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200Tdi valve gear & cylinder head gasket failure


Marten

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The No. 4 valve stem cap split and detached on my 200Tdi engine. The increased valve rocker clearance allowed the cam follower to distort the brass slider which siezed in the slide, forcing the slide body up against the underside of the cylinder head, shearing the locating bolt on the way. Cam shaft seems fine, but slide body pressure against the head seems to have initiated a head gasket leak and a good deal of the engine coolant is now in the sump as an emulsion with the lub oil. This sticky grey goo is now right through the engine. Head is amazingly still flat and mechanical damage seems restricted to the No 4 slide assembly. I now need to clean up the engine prior to flushing with clean oil. Sump is off but has anyone successfully removed the ladder rack with the engine in-situ and the clutch housing in place? I really don't want to have to remove the engine from the Disco 1 which had a complete rebuild (including the engine) 10k miles ago (I renewed all the valve gear then, but kept the original valve caps! Bad decision!).

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Apart from dropping the sump, I wouldn't bother trying to get the engine further apart to clean the goo out. Just nip into your local tractor dealer for some "Universal tractor oil" (probably cheaper than flushing oil) and give it three or four oil changes after getting it up to running temp each time. you will soon get rid of the emulsion. Then change to your preferred brand of oil.

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Good tip! Many thanks.

Sadly, a more detailed inspection this morning has confirmed my suspicions that head gasket failure was unlikely to produce the rapid dump of coolant into the sump. It transpires that the "loose" cam follower has been pushed through the crankcase structure into the adjacent cylinder cooling gallery, allowing coolant under pressure to flow directly into the camshaft gallery. Quite a large hole, but well hidden from view without climbing on top of the engine block with a good light and a length of wire. I'm now into a replacement crankcase and total engine rebuild, so the original reason for this thread is negated.

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