Thread: 98 xedi - lseries head gasket

Well - got the engine firing on two cylinders this arvo - the smoke was combustion from the other two blowing out the side of the head gasket under the manifolds - couldn't see it until I took the inlet / exhaust manifolds off - but the gasket is well and truly hosed. Hopefully the surface of the block and head aren't too corroded where it's blown - find out shortly when I get the head off...

Snuck a little engine time last night. Anyone that manages to engage the locking pin in the crankshaft with the inlet / exhaust manifolds in place deserves a medal. A few folks on the forums were after a pic of where it is hidden.....

Also - The Auxiliary belt and Camshaft timing belts were well due for replacement - but the Injection pump belt seems brand new... The area inside the injection belt cover is the cleanest part of the whole car

Cheers,

An update (war and peace) for interested readers - it may help you sleep


over the last few weeks I removed the head to sort the failed gasket.

The Gasket had failed between cylinders 2 and 3, and also into the nearby water jacket casting opening of the block (See pic) - the compression of both cylinders going into the cooling system - no wonder it blew a core plug out of the block.

The corrosion damage to the head where the gasket had failed seemed quite deep, and the Rave / Haynes manual warned against head skimming - insisting on replacement. After a chat with a few folks in the know (thanks Woko ! ) it seems this is because of an anodised type coating on the head, rather than critical valve / piston tolerances. The folks on the MG/Rover diesel tuning forums (same l-series engine) all skim away merrily whenever they blow a headgasket after mucking about with the boost - so I thought I'd chance my arm.

The head was bowed slightly, deeper in the centre where I wanted to clean up the surface - even once bolted solidly down to the mill table - I was tempted to shim it underneath the middle to pull a little of the warp out - but decided to stick with it and get it level - took the minimum off to get the damage down to 'head gasket can deal with that' levels and reassembled the head. (I noticed that 4 of the hydraulic lifters seemed very stiff - I'll see how the car runs and replace them if required.)

Replaced the leaky 1 1/8th core plug on the back of the block, used a smear of permatex aviation sealant to help it out. (great stuff)

Got the head back on the car and torqued down (with new head bolts), and set about fitting the new timing and injection belts. The manual recommends replacing the sprocket bolts at either end of the camshaft and the crankshaft bolt as well - but neither of the two LR parts/service places I tried had ever sold any or replaced them when doing the belts, so reused the old ones. Probably because the manual talks about torquing to x ft/lbs, and then a further x degrees to stretch the bolt which can be a one-time thing... not sure.

The y'shaped middle radiator hose had a massive split almost all the way along so a new set of hoses was ordered - they've all been running with boost pressure inside so safe to assume they're all.. uh .. hosed..

Filled up with water and a little anti-corrosive - takes a while to fill the car through that small dia hose leading off the header tank - be quicker to take the upper rad. hose off and fill up to there first I think.. Water pump leaking out the diaphragm holes on the bottom - looks like the boost took that out too.. will replace that this weekend.

So the moment of truth - I knew there'd be air in the injector lines from removing the injectors so a little bit of cranking to get things moving would be required. A nice fresh battery, ignition on, hand primed, crank crank crank.... Probably took a few minutes of hand priming, a couple of glow cycles and cranking before I started getting a cough off one cylinder (probably the one with the new glow plug behind the pump). I'd just about given up when it caught on all four and returned to a rock solid smooth idle. I think I sat there shocked for a minute with a stupid grin on my face listening to it.

Loads of smoke in the engine bay - a moment of panic, but just the exhaust flex joint has failed and leaks everywhere - add that to the list.

So I haven't taken the car up the road in anger yet, but so far so good - will get the pump / exhaust sorted, do an engine oil change / flush, same with the cooling system,
and hopefully be mobile shortly and can get a roadworthy sorted.

Thanks for all the help thus far folks - it's the first Diesel I've mucked about with, bit of a learning curve - but still enjoying it...

Cheers,

Scott.

Originally Posted by aikendrum105

Loads of smoke in the engine bay - a moment of panic, but just the exhaust flex joint has failed and leaks everywhere - add that to the list.

My flex joint has been gone for a few years and fills the engine bay with soot on start - you get about 2000km out of an air filter. I have a new section of pipe to go in (I am sure the nuts on the exhaust will be rusted and snap the studs). I think I would get a generic flex joint and an exhaust shop and just get them to weld it in rather than replacing the entire section of pipe.

Glad to see it is all coming together. Well done. Oh make sure you have primed the fuel system in accordance with the the manual - if not you will have problems later as there will still be air in the system. Once I just pumped the system up until it ran but later it would have issues starting but would start.

Cheers

Garry

Thanks Garry - much appreciated, good call on the exhaust - there's a place nearby that should be able to sort that.

I have a question for you, as you've just done the belts on your xedi - the routing of the alternator belt - the haynes diagram is clearly for another car with extra idlers (or no A/C) - I can't see how the belt can travel around the A/C pulley grooves down - between which two pulleys does the belt path travel around the idler ?


Cheers,

Scott.

Originally Posted by aikendrum105

Thanks Garry - much appreciated, good call on the exhaust - there's a place nearby that should be able to sort that.

I have a question for you, as you've just done the belts on your xedi - the routing of the alternator belt - the haynes diagram is clearly for another car with extra idlers (or no A/C) - I can't see how the belt can travel around the A/C pulley grooves down - between which two pulleys does the belt path travel around the idler ?


Cheers,

Scott.

Yep a trick for new players - it took me a day to work out the serpentine belt out when I did it 6 years ago - there is a post of mine on this back in mid 05.

So this time I did a diagram - is logical when you think about it.



Garry

That's perfect - I must have rotated the tensioner down between the crank and the A/C pulley to release the tension and confused myself about the path (i'm easily confused) - the diagram makes perfect sense - many many thanks !

In a way - I'm lucky I didn't work it out before filled it up with water and found the water pump was leaking - I'd have had to take it right off again.

I've done timing belts on a few cars - but this one seems unnecessarily painful to me... your tip about raising / lowering the engine on the jack to get to the various bolts was a great help.

Cheers,

Scott.

I started the job in June and I now have the injection pump and cam belts on and test run the engine - the engine is still being held up on the jack, still need to put the belt covers on, put the serpentine belt on and put the engine mounts back together - things move slowly at my place .

After that - change the engine pipe, put in a new outer CV (has been clicking for 120,000km and 7 years and never got any worse) and put in a new clutch slave cylinder bracket so that I can change gears when the outside temp is over 25 - strange that - 20 degrees no problems - 25 degrees and reverse or first.

Suppose I should finish the job by the middle of next year.

Yes - the belts are a pain and just think you will have to do it all again in 80,000km - it comes around too quickly.

Garry