Thread: Did You know this 'Can' happen to a diesel (Death by oil)

Jeez Serge, that sucks. Like you I'm not convinced that blocks can magically shrink in the middle.

If it makes you feel better, it appears my 4BD1T didn't 100% survive consuming 8 litres of oil either.
I've got smoke at idle, which I was hoping was just winter cold but is still there at 32C in summer.
I've got a radiator that blows bubbles at me too. It was 3 litres down by the time I noticed.

I'm thinking head-gasket and stretched ring-lands. $3k for genuine isuzu pistons/rings/liners and gaskets. I'm still driving it for now.

Originally Posted by Dougal

Jeez Serge, that sucks. Like you I'm not convinced that blocks can magically shrink in the middle.

If it makes you feel better, it appears my 4BD1T didn't 100% survive consuming 8 litres of oil either.
I've got smoke at idle, which I was hoping was just winter cold but is still there at 32C in summer.
I've got a radiator that blows bubbles at me too. It was 3 litres down by the time I noticed.

I'm thinking head-gasket and stretched ring-lands. $3k for genuine isuzu pistons/rings/liners and gaskets. I'm still driving it for now.

I wasnt hedging bets either way. I was just putting out there one theroy the mechanic was thinking a posibility??? The head warping was others theroys. Im open to all suggestions.

But at this stage Im over careing why. I just want it rebuilt right and on my not so merry way.

As many times as I have said Id never get an Isuzu, they really are looking a better option for me long run. I will hate the weight but I cant have my cake and eat it to......

Sorry to hear about yours. Its probably still making more power in its current state than any Tdi new!

I'd love to see a straight edge and feeler gauge over both surfaces to see what's what.

In my admittedly limited experience I've never heard of a block moving that much after it's been seasoned, and yours has well and truly been seasoned
Not saying it can't happen, as your mechanic said he's seen it once before, but it must be bloody unusual.
I mean there's a reason torque plates are used on engines who's heads bolt to the top of a block, bore distortion is real, but a permanent 'set' in the middle ?

Mate, as I said on the phone, how many Chinamen and where ? (It's probably not PC for me to say that these days either )

yeah you have to say Chinaperson or Chinese...

Originally Posted by uninformed

..., Im not sure, but how much heat does it take to warp one? Im fairly confident that the truck has not been past 100c on the temp gauge at all since the rebuild. One theroy is that when I did blow it up the first time, that it got very hot in the block center (as the melted piston would indicate) and that this has stressed it. Since the rebuild and running it, it has now settled, leaving the defect and causing the HG failure
...

I have no idea how much heat it takes to warp an alloy head. Even if not overheated many will be found to be warped to some extent when removed.

Unfortunately temp at gauge is just that, there are other spots in the cooling system where the temp can be higher. Quite often the temps will be higher at the rear of the block, as the water circulation is often poorer there. Many HG failures with 300Tdi's is between #3 & #4, or out the rear from #4. That was one area the 2.8 improved.

Hard to be certain from the pics but from here it looks like yours was leaking between #1 & #2 on both sides of the HG, and between #3 & #4 on the block side.

Was the head hardness tested during the last repair? Or was it a new head?

During an overheating event, the 300Tdi heads are notorious for developing soft spots and if put back on the HG will fail in short time - it is surmised that the soft part 'creeps' (in the engineering definition of creep, i.e. distort at a greater rate than normal elastic behavior, over time at high temp) in the vicinity of the head bolt, which reduces the clamping force on the gasket.

Because of this issue, a place I knew in Newcastle, which does a lot of LR repairs, hardness tests all 300Tdi heads, and has suspect heads heat treated.

Originally Posted by uninformed

Sorry to hear about yours. Its probably still making more power in its current state than any Tdi new!

Yeah, roughly 130kw and 550Nm still. I've just got to top up the radiator after a hard run and have to park it with the exhaust facing out of the garage.

Originally Posted by Bush65

I have no idea how much heat it takes to warp an alloy head. Even if not overheated many will be found to be warped to some extent when removed.

Unfortunately temp at gauge is just that, there are other spots in the cooling system where the temp can be higher. Quite often the temps will be higher at the rear of the block, as the water circulation is often poorer there. Many HG failures with 300Tdi's is between #3 & #4, or out the rear from #4. That was one area the 2.8 improved.

Hard to be certain from the pics but from here it looks like yours was leaking between #1 & #2 on both sides of the HG, and between #3 & #4 on the block side.

Was the head hardness tested during the last repair? Or was it a new head?

During an overheating event, the 300Tdi heads are notorious for developing soft spots and if put back on the HG will fail in short time - it is surmised that the soft part 'creeps' (in the engineering definition of creep, i.e. distort at a greater rate than normal elastic behavior, over time at high temp) in the vicinity of the head bolt, which reduces the clamping force on the gasket.

Because of this issue, a place I knew in Newcastle, which does a lot of LR repairs, hardness tests all 300Tdi heads, and has suspect heads heat treated.

John, Im pretty sure they(gilberts) do hardness test all heads when being done. This head had piston material transfered onto it via the meltdown. I was thinking it would be buggered. But it cleaned up well, was machined flat and rebuilt with the required consumables. I also remeber when my 300Tdi did a HG, that the head was sent off to the same mob and it came back great condition, above hardness but with a gallery crack that could not be welded, so it was junk.

Thanks for the info on creep. Something to try and retain in the small space ontop of shoulders.

does anyone feel like donating a isuzu 3.9 to a good home