300TDI Problems

[D6JAY]

Hi All

Sorry for my 2nd post being a long one, I’m just scratching my head about this problem and not getting anywhere.

I bought my 300tdi around 2 weeks ago to replace my Pajero, travelling back from picking it up it over heated and started chucking water out the expansion bottle, anyway filled it up and travelled the rest of the way home with no problems.  After doing some initial checking I found the rad had seen better days so I bought a new rad and stat fitted them and all seems ok.

Anyway, all seemed fine after the rad change and I travelled 150 miles to Wales on Saturday with no problems and with the temp staying just under half way.
Travelling around 1 mile into the first green lane I suddenly had no hot air from the heaters....temp stayed normal. So stopped, had a look under the bonnet and found water coming out of the header tank, took the cap off and the water was luke warm?!
Topped up and carried on going to a more convenient place to stop.
Still no heat out of heaters and water constantly coming out of the expansion tank but no change in temp on the gauge.
Stopped again, took the rad and stat filling point bolts out, topped up with water through the rad (took quite a bit) then topped up through the stat housing then topped up through the expansion tank so I assume this would have bled the system properly??

Started on my way again and constantly having the same problem!
I did note that the water pipes were very hard while the engine was running, harder than other cars that iv owned?!
Tried the obvious hgf test, expansion cap off and rev the engine and no violent bubbles but as the engine heated up the water level rose until it crept over the top.......but the water in the expansion tank didn’t get warm! 
I have no water in oil and oil in water etc etc.
All day I had no hot air from heaters.
Travelled home and started to get heat from the heaters, checked a couple of times at services and no water coming out of the expansion tank but quite a bit of pressure in the pipes, opened the cap to let the pressure out and no water escaped.
Temp stayed just under the half way mark all the way home.

I thought i would give it a try yesterday, so travelled along the motorway for 5 miles with no probs, went laning for around 5 miles with no probs but then stepped onto the motorway to travel back and over heated straight away.

Any ideas?

[Mud-muncher1]

Sounds like airs getting in from somewhere, it could be a pipe thats split and pulling in air or worst case head gasket has gone as i had a similar problem that was on going for 3 months and mine was that the head itself had a hair-line crack in it, but by the sounds of yours, i would say that the gaskets been on the way out and finally give up the ghost,

Hope this helps and you find the problem soon, Jav.

[wvanman]

it sounds like air in the cooling system    there is a bleed plug (on the top of the radiator)   with engine running and expasion cap off  unscrew the bleed plug   and let the air come out  (keep an eye on the Bottle level too)   once air out tighten bleed screw, check water collant level      and   jobs a fish !!   hope that helps

[bogie]

Your water is presurising,go to an engine reconditioners and ask them to sniff the water!. They insert a special probe which has chemicals in it that changes colour ,green if i remember right,this will indicate exhaust gases in the water. Basically head gone or head gasket.£5 for a shiff. You must have the head presure tested!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ChrisW70]

Are you losing any water anywhere?
Check the twoflowand return rubber hoses from the back of the block to the bulkhead as these can sometimes pin hole. Is the water pump ok?
Could be an airlock or worst case the head has gone between the water jacket and the exhaust - is there any steam from the exhaust?

There's a bit of a procedure to bleed the cooling system, take the plastic caps out from the top of the rad and the thermostat housing, top up the rad until the there are no bubbles, refit the blanking plug then top up at the thermostat housing until full. Keep an eye on the expansion bottle while topping up at the thermostat housing.
Make sure the heater controls are both set to full heat before topping up.
Run the engine to get up to temp and check in the expansion tank to see if the water is being pumped through.

[D6JAY]

Thanks for the swift replies.

My initial thought was head gasket or cracked head but the little check i did didn't show it, putting a rubber glove over the expansion tank hole and sealing with an elastic band, running the engine if it were the gasket or head it would be pressurising the water system and would blow the glove up??
I haven't noticed any water coming out of pipes or leaks, only water leaking out seems to be out of the expansion bottle.

Chris (Hi ) the water pump was replaced around 9 months ago when the guy replaced the head gasket.  Is there any way that the pump operation can be checked?
No i don't have any steam from the exhaust either

I checked the stat operation this evening and its working how it should.

The thing I'm still finding strange is the fact that the water pipes to and from the rad were hot but the water in the expansion tank was luke warm?!  This changed yesterday when i did finally over heat and the water in the tank was piping hot!

 :roll:

[les baty]

hi mate you are having exactly the same problems as i had with a 300tdi, i would bet my last quid on the head being cracked. mine would run like a swiss watch without the thermostat in but as soon as i replaced it , it started dumping the water out the bottle, i also found that with the heater pipes one was hot and one was cold which left me scratching my head. it turned out that the crack in the head was only opening up when the engine had reached normal temp, hense it was running ok without the thermostat . have you got the right head gasket??? you need to measure the pistons and get a gasket to suit, also i wouldnt fit a cheap water pump, im sorry its not good news but its not the end of the world either, good luck with it

[bogie]

If you have overheated it like you said,it will be at least the head gasket gone because the heads bend like bananas,should know done anoth of them. Just spend £5 having it sniffed and at least it will put you in some direction and a little piece of mind about your head. It takes 5 minutes.

[D6JAY]

hi mate you are having exactly the same problems as i had with a 300tdi, i would bet my last quid on the head being cracked. mine would run like a swiss watch without the thermostat in but as soon as i replaced it , it started dumping the water out the bottle, i also found that with the heater pipes one was hot and one was cold which left me scratching my head. it turned out that the crack in the head was only opening up when the engine had reached normal temp, hense it was running ok without the thermostat . have you got the right head gasket??? you need to measure the pistons and get a gasket to suit, also i wouldnt fit a cheap water pump, im sorry its not good news but its not the end of the world either, good luck with it

Hmm, thats not what i wanted to hear :(

The head gasket thats on is the 3 hole so im assuming that this would be the correct one. 

I could understand if it were getting up to temp then doing it but i have travelled for 300 miles up to temp and its not done it?!

Im going to get it pressure tested tonight, this should give me the outcome  :)

Thanks for all your help :D

[les baty]

If you have overheated it like you said,it will be at least the head gasket gone because the heads bend like bananas,should know done anoth of them. Just spend £5 having it sniffed and at least it will put you in some direction and a little piece of mind about your head. It takes 5 minutes.

i had mine sniffed and it showed nothing, how good are these tests???

[bogie]

If your not looseing compression,water,oil to the out side of the engine you have to look to the inside. Oil in water,water in oil,compression in oil or compression in water. Sniffin the water locates exhaust gases which you can see!

[weeone]

Have you bleed it properly? from the plastic cap above the thermostat?

It sounds like it's airlocked :)

[D6JAY]

Not been on here much as iv been working non stop on it! 
I 'think' (...HOPE...) that i have found the problem.  I took the head to the specialist and it was banana shaped, i cant find a receipt from the previous owner saying that he had the head skimmed when he did the gasket so im hoping he put it on in banana form.  I also noticed that the head bolts were not as tight as i thought they should be!
While stripped down i found that there was around 2mm of gunk stuck onto the inlet valves which is probably from the egr, so it wouldnt be giving the best performance!  The head specialist also told me that the valves were passing so iv spent hours grinding the valves in properly!
I also decided to change the timing belt and found a leaking crank seal.....so in a way im glad i did have to strip it down!
Im hoping to have it built back up by the weekend so fingers crossed it will be ok and i can get off road again!!

[bogie]

What can i say!