It's my birthday and I can cry if I want too.

[muddyjames]

And believe me I really want too.

Had a great weekend with my mates in Chesterfield working on the canal. Driving home today in the disco I went up a steep hill on the M1, over took a lorry, got to the top, temp guage went up to red, through the red mark and beyond by the time I could safely kill the engine. Water everywhere. It blew the cap off the radiator resevior.

I now have veg oil in the rad tank some how and the engine possibly siezed or a warped head and most probably head gasket gone. So I spent my birthday sat on the bank of the M1 in the rain for 2 hours waiting for a rac man for the 1st hour to tell me I needed a low loader, (I told him that!) then another hour for a lorry. Saved on veg oil coming home I guess.

So now I have a disco that maybe broken for spare parts. What will be thrown at me next?

[Jake]

Happy Birthday James
Get yourself on ebay, there's plenty of 300 heads on there if you need one
Failing that, give the best 4x4 company in the South West a call
we They might have one in the take off pile  ;)

[kizz81]

happy birthday for yesterday, hope you get it sorted

cheers kieran

[4 landies]

 Without trying to ypset anybody , Dont bank on the problem being just the head.

 Same thing happened to me and needed a complete head, new pistons and rings, a rebore, crank re-grinding and new rad amongst a few other bits and pieces.

 Total bill ended up at £2500, expensive I know but the landie was only 8 years old so was to good to break.

[muddyjames]

mate of mine is guessing fuel pump. he said why would fuel be in the rad bottle from a head gasket, that would be oil i the water. He has a point.

I will look into prices of repair, breaking up but it is in good nic T box, auto box and chassis and price of another engine second hand.

[LiftedDisco]

Hi James

When you know what you need, suggest you try Mark Smith in Bicester - he deals in little other than RR, Disco etc bits.

Alternatively - Chris from Northants MC has a shed full of bits and has a 300 due in for breaking later this week.

All the best mate...

Rob

[muddyjames]

thanks very much for the tip. A breaking 300disco sounds like it maybe very useful.

For the first time in Tesco today I actually walked past the veg oil and didnt look at the price.  I did see the shelf was full for the first time in ages too typicaly.  :roll:

[bilge rat]

happy birthday , you'll sort it . might even just  be a case of a head skim . iff the fuell pump has failed i would have thought you would have fuell in the sump , wouldn't have thought it would caused a over heating problem...let us know what ya find. alan.....

[muddyjames]

Here is my birthday "celebration" photo.



Spot the pool of water on the floor too  ::)

[muddyjames]

I phoned up the mechanic today who used to do all the landy stuff as he is a landy ace and got told a quote.

He reckons certainly a new head fro the temp it went to, new head gasket and possibly a new lift pump. Need to transport it on something to get to a workshop too. He reckons I would just about get change from £1000.

so heres the thing. Is it worth repairing, breaking up, selling as a non runner or buy a donnor engine and fit that or for 1k get the engine rebuilt and find some nice people to help change the engine?  ;)

So many options. none of them I want to do except sell it at this point in time.  :'(

[muddyjames]

I have seen this on ebay. Only a few miles from me and I have a trailer that should just about hold the weight of it!

How much is it worth?
how easy is it to do an engine swap?
would it be ok or the fact it has only done a few hours on a bench be an issue with rusting inside?


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/land-rover-300tdi-engine-discovery-90-110-range-rover_W0QQitemZ200222087180QQihZ010QQcategoryZ31348QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[kizz81]

if i were you i would spend the money on making the engine and everything good because then you will have a good runner that you will be able to keep for along time, thats what i would do

good luck in getting it sorted

cheers kieran

[bilge rat]

he cant say a new head just from the temp going up , get it tested and or even skimmed . might be alot cheaper than sourcing a head, iff the head is removed youll see iff there is any damage to the pistons or any thing but to be honest you would have to really have to cook it to damage a piston, did or was it runnig on 4 cyls when you pulled up . did it restart when it had cooled down,  dont just right it off.. alan...

[bilge rat]

just seen this , worth keeping an eye on too. alan...http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LAND-ROVER-300-TDI-CYLINDER-HEAD_W0QQitemZ180238350016QQihZ008QQcategoryZ31348QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

[muddyjames]

he cant say a new head just from the temp going up , get it tested and or even skimmed . might be alot cheaper than sourcing a head, iff the head is removed youll see iff there is any damage to the pistons or any thing but to be honest you would have to really have to cook it to damage a piston, did or was it runnig on 4 cyls when you pulled up . did it restart when it had cooled down,  dont just right it off.. alan...

Wouldnt know if it was running on 4 or 1 tbh. It did restart when RAC man arrived and revved well with more water in and the temp guage sat on normal. There was alot of bubbles in the rad tank but I think that was the air coming out the system? It wouldnt start once I got home off the lorry though.