Originally Posted by justinc
Just a note on the Td5 head issue.
Firstly, I commisserate with all who have had problems with their Td5's, especially Ed who seems to have had the lion's share of it lately. (We ought to have an Aulro whip round to help him keep his truck after all his bad luck!)
SO....
I advise anyone who asks to 'think about' head gasket problems around 200K as I have had to replace many at about this time. As for the 300Tdi, I leave them to about 250 to 300 before worrying about them. I only have 1 Tdi that did 400K on a head gasket, and the highest mileage Td5 was 245K before the plastic dowels failed and it all went pear shaped. All in all I still think they are a reasonable engine, but the cost of repairing easily outstrips the Tdi, and not just in parts, the labour component is higher also. The bottom end of them seems very robust, and the head gas flow (porting etc) from the factory is very nice compared to some lesser engines. If only the rest of it would last like a 4BD1 it would be a world beater.
I still prefer to work on them than any other vehicle, its a landrover thing, many wouldn't understand.
JC