Thread: Plastic Dowels

Thanks for the info Craig, I was in the same frame of mind when we were losing a bit of coolant via the expansion tank purge. Replaced the expansion tank cap with a new genuine item and the coolant seems to be holding ok.

Ours has travelled 218K so I'm still keen on doing at least the plastic dowel swap over, head gasket kit, injector ring+seals etc..

She's working great at the moment so I'm holding it off. I was hoping to order a Nanocom and monitor alarm (Engine Watchdog) for now. We'll see how we go but I'm thinking about doing the head gasket as preventative maintenance sometime in the next 30K - 50K.

Cheers
Tony

Wouldn't you know it all was just going too well.
Just went to fit the exhaust manifold and one of the exhaust studs fell out broken. Of course is about 1/2cm inside the thread, so looks like looking for some left thread drill bits and a set of easy outs. Bright side is I would rather have it found now while the engine is out and much easier to access.
Is there anything I need to know, not sure about going to 10mm studs as I would then require to tap the head. If I go down this path how hard is it to do and what do I need? Apart from that is there any standard stud replacement or do I have to buy Land Rover specific?
Another benefit of doing this routine maintenance.
Cheers
Craig

Originally Posted by CraigE

Wouldn't you know it all was just going too well.
Just went to fit the exhaust manifold and one of the exhaust studs fell out broken. Of course is about 1/2cm inside the thread, so looks like looking for some left thread drill bits and a set of easy outs. Bright side is I would rather have it found now while the engine is out and much easier to access.
Is there anything I need to know, not sure about going to 10mm studs as I would then require to tap the head. If I go down this path how hard is it to do and what do I need? Apart from that is there any standard stud replacement or do I have to buy Land Rover specific?
Another benefit of doing this routine maintenance.
Cheers
Craig

Interesting comments Craig,
A reputable LR mechanic up here is adamant that the broken exhaust studs on some td5's and the head movement issue are related.
Seems to make sense.
I wonder how many engines with steel dowels (compared to plastic) have had exhaust stud issues.
May be an interesting statistic.

Cheers,
Paul.

Originally Posted by harro

Interesting comments Craig,
A reputable LR mechanic up here is adamant that the broken exhaust studs on some td5's and the head movement issue are related.
Seems to make sense.
I wonder how many engines with steel dowels (compared to plastic) have had exhaust stud issues.
May be an interesting statistic.

Cheers,
Paul.

Almost ALL Td5s will do the manifold at some stage...

Nothing to do with head movement on block.

Its to do with expansion and contraction of cast vs alloy - removing the webbing between the ports on the manifold fixes it

Have you checked the oil pump bolt?

Craig
As Toombie says,cut all the webbing out,its easy with one of those super thin grinder discs.
Keep the exsisting studs but drill the manifold holes to the next size to allow a bit of expansion/contraction without pinching on the studs.
Did mine and no issues since.
Andrew

Are high tensile 8mm studs or even 10mm studs available off the shelf? If so who near Mandurah would stock them?
Cheers
Craig

Originally Posted by dswatts

Have you checked the oil pump bolt?

Yeah, checked it a few years back, but as I will be replacing the sump gasket next week will check it again.
Cheers
Craig