Thys

Les, I know with a petrol engine, the radiator specialists mounts transparent pipe on the radiator fill point, and fills it with a liquid that changes colour if combustion products are present. This is done with the engine running. Can this be done with the Land Rover Tdi engine as well, or can they do some kind of pressure test?

Thanks Les. I removed the innards of the thermostat and re-installed the outter ring and rubber ring. The fact that there is a small of amount of water dissappearing when I do short distances, but no loss on the open road, 150 km trips or more, sort of gives me the uncomfortable feeling the head gasket is giving notice. No water in the oil, but it may be a combustion chamber leak? Regards

Driving home from work, my Discovery's engine temepature shot up to the red. I pulled over and found the expansion tank full to the top, and cold, so was the top radiator hose and the thin pipes to the expansion tank. Opened the bleed screws, and with a blurp the water was sucked back into the system, the temperature went back to normal, and all was well. As a precaution I replaced the thermostat with a new original one. Had no problem bleeding the system, and all went well, untill I opened the expansion tank, a week later, on a cold engine. I topped up to the top of the marker, closed the tank and started my trip to work, halfway (3km), same happened again. Bleed the system and back to normal. This now repeated itself 4 times, I replaced all old hoses, but no luck. This one really has me bogged down, can the second thermostat be the culprit?

Jim, knowing the high comprerssion ratios of a diesel, I presume the compression test is best done with na compression meter that has to be clamped in position, otherwise I must make an appointment with you and have a proper test done.

I forgot to mention that the compression tester was a cheapy. I had to push the end into the opening by hand, was more intersted in the deviation between the readings. Since there is now loss of power, and she stars easy, I am still not to upset.

The final on my Tdi's new injectors: A sound as sweet as music when I fired up my Tdi with the new injectors, the diesel clatter as discreet as royalty in public, no smoke billowing out of the exhaust, and the power on the road as smooth as only a turbo diesel can be. As a precaution I did a cold, dry compression test and the values were 12,4 12,4 11,5 11,5 kg/cm². I am happy with that, and the engine's oil consumption is negligible. Why would two injectors fail on an engine with 183 000 km on the odo? I have two possibilities: 1 The sock, jamming the no 2 inlet valve partially open, and then snapping the rocker shaft, may have resulted in crazy mixtures in no 2 & 3 cylinders, with the engine idling and doing three trips round the block. 2 When I collected my Tdi, the previous owner informed me that one injector blocked, and he had all four replaced with new injectors. The LR specialist invoiced him for 4 new injectors. This was one year ago, 10 300 km later. Looking at the condition of the injectors, I am certain that they were not new, probably cleaned, or replaced with second hand injectors. Two of the brass washers were also installed the wrong way around. Any way, I replaced them with new ones, and now have the confidence that the installation is done correctly.

Ouch! I read some knuckle wrapping here. I also belive in the right to earn a living, but in my case, a 400% differene in price, someboby is making a real killing.

I had all the above frustations, and in the end the following was found: 1. Both front steel rims and the tyres had a small out of round error. Wheels were balanced by rotating the tyre on the rim untill the lowest out-of-balance reading was achieved, and then the wheels were balanced. The problem improvrd, but did not go away. The second test was the backlash on the PS control arm, I noted a small play in the straight ahead position, did a small adjustment and the shakes disappeared.

Hav'nt the foggiest idea, will wait and see if more mail arrives from the UK.

After my sock experience, and the subsequint repairs, my Discovry really ran like clockwork. however I noted an ever increasing plume of grey/black smoke when idling, and an ever increasing plume of black smoke when she works hard. The final came on Sunday when exiting the freeway, she made some loud knocking noise and lost power. I nursed her home, and checked the valve movement, valve clearances, everythins was to spec. Then started the engine and cheked the injectors, found number 2 blocked. I then removed all four and found them nearly as bad. The previous owner was charged for replacing the injectors, less than a year ago. 10000km later, and the injectors were really shot. The repair expert cleaned the injectors, and charged for new ones. Got the Bosch injectors from non steales at a quarter of the price.

At 12:45 RSA time, on the day of 12 February 2008, I received a white envelope per avion, and inside I found my two Form stickers. Thanks Les! I will post a photo once my Discovery is running again.

Jim, let's wait and see how many stickers I receive...............................

Thanks Les, If, due to my impatience, more than one set arrives, I will pass them on to Jim Atrill, there may be local Forum Members interested in the stickers.

No no, I desperately need socks, as my engine swallowed my last pair..........

Hey, I gave up on trying to PM, as the PM's success rate is not very high.

Les, Please PM the info to me, and if my memory serves me correctly, we are now running into 3 weeks. I have not given up yet, that is why I need to check on my side of the postal system.

Help! My Forum Stickers has not reached me. They must be missing in action, or went A.W.O.L. To what adress were they mailed, and on what date? This willl help me to trace the local Post office.

As I said, all's well that ends well, but just to remind me not to something socking stupid again; look at the Discovery's left rear pillar......

Remember my sock episode................................

Les, thanks for your diligence, will watch the mail. Regards

Ok, but what happend to my stickers?

Thanks Les, I think something is not working on my side, my sent messages shows that none was read, I did activate the tracking option, and my inbox is empty. Any help on how to fix this? Thys

Can someone please help me, I ordered 2 forum stickers, paid by PayPal, PM'ed the sticker chap, Les, and the money chap, White90, but cannot get any response from them? Desperate forum sticker wannabee. Thys

Oh yeh! I nade up many excuses to drive around town today, just for the enjoyment of being back in my Disco!

The final part of my socking story was a bill of R 3674.47c; replace a broken rocker shaft, re-set the timing........... But my pain in all, what a relief and delight to drive her again, my wife was threatening to force feed me Prozac, but now all is well in all departments.....