98 xedi - lseries head gasket

Update: Replaced the water pump, both the rave and haynes manual tell you to remove the alternator to do this. Unfortunately - you need to remove the lower hingebolt that pivots the alternator on the block, and on my car at least, one of the power steering fittings of the pump are squarely in the way. However once you get some hoses and other bits and bobs out of the way - you can get the pump in and out with the alternator in place.

Changed the OIl & Filter, the air filter and away we went up the road in a cloud of smoke. Happily this cleared after a couple of km (probably just all the unburnt diesel in the exhaust from when the engine was running on 2 cyl) Very happy with the performance of the engine - I think it suits the car much better than the petrol units - but it might just be that you progress at a more sedate pace with the diesel ... surprising amount of punch off the turbo.

Significant bearing noise and vibration from under the car - removed the propeller shafts & VCU and all is smooth as silk.

One of the propeller shaft support bearings is Fubar, and the harmonic balancer on the VCU has come loose from it's rubber mounts - so that explains that. The VCU didn't seem seized for the short run I tested it on. The car has 240k on the clock - you'd assume the IRD would have futzed / been replaced by now, wouldn't you ? I guess while the shaft is off, I can jack up a front wheel and count the turns to work out the ratio. the bearings are cheap enough, although a bit fiddly to replace - we'll see if I can find a balancer for reasonable $$...

A nice surprise - the A/C is fully gassed and works very well. Gotta have a win sometime eh ?

So it's off to roadworthy in the next day or so and we'll see how that goes.

Cheers,

Great work. I just put my timing belt covers back on - I knew there was a reason why I hated working this engine - will go back out soon and but the serpentine belt on and the drivers side engine mounts.

Did you end up replacing the exhaust flex joint - if so did they do it in place for what sort of cost? I have the complete pipe but I just know I will have trouble getting the old one off the exhaust/turbo.

In theory the IRD should last as long as the gearbox etc - maybe up to 500,000km in the right circumstances - the IRD itself is reliable it is the VCU that causes it grief - but then the VCU is reliable if the IRD ratios were right.

Before I had VCU then IRD failure, at 100kph the engine was doing just over 3000rpm. With the replacement IRD at 100kph the engine does about 2600rpm so if you are doing over 3000 at 100kph you still have the old IRD. If that is the case and you want to keep AWD I would replace the VCU with a new one - they will last about 140,000km before locking up. With newer IRD ratios they last as long as anything else.

If you are happy with 2wd pull both tail shafts out and the VCU. They run fine on 2wd. Mine ran fine in 2wd, even with the U/S IRD as it was the bearings on the rear PTO that had failed but were good enough to allow the rear drive shaft to turn OK with no load - with the VCU connected there was too much load and the pto crown wheel and pinion would slip making a huge racket.

Cheers

Garry

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aikendrum105

It's interesting, our K series Hippo gets fiddly with 1st / reverse when hot as well - when we bought it, the clutch takeup point was right on the floor - I checked the slave bracket - it hadn't cracked, but seemed a little bent to me, so I straightened it out and welded an extra metal triangle in to strengthen it. This moved the takeup point off the floor about 1 cm.. Then I took the slave cylinder + pipe + master cylinder unit out (can't believe they made that a single replacement part...) and mucked about bleeding the old fluid out and new fluid in (upside down Miss Jane...) and replaced it - that moved the pedal up a little more - but still notchy when hot.

I started to suspect that the release fork / arm inside the bellhousing must be fatigued / bent - I ended up making a spacer cup to sit on the end of the slave cylinder rod to extend it about 10mm - that moved the takeup point up to a reasonable spot - it still has a spongy feel to it, and is still notchy in 1st / reverse.

I think in our case the problem lies in the gearshift linkages - I haven't even looked at them, but expect any wearing parts (roll pins etc) might be the next culprit. The car has a nasty judder on clutch takeup anyway, so I'll need to take the gearbox out, machine the flywheel, replace the clutch and check all those linkages out at the same time - have a brand new master/slave unit to go in as well. that should sort it - any remaining judder will likely be the CV joints (which seem to be very cheap on ebay at the moment - $45 !??

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I have just removed my clutch slave bracket and mine is all OK - that little bend in the bracket is supposed to be there. So my 1st/Reverse issues when the car is hot is something else - like the issues you have identified. I am going to elongate the bracket mounting holes a little so that the whole bracket and slave is a little closer to the clutch actuating arm. I also am thinking of extending the shaft on the slave cylinder as you described - what did you do to achieve this?

Thanks

Garry

Quote:

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Originally Posted by garrycol

I also am thinking of extending the shaft on the slave cylinder as you described - what did you do to achieve this?

Thanks

Garry

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I pulled the little plastic end off the shaft and put a small nut inside and put it back on - makes the shaft about 3mm longer so hopefully is enough when combined with the elongated holes (3mm) in the bracket.

Garry

Quote:

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Originally Posted by garrycol

I pulled the little plastic end off the shaft and put a small nut inside and put it back on - makes the shaft about 3mm longer so hopefully is enough when combined with the elongated holes (3mm) in the bracket.

Garry

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That's almost exactly what I did - I have an old hercus lathe in the shed, so I turned up a piece out of delrin (plastic) that was cupped at one end to centre on the end of the rod and the right diameter to sit inside the release fork cup - I reckon the nut will work perfectly with less effort :)

Has it made any difference to the 1st/rev notchiness ? Once I have the Diesel registered fully I'll put the petrol up on the ramps and go over the linkages - see if that sorts it.

The Diesel has 300km on it now - still going strong (touch wood)

Cheers,

Quote:

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Originally Posted by garrycol

Before I had VCU then IRD failure, at 100kph the engine was doing just over 3000rpm. With the replacement IRD at 100kph the engine does about 2600rpm so if you are doing over 3000 at 100kph you still have the old IRD.

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Thanks for mentioning that again - I know I'd read it in one of your other posts - but it slipped my mind. I checked both cars yesterday - The Diesel has the new IRD, and a healthy VCU - obviously replaced as a pair some time in it's turbulent past. The Petrol however, I *know* chewed out it's IRD before we owned it (due to mis-matched tyres front / back rather than the VCU seizing.) They've obviously re-used the original VCU which is why it's now hit the end of it's life (and is in the workshop being turned into the franken-VCU with that other fluid I bought)

Cheers,

An update for the cognoscienti :)

The hippo seems to be a happy camper - about 2500km on the engine now and all (touch wood) seems sweet.

Had to fit the Propeller shaft for the Roadworthy to pass - so replaced the failed support bearing with a new one, swapped the harmonic balancer with the good until off the Petrol's propeller shaft, and also swapped the front shaft over as the CV had failed on the diesel one. Got it all back together and all is quietly happy. VCU operates correctly, and the rest of the system is quiet.

On the way home from passing the roadworthy - the Oil return line from the vacuum pump on the nose of the alternator split - and proceeded to squirt all the engine oil out over the front of the engine, and basically everywhere else it felt like it.. Very annoyed about that as I'd cleaned up the engine bay / engine etc while I repaired it...

The return line is a hard plastic one, with short rubber sections at each end (with metal olives inside to stop them collapsing) The plastic line appeared to crack and splinter at the first bend after leaving the pump - I know I was moving that out of the way a lot when replacing the water pump - so perhaps I weakened it.. Didn't notice until someone pointed it out to me in traffic - just as the low oil pressure light came on - nursed the car to the next side street and used some colorful metaphors to help the engine cool down.

There's a slight squeak from the vacuum pump now when cold, and the slight main bearing knock I'd been pretending was just diesel slap is a little louder when cold - but otherwise survived ok.

Have rigged up a temporary pipe with some other hose while the replacement comes from the UK - not a common failure part at all...

Apart from that - popped down to AllFord wreckers here in Melbourne (braeside) - the name is deceiving -they have loads of freelander parts - make a good living in IRD units apparently ;) Pickup up a nice 2t towbar, later leather steering wheel, some leather seats and a few other bits and bobs very cheaply - brings the car up to scratch nicely.

I noticed the car took an awfully long time to come up to temperature - bought a new thermostat, took off the housing and found there wasn't one fitted to the car - POs mechanic must have removed it to try and reduce the overheating when the head gasket went.

Took the opportunity to flush and replace the naughty green antifreeze I'd used after the rebuild with the red OAT stuff Land Rover favours... Apparently it's not too critical which you use as long as you thoroughly flush the system between colours - but the OAT stuff is supposed to last a lot longer. New Expansion bottle too - the old one was too stained from the diesel combustion in the cooling system, and it also had some serious cracks around the cap ... you can actually see the fluid level now - bonus :)

All seems well in Hippo-land - will wire up the towbar this week and head up to Albury with a trailer for the weekend to help the folks move house - If the car behaves I guess I'll have to regretfully hand it over to Andrea and the kids while I get the petrol hippo back to sort out.

Getting about 8L/100 while goosing the car around town - pretty happy with that. I did blank off and remove the EGR as it was coked solid inside - and also knocked the center of the Cat out as it was blocked solid as well - so that may be helping with the mileage. Definitely lose a bit of sparkle with the VCU connected.

Anyway - I do go on.

Cheers :)

Thats great - seems to have all come together well.

Once sorted they are quite reliable.

Cheers

Garry

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aikendrum105

Took the opportunity to flush and replace the naughty green antifreeze I'd used after the rebuild with the red OAT stuff Land Rover favours... Apparently it's not too critical which you use as long as you thoroughly flush the system between colours - but the OAT stuff is supposed to last a lot longer.

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The L series never had OAT coolant. It was introduced in Freelanders from 2001. It won't worry it but you may find it will spring leaks running OAT having never run it before.

Hmm - I hadn't picked up on any threads about OAT causing leaks - only warnings not to mix the different types - but now you mention it and I cast my eye over the intarwebs, there's a few warnings about it starting leaks where none where before.. I know there's a slight leak around the housing at the front of the head where the thermo sensor screws in - if I see it get worse I'll know why... I expect the Oring seals will be fine (water pump / thermostat etc) particularly as they are both brand new - but any old paper gaskets might let go...

And there I was so proud of myself for putting it right... hahahah

Jokes aside, I do appreciate the info Woko - cheers !