Thread: 300 tdi head gasket again!!!!

Originally Posted by codboy

appears to have let go again just after some beach work! Not happy jan!

I take it got real hot & put up a lot of protest steam ....

Have you rodded the radiator
and
what is the condition of the viscos or thermo fans??

Mike

If you do the head gasket[s] in any Landy, diesel or V8, I would have thought it automatic to refurbish the head[s], fit a new water pump, new thermostat, new expansion tank cap, recondition the viscous cooling fan and recondition the radiator. And also replace the plastic expansion tank - they get brittle with age and heat in Oz.
Be a shame to spend that money and do all that work only to have the tank split at the base and drop all the coolant which allows the engine to overheat again.

Then you are set for another 200 thousand hassle free kilometres.

Ok fans work well had done a week of beach work short trips not really that soft sand work out but enough ,all was well at the time. It was when i went to come home on the highway that it all went wrong.

Will be pulling the radiator out this time for sure, it's just been such a reliable rig not used a single drop and i mean not one since the head was done last time! Used hylomar & torqued the head as per the manual ( didn't like it but did it ) Hasn't read more than half since the gasket work , flushed the rad well when gasket was done !

300Tdi heads are hardened by heat treatment.

If the engine is overheated, soft spots can develop. Head bolts near soft spots tend to loose clamping force on the head gasket.

Overheated heads should have the hardness tested and need to be re-heat treated if soft spots are found.

Originally Posted by codboy

300 tdi 98 disco auto, serviced by me every ten ex mech so all pretty tidy!
Bought the rig at 208,000k changed head gasket at 215k old gasket had let go in what i presume is a common area between the 2nd & 3rd pot where the head blanks off the holes in the block!

Well funny thing, after 15,000k the gasket appears to have let go again just after some beach work! Not happy jan!

Love my disco for many reasons but this is a bummer & really taking the polish off the good times!

Has any one come across this before i had hoped that the gasket was the issue but i am thinking that there is another issue here now( clever i know). So the head looked good when removed , i didn't straight edge the block but that would have to be unlucky!

Any previous experience much appreciated , really love my disco so i hope i can sort this out !

I would assume new head bolts were used???

Justin

you sure there wasn't any warping in the head before you refitted it from the first tme.....might of needed skimming before putting back on.

As DB says, was the head checked, at least for flatness, if not pressure checked...?

Originally Posted by DRanged

I would assume new head bolts were used???

Justin

You know what they say about making assumptions...

FWIW - The TDi head bolts can be re-used.

M