Thys Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 Short lived was my jubilation on the completion of my head repair and the knock. On Friday evening, driving to a friend's house, the temperature needle suddenly shot to the red zone. I stopped, and found the expansion tank full, and leaking. The diesel was slow to start on Friday morning and afternoon, and I noted excessive smoke while driving. Removed the head for the third time, no traces of leaking on the head surface, or the gasket. Head as as flat as can be, and the top of the block. Re-looked at a small crack between the no 2 cylinder glow plug port and injector port. Got some more advice; this small crack is the cause of the problem, throw the head away, buy a new head. Phoned the Engineering works. They are adamant that they heated the liquid for the pressure test to 120 ºC, then circulated the liquid to heat the head, then raised the pressure to 8 Bar, and the the pressure stayed constant for 15 minutes? I decided to bite the dust, and buy a new head, it is still worth the expense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 Thys, that was the conclusion I came to as well, but before I went down the engineering works on the head. Have you tried Turners for the Head, or are you sourcing it locally? I put the new head on, and all my problems went away after that. Sorry to hear you have had to go down the more expensive route before coming to that conclusion Cheers Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thys Posted April 6, 2008 Author Share Posted April 6, 2008 Thys, that was the conclusion I came to as well, but before I went down the engineering works on the head. Have you tried Turners for the Head, or are you sourcing it locally?I put the new head on, and all my problems went away after that. Sorry to hear you have had to go down the more expensive route before coming to that conclusion Cheers Mark Hi Mark, Yes my abortive costs were R 1 200.00c The additional costs for the new head is R 6 700.00c The total final costs for the cylinder head project will be R 15 000.00c In Gauteng I use a specific supplier, CCA. The price difference between them and the stealers amounts to R 4 000.00c, for a new head. Importing from the UK, with the £/R exchange rate, import duties, shipping etc, it is not worth the cost, as the cost saving gets gobbled up by all the importation costs. So, yes, let's all hope this will be the end of my and my Tdi's "head" drama. I did a quick calculation, and based on the purchase price, one year ago, and adding all my expenses to date (new head), I am still within the resale value of my Discovery, but, after this, the scale is going to start moving in the opposite direction, albeit the fact that I have had the use of her for one year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimAttrill Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Which engineering shop did you use to pressure test the head? (Just so I know who not to use). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thys Posted April 7, 2008 Author Share Posted April 7, 2008 Which engineering shop did you use to pressure test the head? (Just so I know who not to use). Jim, the Engineering shop who dit the head uses a subbie to do the pressure tests. I will find the details, and PM to you. Someone asked me if one of the sleeves did'd crack. Is this possible with the Tdi's, as I cannot "see" any sleeve cracks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridaT Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Jim, the Engineering shop who dit the head uses a subbie to do the pressure tests. I will find the details, and PM to you.Someone asked me if one of the sleeves did'd crack. Is this possible with the Tdi's, as I cannot "see" any sleeve cracks? If by sleeve you mean cylinder liner, yes it is possible for them to crack but it is very rare in a TDI. FridaT www.turner-engineering.co.uk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimAttrill Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Hi Frida, nice to see you here. AFAIK the 300Tdi does not have sleeves unless they have been fitted instead of a rebore? In my tool shed I have a set of sleeves and a set of genuine K&S std pistons - this is cheaper than the oversize K&S pistons here, at least. Of course, the machining costs are higher. My Tdi now has 260k kms and is due for an overhaul soon. I am thinking of taking it out to 2.8 with the crank rods and pistons from the Brazilian 2.8. Do you think this will work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Henson Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 I was always under the impression that a crack test is left longer than 15-minutes - overnight I thought. I also thought that a visible crack (on the head face), could be repaired. Les. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridaT Posted April 7, 2008 Share Posted April 7, 2008 Hi Frida, nice to see you here. AFAIK the 300Tdi does not have sleeves unless they have been fitted instead of a rebore? In my tool shed I have a set of sleeves and a set of genuine K&S std pistons - this is cheaper than the oversize K&S pistons here, at least. Of course, the machining costs are higher. My Tdi now has 260k kms and is due for an overhaul soon. I am thinking of taking it out to 2.8 with the crank rods and pistons from the Brazilian 2.8. Do you think this will work? Sorry Jim, perhaps I could have been clearer, I meant cylinder bore. The 300TDI does not have a sleeves (or liners) fitted from the factory. We have never laid eyes on a 2.8 so can't comment on that one. Only ever sold a couple of heads for the engine type. FridaT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimAttrill Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 The importer here thinks the crank will fit the std 300tdi block. But the block has to be bored out to 103mm from the std 97mm. We are going to try it with a scrap block, when we get the time. If the bits fit, it will cost the equivalent of a thousand quid and If we subtract the cost of the K&S pistons, that's not a lot. So the moot point is whether the block can be bored out or sleeved to 103mm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thys Posted April 10, 2008 Author Share Posted April 10, 2008 Back to my Tdi's head saga. The new head was engineered free of charge, and I fitted the head yesterday. So far no problems, all the funnies, after installing the old head disappeared. I also went to the trouble of buying an analogue temperature gauge, as the Discovery's gauge is a "switching" type, cold to normal and then, a sudden jump to the red zone. The same applies to the "Little Back Box". It will sound an alarm it the temperature exceeds a value, which should tell you to stop and investigate. Based on what happened to me, I've decided to monitor the actual head temperature, not the water, as the measuring points as designed, does not immediately pick up the problem if the water gets pushed into the expansion tank. With an analogue gauge on the head, one can see the temperature rising, telling you alls not well..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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