Possible head gasket td5

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Originally Posted by discorevy

Geez , wish I'd known that before, Gus, would have saved me a lot of work doing the 150 odd replacements over the years but I've only been working on the brand for 34 years as a qualified mechanic.
Anyhow, other things worth replacing while the head is off ,if you intend keeping the vehicle are , hoses , oil cooler (especially if proper coolant maintenance has been lax) water pump, fuel cooler "0 rings ( viton ) alternator service , engine mounts if sagged , thermostat, fan bearing and pulleys , good check of harmonic balancer.
If in doubt , call an experienced independent land rover specialist or pm Justinc or dazza on here
PS , your td5 head might be overdue for a walk gus[bigsad]

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I don't know enough to say discorevy. Only repeating what I was told. Thanks for the (slightly sarcastic) enlightenment [emoji12]

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whereas the steel dowels do not allow that.

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Attachment 135158
I came across this picture quite a while ago.
To me it indicates that the base problem is not the dowel so much as high temperatures causing the head to loosen on the block and allow shuffle which then distorts the dowels whether plastic or steel.
AFAIR the pic was from a UK forum.
So IMHO keep it cool baby.

Regards Philip A

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Originally Posted by PhilipA

Attachment 135158
I came across this picture quite a while ago.
To me it indicates that the base problem is not the dowel so much as high temperatures causing the head to loosen on the block and allow shuffle which then distorts the dowels whether plastic or steel.
AFAIR the pic was from a UK forum.
So IMHO keep it cool baby.

Regards Philip A

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That's Scary! Discorevy have you seen this before?
Nick

Interesting Phillip. That was what I was told as well.

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Originally Posted by str405

G’day all,

have been having issues with my 2002 discovery td5 spitting out coolant on a frequent basis, mainly, it seems, at highway speeds.

symptoms;

-high pressure build up in coolant system even after cooling down overnight. Pressure present even after several days.
-coolant loss with no leaks. I’ve strapped a 600ml bottle to the overflow tube and it fills up occasionally.

doesn’t blow smoke, no oil in water no water in oil. No power loss, runs just fine. Have drained and bled of air many times over using all the tricks of the trade. System has been pressure tested and passes. Heater blows hot.

reservoir and cap replaced, radiator replaced, top hose replaced. Again, no leaks.

Anyone experienced this before?

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If any hoses have been replaced recently, I would bleed the system and see if that helps..

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Originally Posted by Pippin

That's Scary! Discorevy have you seen this before?
Nick

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haven't seen a metal one like that before. I did my first set of steel replacements in Broome in 2002 on a d2 after speaking to Kevin ( rovertech ), who I used to work work for in the 80's. I still have contact with a mate up there who was chatting with the same d2 owner at the boat ramp ( it's a boat launcher now ) and while the usual culprits have been replaced , the engine is still going with over 400 000 k's with no issues, this would be 8 or 9 months ago.
I don't know the story behind that pic ( could have been no clearance if a 2 hole head gasket , was it a factory dowel ? , was it the correct diameter ?, how many overheat episodes causing the head bolts to lose their holding strength?, wall thickness of dowel too thin etc, every plastic dowel will turn to dust after x amount of heat cycles, that's why the cars that do lots of hot kilometres last longer than ones that do many stop start heat cycles, fwiw the plastic ones that are still intact are all dog legged in the same direction showing that the head wants to walk sideways

Will be sure that steel goes in when head gets re-done.

Anyone done this before and know the cost?

Hi guys just had to get a reco head fitted as I had the same issue. Full cost was just over $4800. I had the head rebuilt before but didnt find any crack after extensive testing. But this time MR automotive did the work this time. Very pleased with the quality of work done runs great. Next is a stage 2 remap.
Hope this helps. All the best with sorting it out. Remember and keep the faith.
Tony
Celtic4x4

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Originally Posted by gusthedog

My mechanic says plastic dowels causing issues are a myth - if they go it's likely caused by something else. Mine still has plastic dowels at 230k without issue.

Might be a small crack in the head but I'm no expert. Someone will be along shortly that knows.

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I also wish I had known not to worry about that before doing mine a few years back. I am sure the distortion they had would not have caused any future issues. FYI they had distorted by about 2mm.

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Originally Posted by str405

Will be sure that steel goes in when head gets re-done.

Anyone done this before and know the cost?

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The steel dowels are only a couple of $, the head gasket kit and bolts a couple of hundred $. But be prepared for a cracked head, just replaced mine with an AMC, if you are handy with the tools can be done for about $2200, getting the head from the UK, but if you need a mechanic to do it min $5k. Replaced the dowels about 4 years ago.