reb78 Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 I need to renew the gasket between the head and the thermostat housing on my defender 200tdi engine. Question is, is this removeable without removing the head or the timing chest? The bolts for the housing sit right behind the timing chest/waterpump and if they are too long, i guess i wont get it off without removing the head or timing chest. I'm guessing head would be the easiest option if this is the case? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcan bomber Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 pretty sure you're removing the head, mainly because i've always snapped at least one bolt when i've undone them.. With the head off, drilling the bolt out is dead easy (at work). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reb78 Posted July 23, 2012 Author Share Posted July 23, 2012 ok. the three bolts will loosen - i cracked them off whilst it was hot as i thought theyd be more likely to come undone like that. Unfortunately it was too hot to do anything else! So will have to leave it till cold. Question now is, is there enough room to undo them or are they so long that they will hit the back of the timing chest.....? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 reckon, cylinder head off to change the stat to head gasket, the bolt below temp sender will interfere with the timing case, so it won't come out of the hole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reb78 Posted July 23, 2012 Author Share Posted July 23, 2012 What a silly design! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poohbear Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Having forgotten to fit the housing before putting the head back on in the past, I can confirm the bolts are too long to do it once the engine is built up! And yes it is a stupid design. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reb78 Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 Right. The bolts are 3mm too long to come out with everything in place. Really silly!!! I figured that the bit of the water pump/timing chest that they butt onto is where the bolts go through (so quite a meaty bit). The water pump bolts do not go all the way through that bit of the housing either. So......... a careful morning with a dremel, a file and my air cut off tool and i ground 1.5mm off of the back of the timing chest and the same off of the head of the bolts. The result was i got it out without removing the head (although it was tight at this stage). I then shortened the bolts by about 2mm as well. Then, they easily fitted in the space provided they were offered up inserted into the housing. Shortening them by 2mm hardly made any difference to the length that was inserted and now it means that this job can be repeated fairly easily, if need be, in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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