Thread: Please not a head gasket? TD5 D2a

A number of different symptoms here, all pointing somewhere...

I was driving home in the small hours of this morning up the Calder up Gap Road hill and it started loosing power. A quick glance saw the temp high, so pulled over straight away.

OAT pouring out the cap under high pressure, a good amount

I sat with the bonnet open for a period to let all cool then put some coolant in - it only took about 500ml, I thought it should take more given the amount splashed on the underside of the car, but thought that maybe a little goes a long way, especially by torchlight. Oil was OK. The low coolant alarm didn't go off until it was cooling and stabilised.

I continued home at about 60kmh coasting downhills. No more leakage by the time I got home (some 10kms).

This morning I poured another 500ml in to bring it up to the normal spot then went to start. I checked the oil was fine. At start, it wouldn't turn, just a loud graunching sound. This initially had me thinking of CKP (nano com said 16,2 high speed crank) or started solenoids, but then left battery on charge for 30 mins and it turned OK, but wouldn't fire.

I did the 5 tap fuel purge and held it down and it fired up and hummed normally. Then turned it off and on, she started just fine. Then I did a hose bleed and a little air came out, but not a lot. Seemed to be a steady trickle of coolant back into the tank.

Then I gave it a break for an hour, went back out and again she wouldn't fire. Held the foot to the floor, kept her turning and she fired with the expected dark smoke from too much fuel.

So then she sat there running cleanly for a just couple of minutes, and then I noticed the dreaded white smoke coming out the back so I shut her down.

Some half an hour later, there seems to be a huge amount of pressure under the coolant cap (spurting out when cracking it) for an engine that never got hot.

The oil appears normal black colour although it might be a 1-2mm higher than it was previously, it had used about 3 mm from full after 2800kms over the school holidays last couple of weeks, or that could be measuring errors. Nothing conclusive there anyway.

At the moment, I suspect head gasket leakage from high pressure in coolant system. What checks are recommended before committing to that expensive fix?

Oh - the head is about 20000kms and 3 years old (after the dreaded crack that put fuel in the oil north of Oodnadatta).

White smoke is either unburnt fuel (not from over fueling, which will always be black,but not be combusted at all) or from coolant.