Thread: Does my Td5 have a blown headgasket?

Hi Hendrik, I am in the middle of doing my head gasket now. I have had two instances of coolant dumping after towing a trailer (not real heavy) and some off road work. The low coolant alarm let me know which saved a bigger issue. Prior to this I noticed significant pressure in the header tank when removing the cap and the coolant going overboard. Symptoms as you describe. The motor ran ok but I had noticed it running slightly rough at idle. I had my sons D2 to compare with after the same trip and his had much less pressure, what I would consider normal. Anyway I got the head off and the plastic dowels had sheered off and there was evidence of blow by around the #3 cylinder and coolant gallery also some movement around #5. The head has not warped and will be crack and pressure tested today. I think I have gotten off lightly compared to some here. It seems my sort of failure is quite common, compression test(AFAIK you cant check compression on #5 as there is no glow plug hole to screw a fitting into.)
& testing for exhaust gas contaminants in the coolant may reveal something futher for you. Though I had done neither of these before stripping the head as I was positve of my problem. I did not have the bubbling sound and mine has not been overheated.
If it were me I would be pulling it off as it has been overheated and the symptoms match. Would you do this yourself?

On a positive note this motor is the easiest head gasket Ive done compared with some Toyo and Mitsi motors.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Hi Hendrik,

They do run quite high pressure in the cooling system, but yours does sound excessive. The D2 cap/overflow is slightly different to the Defender, but we noticed a tiny leak past the cap on 3 seperate occasions so I pulled the head after posting a similar thread on here.

I also was nervous about making the issue worse, and decided it was safer to do it before the issue got worse.

Difficult one to call as to whether you should use it. Where are you going? Is it remote? do you have a low water alarm.

Its not that difficult to do. I agree with Strangy, easiest one I have done

Rgds
Pete

Thanks for the replies.
I'm going to Fraser for a week, and would hate to be stranded in the middle of a sand island with a cracked head. I think it would be best if I did something about it now, before it is too late. Strangy, I think the my dowels would be shredded off as well, due to the over heating. And the excessive air in the system would clearly cause hot and cold spots in the head. Now that you mention rough running, it sorta feels like mine has been getting worse, when compared to other td5's.
I think I should just do it, before I do too much damage to the head. I will be doing it myself, Pete I've looked through your write up and it doesn't seam too difficult. I will get my dad to help me as well, he has done heads on countless diesels, as well as a few 300tdi's. I think it could be done in about a week, if I was only to spend my free time on it, it seams simple...but then again nothing is ever as simple as it seams.

Hey mate,

You should easily cope with getting it done in a week.

Do you have a good head shop to get it checked/skimmed at?

Feel free to ask any questions.

LR Gold Coast should have all the parts in stock.

Rgds
Pete

Hi Pete
I think it would be easy enough to find a place to do it. Apart from cleaning and pressure testing the head, did you get the injectors cleaned as well?
It would be good to do a few other things as well while I'm there, like cleaning out the inlet manifold and also checking for broken exhaust manifold studs etc.
Kind of looking forward to doing this, it will run so much better with a new head gasket. Will also fit a low coolant alarm when I'm done, so I can be warned when another hose busts.

I didnt have the injectors cleaned no, I didnt do a valve grind either, but at the time my car hadnt quite done 100k so it may be more worthwhile on yours.

Rgds
Pete

The Td5 head thread-
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/projects-t...moval-how.html

Originally Posted by Psimpson7

I didnt have the injectors cleaned no, I didnt do a valve grind either, but at the time my car hadnt quite done 100k so it may be more worthwhile on yours.

Rgds
Pete

I think I will look into getting that done as well, mine has done a lot of kms.
With the machining, did you just take an absolute minimum off and hoped that it was enough? Reading other posts, it seams only a very small amount can be skimmed off. Won't know for sure untill I have it off, but I just don't want to get the head machined, put it back only to find out that it wasn't enough and having to replace the head anyway.

Will start looking at what parts I need today.