Thread: Off it comes...D2 TD5 headgasket swap

Originally Posted by justinc

Hendrik,

Don't worry about rings etc, at 260K it is still a baby, if anything, poor valve sealing will be the only issue effecting compression at those K's. These engines are very tough and long lasting, the head gasket issue that you are now experiencing is its ONLY achilles heel. (Apart from oil pump drive bolt but that isn't all THAT common)

Steel dowels and some careful reassembly and you're ready for 250,000+km yet, infact the gearbox and diffs etc will wear out first

Even chipped to 450+Nm it'll go and go and go....

JC

Yeah well I am amazed about the condition of the head it looks brand new, with minimal carbon build up on the pistons and head, the car has done mosly highway kms, its only recently that I started off road work with it. I guess the lack of ideling for long periods at traffic lights has really helped it. The sleaves look good still, with the honing marks still present. I'm very impressed with the condition of it at these kms. I think the valve grind is definately on the cards, and like you say it will last for ages then. Will take my time with reassembly too, to make sure I have everything perfect, really don't want to stuff this up.
I might work in a few extra jobs in the mean time, will give the intercooler a clean, can you think of anything else that might be worth checking while I'm here?

I am considering a chip after it goes back on, but will see how it goes with the new flashable ecu first. Getting rid of the carpet of egr gunk will already make a big difference I think.

Couple of things I did(exept the exh studs) while I had access with the head off to think about..

New exh studs (I broke 2 when refitting).
Water pump?
Oil cooler hose(odd size one).
Conduit on oil switch over bell housing(and around front of the head).
Hows the serpintine belt and bearings?
If you pull the intercooler do the radiator too.

Plus the normal hoses ect.
When doing up the head bolts get a GOOD fitting socket is my outher hint.

Have fun, take your time, and you'll be punting down a track in no time.
Cheers.

Originally Posted by alien d2

Couple of things I did(exept the exh studs) while I had access with the head off to think about..

New exh studs (I broke 2 when refitting).
Water pump?
Oil cooler hose(odd size one).
Conduit on oil switch over bell housing(and around front of the head).
Hows the serpintine belt and bearings?
If you pull the intercooler do the radiator too.

Plus the normal hoses ect.
When doing up the head bolts get a GOOD fitting socket is my outher hint.

Have fun, take your time, and you'll be punting down a track in no time.
Cheers.

Thanks for the advice
I have removed the studs, was a pain to do without stud extractors but got them all out in one piece and will be replacing iwth new ones.
The oil cooler hose was replaced about 2 months ago, when all the hoses were replaced.
Will definatly replace the conduit over the bellhousing, mine has gone brittle and is pretty much non existant.
Will also throw on the new belt, and check the bearings as they are probably on their last legs, due to the age of the engine.
When I undid the headbolts, I found that a 11mm multispline socket fitted perfectly over them, but just to make sure. Will also need to 3/8 drive 10mm socket for the upperlevel as my 1/2 inch drive 10mm didn't fit in the grooves the bolts were in. My torque wrench is a 1/2 inch so will just get a little adaptor.
Looking forward to putting it back together, just waiting on the parts and will then send the head and inlet manifold away for skimming and cleaning. Not in a real rush to get it going.
How is yours going, is it drivable yet?

Originally Posted by Hendrik

How is yours going, is it drivable yet?

Yep, just did 600Km for a 4 day long weekend.
Around 12Ltr/100Km fully loaded so happy with that.
No odd noises and no oil leaks(find wood, touch twice).
Waiting on timing chain tensioner as a precation only so old one in for now.
It was the $3500 that hurt the most.

Enjoy your project, I see your getting advice from the best here too.

Cheers.

Good to hear its back on the road.
When you took the head off, did you remove the injectors as well?
I am having a bit of trouble removing mine, as they have been in there for a while. LR uses a special tool to remove them, so I might have to quickly fabricate something simlar. I just don't want to damage the head while trying to remove them.

Originally Posted by Hendrik

Good to hear its back on the road.
When you took the head off, did you remove the injectors as well?
I am having a bit of trouble removing mine, as they have been in there for a while. LR uses a special tool to remove them, so I might have to quickly fabricate something simlar. I just don't want to damage the head while trying to remove them.

Left it to the machine to do
Haynes sugested a slide hammer as an alteritive(I think thats what they did) on the body not the electricals!
Keep them in order as they "tune" to the ECU.
Watch the filter in the head behind the "o" ring at the fuel reg also.

Cheers.

yes check your bearing I replaced the one that the cooling fan hub bolts to and check your water pump which means you have to pull it out but easy to do with head off and they are cheap to replace

Great work - love seeing pro-active maintenance.

One thing to replace while you are at this position is the small coolant hose under the exhaust manifold - quite difficult to get to otherwise.

Also, do NOT try to check your oil pump bolt while disassembled as you will lose your timing.

Erich