300 TDI engine - rebuild or replace?

[Off Road Toad]

I have a reasonably tidy and amazingly rust free Disco 1 XS 300 tdi. Problem is we've done 230,000 unsympathetic miles in her and engine wise she's starting to feel a bit like a soho working girl if you get my drift. So - what are opinions on either re-building my engine vs taking a chance on a lower mileage second hand engine. I know only too well the pitfalls of buying a second hand engine, but being as how tired mine is i probably could only get a better one

Other option - re-build. I know it's a bit like how long is a piece of string but basically how much would i be looking at replacing in the engine in terms of parts? and do you think the cost would be justifiable vs replacing the engine?

Bit of an open ended question really, but look forward to your points of views.

Steve

[DagdaNI]

buy a un mot'd disco (approx £500)) with lower miles take what you want sell off what you can and scrap the rest

i did this and worked out that at mo im out of pocket around £40

so if it suits you its a good way as i got to drive it to check the stuff i needed

[ejparrott]

Best option, it gives you the chance to drive it too, maybe even push it hard round an off road site, see how it performs, then you'll know if its a good engine.

If you've done that many miles, then potentially you're into rebores, oversize pistons, maybe reground crank and OS shells, a friend had his 200 head refurbed for £700 in Rugby recently. You might of course just find that you need new rings. Until you do some testing or stripping, you won't reaslly know for certain.

[steve200TDi]

You could do a health check on your engine and do compression and leak tests on all four cylinders which may flag up something obvious, but as ejparrott say you could be looking at an expensive rebuild.

Steve

[mmgemini]

This intersts me as I'm looking at engine rebuilds.

My engines only done 227,000 miles but I've got a damaged crank where the oil pump fits.The bores apart from No four are in very good condition, well they were 31,000 miles ago. No four has ET problems caused by one of the top hats under the rocker breaking.

Now I've sourced a bottom half for the crank. BUT. the bores have rust marks where the cylinders have filled with water because it wasn't covered. Should the marks glaze bust out, then I'll use that block as it is, Should they not. Then I'll re-bore to the max to inprove the torque. I'm budgeting at least £1,000 for the job.

Had the crank not been damaged by the failing oil pump, then I wouldn't be thinking of looking into the engine, To me it's only a small mileage and if the engine has been looked after then I would expect many more miles..

[Les Henson]

I might know a teensy bit about this

I bought a 300TDi engine that had been both boiled and fried (well, it was only £50) - then set about making it like a nice, new one As you have a running engine that is basically ok, but is tired and gutless, then rebuilding it isn't mental money. Assuming that the engine is the problem and not associated components, such as injector pump, turbo, timing belt, etc, then you are looking at possibly rebore, decent set of pistons to match, valve regrind, timing gear set (not genuine) various bearing shells, seals, gaskets, etc. Mine went expensive because I had to buy a new head, then genuine or better than genuine components, plus Bosch starter and alternator., so cost me about £900 in the end. You'll be looking at maybe half of that and you will end-up with an engine that is almost as good as new.

Buy unknown second hand (low mileage means nothing at all), then you might be buying trouble.

Mike - any crank regrinder should be able to restore the oil pump flats on the crank nose. Still got to remove it though unfortunately. A new crank with as new oil pump still has lots of play in it, which is plainly ridiculous, but if you can supply the new oil pump drive flange with the damaged crank, then the regrinder will be able to make it a much better fit than new. I guess Land Rover thought that it didn't matter that the two rattled about right from new

Les.

[tjolliffe]

Ive got a 300 disco with 193,000 on the clock. Its a little 'clunky' i guess but no more gutless than any other Tdi i've driven! However I have given it a partial re-build which you could do.

I changed the big ends, piston rings and head gasket, used all standard size to avoid having to re-grind anything. All of this can be done with the engine in situe, so nice and easy.

I think the rings made the biggest difference to my engine, the old ones were nearly shot and had gone quite brittle. You could also put some new valves and seals ect. in the head whilst your at it, I didnt bother but may do it at some point.

I think everything only cost me about £50 and a days work. Could be worth a go with your engine? Could buy it another 30,000 miles or more.....

Tom

[mmgemini]

Thanks Les.

It actually makes sense to look at the block I have, it hasn't done many miles and was a good runner. The car it came from was torched for fun.

Using that engine means I can strip and rebuild and still have my Defender to run about in.

I might even look into a new head as mine has the short cracks by the injector holes.

I nkow how much the shells and pump are. How much is a rebore + pistons ? How much are the main bearing and big end bolts ?

[Les Henson]

I bought genuine pistons, which cost me (trade), £200, but there are suitable alternatives that are cheaper. Rebore should be around £25 per bore + VAT. Can't remember the price of bolts, etc, but I would guess £20-30.

I bought a Payen engine gasket set, which cost £72 I think, but that was every single gasket, O-ring, etc.

Les.

[mmgemini]

Les that's not bad prices.....Which head gasket did you use ? A proper one or the three bit one ?

I'm hoping to keep the engine running until late in the year. I want this project of ours finishing, or at least to a usable finish, then the engine