Thread: Am I about to have a TD5 headgasket issue

Hi Justin,

I think I will do it then...... but may not do it for a couple of weeks. Probably a good idea to get all the parts needed first.

I am slightly nervous about it (the leak that is) and the peace of mind would be good.

It may be a bit easier than some as my car doenst have aircon either.

What other stuff would you do

Headgasket
Headbolts
Dowels
injector seals?
etc etc...?

Rgds
Pete.

Originally Posted by Psimpson7

Hi Justin,

I think I will do it then...... but may not do it for a couple of weeks. Probably a good idea to get all the parts needed first.

I am slightly nervous about it (the leak that is) and the peace of mind would be good.

It may be a bit easier than some as my car doenst have aircon either.

What other stuff would you do

Headgasket
Dowels
injector seals?
etc etc...?

Rgds
Pete.

At 100K, I would'nt anticipate having to do a valve job etc, but you will have to surface grind the head slightly because the steel shim type gasket they use actually seals by cutting into the aluminium of the haed surface ever so slightly when torqued down. If the head has moved, expect to see galling etc where the gasket has shifted.
Replacement of the injector lower sealing washers, O rings, manifold gaskets and fuel block gasket are mandatory, and obviously the head gasket. Check what thickness you need, should be a 2 or 3 hole gasket, they seem to be the most common.
Replace all the exhaust manifold studs, and it also pays to replace the rocker cover rubber gasket as they harden with age.

Give me a call on 0408 995 635 if you need to chat about it some more!


JC

Thanks Justin.

on the other side of the coin, my wife's disco (td5 2004) was going into limp home mode during summer with the air cond on. we found it was using water.
no signs of leakage or smell of coolant ever.
LR dealer replaced the bottle cap on the first visit. now bear in mind that each of the following parts were replaced on separate, subsequent visits. we had already suggested the head gasket but were told "no, it couldn't be that"
after the cap, one of the hoses was replaced, then the radiator, then another radiator.
not long after this the disco began to run on 4 cylinders on start-up then kick in the fifth when a bit of heat got into the engine.
they took it in to look at......yes, the head gasket. replaced the gasket, as a temporary measure while they waited for a NEW MOTOR!
got the new motor, booked the car in, the turbo blew up the day before it went in.
they had the car for ten days and hired us an auto hilux ute with a towbar so the wife could keep working.
the only part they used off the old motor was the mount for the oil filter.
the next week we headed off to the Expo in penrith, my mate, in the convoy, thought the oil was coming from my car, nope, it was coming from the Disco.
it went back in on monday, they took the cast mount off and replaced the gasket. she went through 5 litres of oil the next day. they had cracked the cast mount when they put it back on. they rang me and told me to come up and pick up her trailer as they had no cars for her.
i started heading off and got another phone call, "we've found a car she can have".
about an hour later, she turns up with the dog washing trailer in tow behind a XJ jaguar demonstrator.
the fitted a new mount and it's been fine since. that was nearly 2 yrs ago.
in land rover's defence, the customer service was great, just the mechanics were very sub standard both at the diagnostic stage and in workmanship.
something that needs to be addressed

Ok, so since a TDI/TD5 cooling system is a closed system surely the only way for any pressure to vent is via the reservoir bottle cap and therefor a little weeping would be normal - pressure has to be released somewhere to atmosphere ?

Originally Posted by barney

that was nearly 2 yrs ago.
in land rover's defence, the customer service was great, just the mechanics were very sub standard both at the diagnostic stage and in workmanship.
something that needs to be addressed

Dont want to hijack thread,but

Off topic a little,i always found LRA customer service excellent,better than any other vehicle manufacturer i have delt with.The quality of the workmanship by the mechanics ,if you can call them mechanics was always extremely poor,to say the least.I stopped using the stealers around two years ago,they may have since improved.

Getting back to original topic,Psimpson,i would get job done asap,as vehicle is not reliable the way it is,& if you leave it engine may be further damaged.

MR auto would be my piont of call,as they do this work all day & are excellent,unless you have the confidence to do it yourself
Good luck with it.

Originally Posted by loanrangie

Ok, so since a TDI/TD5 cooling system is a closed system surely the only way for any pressure to vent is via the reservoir bottle cap and therefor a little weeping would be normal - pressure has to be released somewhere to atmosphere ?

Hi Chris,

Anything over the caps' rated pressure of 15psi is coming from either extremely high engine temps, or a headgasket failure pressurising the system.

I have even replaced caps on these in the past thinking they were possibly failing, but alas, no.

There is an air pocket about half the capacity of the bottle to take up the expansion and contraction of the coolant without splitting the bottle etc.

That it is why you only check and fill the coolant to the cold fill line when cold.

Since Pete's Defender isn't overheating then with other anecdotal evidence, I am suggesting he thinks about replacing the head gasket before it ruins the rest of his engine...

JC

LR, it had never in my ownership allowed fluid out of the cap ever. I have had it for 6 years so as soon as I saw this I was worried, and after talking to Justin yesterday, changing it now (or in the next couple of weeks once I have amassed all the parts) seems like a logical step.

I would prefer to do it before it failed properly rather than just keping driving it until it fails seriously.

cheers
Pete