Mud-club

Vehicle & Technical => Discovery => Topic started by: Disco_Dennis on January 03, 2010, 18:40:31

Title: Head gasket gone again......
Post by: Disco_Dennis on January 03, 2010, 18:40:31
Head gasket's gone again on my HS2.8 engined Disco.  :cry:

That's the 3rd one in 2 years!   :shock:

I bough the car with a blown head gasket originally (the idiot I bought it from drove it 50 miles with no water in the engine!   :shocked: ), and then rebuilt the engine myself using wherever possible OE parts.

The original head was skimmed & tested out fine, the first HG I fitted was a Britpart one (multi-layer metal jobbie - Feb 08), so when it went the next time (October 2008) I fitted an Elring (which is OE) and a new head (even though the original wasn't cracked it had already been skimmed twice).

So, what do I do.....  

I'm sooooo tempted to ditch the HS and install an Isuzu or Diahatsu 2.8 instead.   :undecided:

Don't want to go to a 200 or 300 'cos of the lower power.   =;

As you can imagine, it's really starting to Piddle me off.....  :evil:

Title: Re: Head gasket gone again......
Post by: BobtailBogey on January 03, 2010, 18:43:02
I can highly recommend the Diahatsu 2.8 TD i had one a while back in a RRC with the pump tweaked and was highly impressed with the amount of power it had..

Definatly something wrong somewhere if your blowing that many gaskets......
Title: Re: Head gasket gone again......
Post by: Range Rover Blues on January 03, 2010, 18:45:19
Got to agree, I'm having a similar run of bad luck with a 300 TDi, I've just had the head (which was after the first head gasket failed) skimmed, it needed 14 thou :-k

This will be the 3rd atempt at fixing it, though I strongly suspect it ran low on water, the pump on the 300 TDi is very high and I think that's one fo it's problems.
Title: Re: Head gasket gone again......
Post by: Disco_Dennis on January 03, 2010, 18:58:21

Thing is, I know why the Britpart HG failed.

Loss of water of a period of time due to leaky pipes coupled with a blocked radiator all conspired together to knacker it.   :roll:

I'm taking the head to be skimmed (if it's warped, otherwise it'll just a a damn good polish!) & pressure tested tomorrow - if it checks out OK I'll probably hope for 3rd time lucky.  :pale:

Thing is, I like the power and torque this thing produces.  I might fix it, run it for a few months, and then do an engine swap..... I dunno.... maybe I should buy an SJ?  :-$   :->  :^o
Title: Re: Head gasket gone again......
Post by: Bobtail on January 03, 2010, 19:14:19

Thing is, I know why the Britpart HG failed.

Loss of water of a period of time due to leaky pipes coupled with a blocked radiator all conspired together to knacker it.   :roll:

I'm taking the head to be skimmed (if it's warped, otherwise it'll just a a damn good polish!) & pressure tested tomorrow - if it checks out OK I'll probably hope for 3rd time lucky.  :pale:

Thing is, I like the power and torque this thing produces.  I might fix it, run it for a few months, and then do an engine swap..... I dunno.... maybe I should buy an SJ?  :-$   :->  :^o

Have you checked the block?

It may have a high or low spot on it causing your problems :-k

I'm No expert but just a thought

May be worth checking [-o<
Title: Re: Head gasket gone again......
Post by: Range Rover Blues on January 03, 2010, 19:26:35
I'm tempted to think a skimmed block is better than a new one anyway, by using it you stress relieve the casting.

Anyway, a good machinist will only take off what's needed, so if it's straigh tit'll get a tickle but if it's warped then it'll get brought back into true.
Title: Re: Head gasket gone again......
Post by: muddydisco on January 03, 2010, 19:28:40
Is the cylinder block warped.    Mite need decking
Title: Re: Head gasket gone again......
Post by: Disco_Dennis on January 03, 2010, 20:19:03
Never thought about the block, although i've sanded the block each time (wet & dry) to get rid of any crap left over from the old gasket... - it's cast iron, though, isn't it?  :huh:  :-.  :?

I'll get the rule out and have a look tomorrow after I've dropped the head off at C&F in Henlow....    8-[
Title: Re: Head gasket gone again......
Post by: Disco_Dennis on January 04, 2010, 15:47:26
Well, I've prepared and checked the block and it's as flat as flat, so no problem there.  :clap:

Just wait for the parts to arrive tomorrow & I can start putting it back together again....  :dance:

That is as long as the head's OK.....  [-o<


Title: Re: Head gasket gone again......
Post by: john656 on January 04, 2010, 18:39:31
Hope Ive not missed something above & I'm thinking outloud so bare with me, but is it the head gasket? what are / is the symptom. Check the block and maybe peek down the bores to see if its cracked??
Has the WP impeller s**ged its self?
Thermostat?
Restricted flow in the rad?

Any use
ATB

John
Title: Re: Head gasket gone again......
Post by: Disco_Dennis on January 05, 2010, 18:32:33
Oh yes, definitely head gasket, put the 'sniffer' on the expansion tank - liquid went green/yellow after only about 20 secs!  :shocked: 

It had gone on Cyl4 - spotted it as soon as I'd removed the head on Sunday.   :roll:

The head has pressure tested OK, and has had 5thou taken off it to make it nice and flat again  :grin:

Just waiting for new head bolts to arrive (tomorrow am) and It'll all (hopefully!) be back together by midday  :dance:

Good job, too - I'm off to Scotland in it on Friday morning.....!

SimplePortal 2.3.5 © 2008-2012, SimplePortal