Newcastle, NSW - disco is in Melbourne. Seller assures me it is his baby, carefully looked after, serviced every 5 k's, selling only due to health reasons.
So wife and I fly down on Saturday morning, meet up with seller and go over car. In hindsight now, I realise the first thing he tells me is that the bleed valve on top radiator hose must be undone when topping rad up. A screwdriver was convieniently left in drivers door pocket! He's obviously needed to do this regularly! However, he seemed genuinely sad to see her sold.

So we get 150 Km's out of Melbourne and she starts to over heat! We pull over, notice coolant leaking from reservoir cap, so allow to cool down and top up with coolant. Get another 300 Km's, having turned a/c off only to repeat it's overheating and loss of power, whilst overtaking a truck. I dare not go any further, so reluctantly join NRMA and get towed to Yass.

The local mechanic says he tested rad and head gasket has blown and jack of oil in engine gas caused it to blow a lot of smoke. It's now stuck there, with no hope of any work being done mid January!

We managed to get a lift back to Newcastle, but in faced with a potential huge repair bill fit a car stuck 500kms awAy from home!

I would really like to get it back to Newie, but it's gonna cost a lot to get it towed that far - any suggestions guys on what's happened? I think the seller knew it was not 100%, but could he have foreseen a head gasket would blow soon?
What other damage could I have done? Any suggestions on best place to get it fixed? Is this too big a job for a local country mechanic? Anyone any good ideas for recovery to Newcastle? Appreciate any help or suggestions!
Cheers, chris

Get NRMA roadside assist and have them tow it back for you.

Ok I'm not familiar with the td5 model as my disco is v8 but is still an engine and 1 problem Leads to another especially if you have over heated your engine which in this case you have , it could be throwing money at a dead engine (not in all situations) .My currant situation is a good example .. I have spent close to $2000 just on parts and many days of pulling my engine apart and putting it back together pulling it apart again just to find out that me engine needs to be removed and the top end needs to also be rebuilt to get my engine back to good health.
If you think my advice is rubbish you can happily jump in my shoes for a day and you might understand what I'm talking about.
I wish I had good advice before I wasted my time and money .I now feel committed to a full engine rebuild ....

Originally Posted by CraigE

Get NRMA roadside assist and have them tow it back for you.

They will only tow it back if it cannot be repaired locally (which it could) and the towing costs come out of the expenditure allowance attached with the package as the actual towing distance is relatively small.

However may still work out if no other assistance like accommodation or car hire is needed.

Garry

Originally Posted by James445F

Ok I'm not familiar with the td5 model as my disco is v8 but is still an engine and 1 problem Leads to another especially if you have over heated your engine which in this case you have , it could be throwing money at a dead engine (not in all situations) .My currant situation is a good example .. I have spent close to $2000 just on parts and many days of pulling my engine apart and putting it back together pulling it apart again just to find out that me engine needs to be removed and the top end needs to also be rebuilt to get my engine back to good health.
If you think my advice is rubbish you can happily jump in my shoes for a day and you might understand what I'm talking about.
I wish I had good advice before I wasted my time and money .I now feel committed to a full engine rebuild ....

Ah. A V8. I now understand where you are coming from.
The thing is, V8's are dime a dozen. For the small amount of money you can pick them up for, you can do a quick swap and get another 100,000km.
Me, after 400,000km, I had my 3.5 rebuilt. Probably cost the same as four s/h motors.
I think you'll find Td5's a little harder to find and a lot more expensive for a good one.

I have seen a couple of low km td5 engines floating around for $3500-$4000 google search