Cracked head? K seal?

[marky]

I noticed that my 300tdi was over the red on the temp guage when I got home from a short trip on saturday evening. Completely forgot on sunday until I made another short trip on sunday and it happened again! The expansion tank only had about 1" in the bottom so I topped it up and trawled through the forums to see what info I could find. Yesterday I flushed the radiator and tested the t/stat and took it out for about 4 miles and again it was in the red, I left it in the drive and got back on the computor! Out of nescesity I took it to work today (another 4 miles and back) and again there is only about 1" in the expansion tank. There are no obvious water leaks so I was expecting the head gasket to have gone, although the oil seems fine. A friend of a friend has just been to have a look and all he did was put his hand over the tank opening while the engine was running and confidently told me that the head is cracked and it can be fixed with a shot of K-seal!!!!! What do all you knowledgable chaps think of this?

[peasey]

hi mate,i have used k seal but only to sort out my thumb size hole in my rad on my mrs sharan and i must admit i thought it was pretty good but it was in a rad not a head.I know that it says on the bottle that it seals cracks in cylinder heads and gaskets but to be honest im doubtfull,i could well be wrong about it but the diesel compresion is pretty high and i would worry about it just opening up any cracks again.Another thing is(im sure someone can tell you if im wrong)how can your mate be sure that its the head by placing his hand over the expansion tank,he must be felling a pressure build up i know but gaskets can go and not leave any visable trace,i had this on my 110,no mayonaise in the oil at all.If i were you i would remove the head and investigate properly as you need the motor to be reliable better safe than sorry mate.hope this helps(fingers crossed)

[marky]

Its not that i doubt this mans skills as hes quite a wizard with motors ( and would of earned a few quid sorting mine as i've never ventuered inside an engine!) its just that it goes against most of the things ive read over the last few days where people are replacing heads/ rebuilding engines etc to sort this sort of problems. This is my first LR and i'm really enjoying it but i'm now finding out that using a 4x4 for fun is quite an expensive hobby (new turbo, several shocks and several other things yet to be fixed). The K-seal solution would really suit my budget right now!

[marky]

Could I use K-seal to find out first, would it do any harm? Isn't it supposed to fix gaskets too? How much for a test and where? Henry where did you get your k-seal, do AT Johnsons sell it?

[Les Henson]

Ceramic motor seal is more likely to fix it - that's what it's designed for. I used it on a 4.6 V8 with success.


Les.

[BeJay]

Ceramic motor seal is more likely to fix it - that's what it's designed for. I used it on a 4.6 V8 with success.


Les.

this is pretty good stuff, but be careful if you decide to try it out as it is NOT compatible with antifreeze, you will need to make sure you have drained all the antifreeze out fist and just use plain water for the application, then allow it to completely dry out before refilling with antifreeze mixture, check out this link

[marky]

Thanks for all the helpfull replies so far. I went to my local motor factors this afternoon (AT Johnsons) and it was out of stock, but they will have some for me tomorrow. If the K seal doesn't work i will probably try the ceramic motor seal next, as thats all I can afford for a while! I'll keep you posted

[SteveGoodz]

Marky,

I cooked my engine on Sunday (see separate thread) and am having the same symptoms as you. On a run to Stoke from Bristol today it got there okay cruising at motorway speeds but on the way back the temp gauge went through the roof ~ almost dry expansion tank. Topped up and limped home at truck speed and it was almost empty again.

I bought some K-seal on eBay and it was delivered today ~ will be going into engine tomorrow so we can compare notes  :lol:

[marky]

Got some k-seal yesterday and put it straight in and topped up with water, took it out to see and was into the red within 3 minutes, let it cool a bit and went a bit further, let it cool again and limped home! Went and got another bottle today and tried agan but with the same results as yesterday. The truck didn't want to start though this morning and gave a little pop before firing up. When I got home there was coolant coming out of the expansion top and i noticed a few drops of water had formed on the passenger side mat, so I looked a bit more and the foam behind the circuler cut out in the footwell was wet. Could this be pointing towards a blockage or air lock in the matrix perhaps, or is it more likely to be a serious head / gasket problem, all three or even worse?

[lurch_917]

 high mark ive just had the same prolem and i thought it was the head gasket but no water in the oil ???? lifted the head off and found my head gasket was shoot and as for k seal my dad put it in his volvo and instead of blowing a seal or gasket it blew a hole the size of a 10p in the block not good

[marky]

Is taking the head off/ replacing head gaskets a difficult procedure as I have no experience in working inside an engine? I would like to attempt it, and looking at it it seems quite involved but there is no way I can afford for anyone else to do it. I'm willing to have a go if its not too complicated requiring specialst tools etc. and if thats definatly the cause of the problems, if not it willl just have to sit on the drive, wasting away the new tax disc for a while!

[peasey]

hi mate sorry to hear that the sealer didnt work but it was worth a go,i cant really comment on a 200 head but i have done one on a 19j engine and it was reasonably straight forward.Get yourself a haynes manual or a land rover work shop manual a good socket set a set of ring spanners and the only real special tool is a torque wrench.I think that there are different types of gasket so maybe one of the more experianced lads maybe able to point you in the right direction there.i think i might be right in saying that most get the head checked by a enginerring firm for flatness and pressure (cracks as they are not always visable)but i just check for flatness myself and why they are there they also renew the cam belt and tensioners.if you follow the manual and bag and lable bolts and bits up you will be fine.its a shame you are not closer as i would lend my(limited)knowledge as i have loads of time on my hands due to my shattered right leg.I wish you luck bruv and remember even the greatest mechanic had to start somewhere

[marky]

Thanks peasey, maybe you could still help me out.l I thought I'd have a go and so far so good, nearly there but the only thing is theres a stud for the inlet manifold (the bottom one at the back!) that wouldn't come out. Any tricks to remove this?

[peasey]

Is the inlet manifold still on or is it off?if its off the way i would do it would be to put a nut on it so it covers the thread a clout it with a hammer as if it were a nail then wind the nut further down and put another nut on and lock the two nuts together(twist one clockwise and the other anti clockwise)then try to undo,if you match the flats up and can get one spanner on both all well and good,if that wont work try some small stilsons on it its going to chew up the thread but i would imagine that the are pretty cheap to replace.just in case you are concerned about the hitting with a hammer bit thats just to break the seal of crap and rubbish thats built up over time,you can get the same effect by doing the nut method and tightening it but if the stud is tight to the bottom of the hole you could end up shering it off but if you do dont panic you can get some things called easy outs only cheap around £10 and real easy to use,hope this helps mate.

[marky]

Sorry for the confusion, its actually the last stud on the exhaust/turbo manifold which I havent removed as I thought it may be ok to just take out the studs! do I have to remove the turbo as well?

[peasey]

dont worry mate its confusing first time around!!!now im only going on what the haynes manual says about your engine now it says to remove the turbo charger but it should in my mind come out in one lump with the exhaust manifold unless you have issues with space around it.mate to be honest im clutching at straws a little here and one of the other guys might be able to help you,its tricky to deciphere the haynes manaul when you havent got the lump in front of you,and a heavey head from 2 many beers but it sounds like your doing well mate.just a quick thought if you are still struggling with this bolt/stud soak it in wd40 or similar and go and have a cold one yourself :lol:

[Les Henson]

How to remove a 300TDi cylinder head.

[ul]http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=8179[/url]


Les.

[BeJay]

Hi Les,
.........re-did the link for you as it didn't seem to work from yours,                here it is
.................  cheers, Jack

[Les Henson]

Thanks Jack - my crop spoiling agin :(


Les.

[marky]

Excellent. I just got up after a night shift and thought I'd have a quick look on here with my up of tea and saw the replies to my post. Thank you very much Les and Jack, very helpful, much better than the haynes manual (refer to section....!) All but one of the studs on the exhaust manifold came out with the nuts and the exhaust still feels fairly firm. So when I've finished my tea I'll go and give it a wiggle and  a bit of gentle persuasion and hopefully the head should be free. Thanks again chaps

[marky]

Thanks to all the help so far. There was a nut underneath on the centre exhaust manifold which I hadn't removed :doh: The head is now removed and the first thing I noticed was about 1" of coolant in the back cylinder. I've also found FIVE visable cracks and there seems to be about half mm gap in the middle when I put a straight edge to it. Can this be repaired or should I be looking for a replacement?

[marky]

Sorry about the pic, I'm still trying to work out how to post them !

[solihull-mick]

Dont waste your money, go for a replacment head, k seal wont last,  [-X

[peasey]

looks like thats seen better days mate :'(im with solihull mick on this one,get a new one fella then at least you can start with a clean slate.theres nothing worse than hoping it will be fine and it letting you down again but look on the bright side you now know how to remove the head and inspect it as well.at least you have got to the bottom of the probs bruv best of luck in your search for a replacement

[marky]

Where should I look for a replacement? My buget is a bit tight at the moment so is it worth going to a scrap yard or is that just asking for trouble?

[peasey]

theres a couple on ebay mate,i had a look on rimmer bros site and they do em but they aint cheap but they are new well recon anyway,im sure the guys with more experiance on here can tell you wheres the best place to go.The trouble with breakers(round here anyway)is they normaly dont split a known good engine so you might have to buy the whole lot and your going to be going down the unknown road,but with that said most offer a warrenty of sorts