Well, my head gasket blew.... or did it? I have a 1989 Townace 4WD (that's another issue!) Diseasel, and yesterday as my girlfriend was driving, enjoying a tailwind through hilly country, she saw lots of steam and lost all power, like Superman confronted with Kryptonite.
As she noticed the steam, I saw the temperature gauge drop to zero then flick to Max; it had been rock steady until then.
Now, the unusual bits:
She lost ALL power. It didn't start firing on thre, two, or even one of the cylinders.
The engine was hot, to the extent that at first the starter motor wouldn't crank the engine, but once it cooled down it turns smoothly with no apparent attempt to fire.
The temperature gauge still goes to Max after a night's cooling, once the ignition's turned on.
My experience with head gaskets suggests that I should get some attept to fire on 3 or 2 pots, and/or some lumpiness as the engine rids inself of ingested water. This isn't happening.
Whaddya reckon, folks?
The other, possibly related (but probably not) problem is that I can't get it to go into 4WD, which was another problem on the same trip. Yes, I can lock the hubs, no I can't get any result from the 4WD pushbutton. It used to work (testing, when I didn't need it!) but left us struggling up a windy and wet gravel road which we wouldn't have attempted in 2WD.
Ah well, sell a V - as the French don't quite put it.
Any ideas?
Cheers
Arthur
- (#9323) Arthur Toms, 29 Jun 03 3:53
Arthur, sorry to hear about your problems. you can check the cylinder compression if you can get a faster crank speed - should be 427psi and no lower than 356psi, you will need an adaptor from a local garage and a pressure gauge too of course , the other test is a radiator pressure loss test , which involves screwing a dummy cap on and pumping it up - then waiting to see if the pressure falls - in this case the leak could would be through your headgasget.
just have a look to see if your timing belt is loose for interest , its rare but it might have jumped a tooth . regards jim
- (#9324) j adgo, 29 Jun 03 10:40
Hello Arthur
Let me see if I have understood the sequence of events correctly.
First you could not engage 4wd on a steep gravel road, then you saw lots of steam, then you lost all power? Did the steam and power loss happen on the same gravel hill? or was it much later? or within a few minutes?
If the starter failed to turn the engine until it had cooled down, the likelihood is it’s a seized engine. If its now turning over, but not firing, does it sound like it used to? or does it seem to turnover much quicker, with a higher pitch sound?
“I saw the temperature gauge drop to zero then flick to Max” You are not the first person to have said something like this, but I’m afraid I can’t put forward a reason for it yet. If the gauge still registers max, then my guess is that the overheat has broken the temperature sending unit.
If the overheat was hot enough to seize the engine, then it may have evaporated some of the fuel in the line. So you could check that the fuel is getting to the injectors, and if not, try priming the fuel lines. Its also worth checking the timing belt. Strip down the front of the engine and remove the timing belt covers. Is the timing belt in one piece? if so does it have missing teeth? if not is the timing still set up correctly?
dave Bright
- (#9402) dave Bright, 30 Jun 03 7:05
The timing belt theory hold some weight here, as it also drives the watert pump on the diesels, if the waterpump has not been turning then an overheat would shortly ensue. Perhaps the water pump has seized & caused the belt to jump/slip/lose teeth.
I have to ask the question, where abouts did the steam seem to be coming from? was it rad cap? radiator? head? expansion tank? this may help us diagnose the problem, to be honest it doesn't sound like the usual head gasket problem we hear about on here.
Regards Rob.
- (#9403) Rob Drinkwater, 30 Jun 03 14:59
Took the beast to a diesel specialist a mere 45 miles from home after about a 50-mile tow (broke a towrope along the way...) and he ran a compression check. No compression. Head was removed, checked, and pronounced dead, with a price of $NZ1500 (about 500 Stg) for a new one. We've decided that a second-hand 3-month guaranteed replacement at around $1800 will be a better bet overall as the present one seems to have been cooked fairly well - possibly not for the first time!.
It just goes to show once again that diesel symptoms are not the same as petrol ones - I've had a lot of blown petrol head gaskets and the engine always tries to keep firing.
And no, the 4-wheel drive refusal was a separate incident. That's what you get for taking on an old vehicle at a better-than-attractive price, I suppose, though while I expected to have to spend money on it I wasn't expecting to have to do so much so soon!
Thanks for your thoughts, folks....
- (#9404) Arthur Toms, 2 Jul 03 0:45