Thread: head off

Originally Posted by codboy

Ok the head is of the pride & joy 99 SE7 300 TDI auto.

Gasket is blown between 2 & 3 and around the water port from the block.

So my question is do the 300 tdi head gaskets just blow after time or is it usually a bad head etc.

Q2 lots of posts stating you can't machine the 300 tdi heads could some explain why ?

I am in brisvegas and would like some one to check out the head for cracks etc anyone had good work done from local workshops.

Have just subcribed to this site , but have been searching posts for all sorts of info for the past couple of months love this site!!!!!!!!!!!

how many km's ??

(there's a recent thread I started regarding 300Tdi head gasket life and you posting this is another nail in the coffin.......... )

Hey Rick yeah disco has 214 000km but i would say the gasket and head are only 100 000 old just a hunch i have only had it for 5 000km. It is just that the head gasket looks pretty good and the head is faultless , all water ports and general condition don't say 200,000km.

Sorry for delay was up stairs reading books to the little one!

Originally Posted by codboy

Hey Rick yeah disco has 214 000km but i would say the gasket and head are only 100 000 old just a hunch i have only had it for 5 000km. It is just that the head gasket looks pretty good and the head is faultless , all water ports and general condition don't say 200,000km.
<snip>

Not necessarily.
Looking inside the water passages of my 300Tdi head a few times (welsch plugs and t/stat) it was immaculate, in fact it almost looked just cast and the head has never been off.
It's had OAT coolant since new.

BTW, here's my thread change head gasket on Tdi @ 240k as a preventative ?

the gasket does have a life, depending on how its driven, how well it was made and how well it was installed it varies.


you shouldnt machine the head as its got a hardening process applied to it and once you eat through that the head needs retreating and it aint cheap and its not guarenteed. IT is achievable tho.

when you replace the head gasket you need to make sure you get the right one for the pitson clearance.

MR automotive are my goto guys for everything rover that I cant handle either time wise or recourse wise.

awesome guys thanks for ya info!!

Will have a chat to the boys at MR auto TMW.

hopefully here are some pics if anyone is interested! seen one seen a 1000 i guess but here they are!

still a novice poster

looks suspiciously like a gasket failure to me....

do yourself a favor and line up a photobucket account so that you can put up the full hi-res images if you want to... its good for stuff like that and for when you do posts like "you'll never believe what happened" which generally invokes the raising of AULRO's primary legal by-law which works on the invert of possession is 9/10ths of the law and that is.


"without pics, It didnt happen."

Yep will do on the photo bucket account just as soon as i work out what that is! like the AULRO by-law very funny!