Three weeks ago, just before a long trip to a friends wedding, I noticed coolant dripping off the bottom of the bell housing. I replaced the radiator cap with a zero pressure one, and low and behold, no leak, so off we went. After our journey, I noticed that the coolant was gradually turning darker with each trip it made, and was obviously getting sooty. After 3 weeks of expecting the worst, my mechanic and I removed the head for inspection.
I had hoped that as I was running on waterless coolant, I may have been spared the badly cracked banana head syndrome, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I had. The cause of my woes was indeed just the gasket, not the head or block. The gasket is well and truly blown at the back, which was the cause of the coolant leaking down the gearbox bell housing, and at #4 cylinder, which was causing the sooty coolant scenario.
My celebrations were soon cut short however, when my mechanic pointed out the deep valve indentations to all 4 cylinders. It would appear that at some time in its life, the engine has snapped the cam belt, and the subsequent repair was to rebuild the head, without skimming it, and leaving the damaged cylinders in place. To add to my woes, my mechanic pointed out that severe damage like this is likely to have gone further than the tops of the cylinders, which are also very loose in the block, so unless I want to bodge it and scarper, a new engine is needed. As I cannot bring myself to do this, I have decided to bite the bullet and get a recon engine.
Now I feel really hacked off that after all the time, expense, and trouble I have gone too, to preserve what I thought was a good engine, have all been for nothing.
Dave Bright (Bournemouth)
- (#10049) dave Bright (Bournemouth), 27 Jul 03 13:37
Dave, don't worry about the play in the pistons. It's normal, they only tighten up nicely when warm, and are tapered towards the top anyway. Of the bottom end was damaged you'd have known about it before now. Honestly, the cheaper repair isn't a bodge, just the minimum you can get away with. Stick the head back on it with a fresh gasket, or get it surfaced first. Then if you so desire search for a suitable recon (or s/h and do it yourself...)and it can be swapped in pretty easily when needed.
- (#10050) david miller, 27 Jul 03 13:47
Thank you David, that’s made me feel much better. The head looks ok, but is a bit pitted, I will get it pressure tested, and if it passes Ill have it skimmed. The block looks a bit pitted as well, but it could do with a good clean up anyway.
dave Bright
- (#10051) dave Bright, 27 Jul 03 15:30
Dave. Did your mechanic mean the "pistons" when he mentioned the "cylinders" and, does he know that the pistons have cast-in indents as standard, necessary for adequate clearance between valve and piston? Accidental deep valve indentations to all four pistons is very rare. When the cambelt breaks, and the camshaft stops turning, some of the valves will not be in a position to contact the pistons. It's worth checking that this is not the case with your engine and that any previous accidental damage is not as bad as you might think.
- (#10052) John Davis, 27 Jul 03 16:21
Dave,
Sorry to hear of your engine problems.
Can you re-use the gloop?
Clive
- (#10053) Clive, 28 Jul 03 1:48
Hello John, yes sorry my mechanic did say pistons. There are two slight indents ground into the top of the pistons, and a third bigger and deeper one, that has been smashed into it.
Someone recently pointed out that there were some marks on the head, to indicate the depth of skimming available. I cannot locate these marks anywhere, the only thing I can find is the number 2222 stamped on part of it. This number is not too deep, and I am thinking now that maybe it was skimmed, and skimmed to far?
Thanks for your sympathy Clive. The gloop, or NPG+ is as black as a hat, so I do not think I can reuse it. I am going to have to flush out the cooling system with water, and start all over again. Still the good point here is that despite a blown head gasket, there doesn’t appear to be any cracking or warping. I have also been running around in it for three weeks since it all started to go wrong with no signs of overheating at all.
dave Bright
- (#10054) dave Bright, 28 Jul 03 2:16
Dave - hope you are back on the road soon with the head gasket a distant memory
On the 3L Hiace engine there is a choice of 3 different head gaskets depending on the highest measured piston head protrusion from the block.
Is this an issue on townace models?
- (#10055) chris turner, 28 Jul 03 7:21
Just a note to say that my Townace is now fixed and back on the road.
The head gasket had failed at the back, which was the cause of the coolant leak, and had also started to blow on cylinder #4.
I had the head tested, and found that it was cracked. Now that was a big surprise, because I was using waterless coolant in the belief that its anti boil properties should have prevented excessive heat from causing this sort of damage. My mechanic seemed to think that because I was running it on zero pressure, it would still have caused hot spots on the engine, no matter what boiling point the coolant has. I can say though that the coolant didn't boil. The only indication that something was wrong happened on a long trip home. We stopped to get some refreshments and on our return to the bus, I noticed that the temp gauge was at ¾ when I turned the ignition on. What I can say though is that the gasket failed before the coolant started to turn black, so maybe I should have cancelled the trip to a friends wedding, and fixed the blown gasket. That may have saved me from the cost of a reconditioned head. Hindsight, don't you just love it.
Still its done now, so thanks to everyone for their advise and help on this posting. Thanks also go to Dave Miller for providing information on the glow plug connections, Ian Dunse for mapping out the vacuum pipes, and Dave Mason for archiving it all.
Regards
dave Bright
- (#10193) dave Bright, 13 Aug 03 3:10
Please can anyone help me with the timing marks for my 2ct. Also the wiring sequence for the main glow plug.
I can't remember which wire goes where, and there are so many.
Thanks
- (#10372) joe jackson, 25 Aug 03 15:17
Can anybody give advice on removing an auto box. I need to change the crankshaft damaged by the fan belt pulley. I have a manual on the engine but nothing on the gearbox. Is it possible to change the crankshaft with the engine in situ?
- (#10720) Mark, 6 Sep 03 14:03
Mark, this should really be a new thread, but... You should be able to change the crank in situ OK. I'm speaking from the experience of dropping the sump on my 4x4 to replace a damaged piston... To get the sump off, you'll need to pull the a/c pump off the side along with it's tensioner, plus the front antiroll bar and the removeable crossmember.
After that, the tranny shouldn't be too bad. Wires, hoses, linkages, starter; driveshaft(s), maybe exhaust (remember that if the driveshaft goes into the tranny on splines, drain the fluid first...)
Then you've got the bolts holding the torque converter to the flexplate- access plate behind sump, the bellhousing bolts and rear mount.
That should do it!
- (#10721) david miller, 7 Sep 03 2:13