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Have I killed my Landy? (plus garages in Birmingham)

40 miles into my journey today, maxed out at about 50mph on a dual carriageway, and I happened to notice in the mirror that the carriageway behind was being sucked into a white space-time continuum anomaly type affair.

Pulled over somewhat hurriedly and identified the culprit; my exhaust was chugging rich thick smoke out, mostly a nice clean white (ok, magnolia), but then occasional fits and sputters of oily black stuff. I looked under the bonnet and found much of the 3 litres of oil I'd fed the old dear with last night seemed to be on top of the engine rather than in it. Some consternation ensued and eventually I decided to let her cool down a bit, top up the oil, and try and make it back home. Blown head gasket, I thought.

Quarter of an hour later, started her up and started back and was surprised to find engine sounding normal, exhaust absolutely clear and clean. Got home fine once I found if I didn't push the engine too hard the exhaust stayed clean. 49mph most of the way (apart from the hills). She digested about a litre or so of oil en route but that's not far off normal.

So my question - knowing very little of diesel engines, does this still sound like a head gasket?

I'm afraid of handing her over to a garage as she's my only transport, so am going to try and do my own surgery if possib;e. Never had the head off an engine before, but haven't got too much to lose if she's going to die anyway, just hope the tools aren't going to cost too much :)

Thoughts / advice appreciated as ever - as well as recommendations for nice LR garages around south/central Birmingham

Thanks for reading,

h
Reply to
h
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Twas Thu, 01 Apr 2004 19:08:14 GMT when "h" put finger to keyboard producing:

I have found the first symptom of a blown head gasket to be overheating, and if you are in the middle of "I really really don't want to stop here" mid-1990's bosnia the following symptoms include steam and spluttering followed by a warped head and swearing whilst getting your foot stuck after kicking the plastic radiator grille.

-- Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.) ___________________________________________________________ "To know the character of a man, give him anonymity" - Mr.Nice.

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mrniceATmrnice.me.uk
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110 CSW 2.5(na)D___________________________________________________________

Reply to
Mr.Nice.

Not a Landie expert (yet), nor a Deisel expert, but this does sound like worn rings, or blocked crank case breather - ptressure in crankcase b

Reply to
Iain Ogilvie

When you say the oil was on top of the engine do you mean it was all over the top, or all round it and over the sides? If its a head gasket, in my experience it comes out of the sides, and sprays over the anciliaries and wing (alternator and starter on mine..). I also had a lot of trouble with mine heavy breathing, and popping the filler/breather off the rocker. then oil goes everywhere (including through the bulkhead if you have sufficient holes!) If yours was ejecting oil from the top, then it could be something other than the head gasket that caused lots of oil pressure. Ive never experienced either of these, but i imagine that a knackered piston or ring or something internal could cause that..

Reply to
Tom Woods

Lets just say its not a good sign.

Are you sure that you did not: A) overfill with oil b) leave the oil cap off c) leave the dip stick out?

Seems stupid but worth a look.

Failing that your tapet cover breather should be producing a lot of pressure if you are getting blowback past the rings.

Reply to
fanie

"She digested about a litre or so of oil en route but that's not far off normal."

A litre of oil in how many miles? And it maxes out at 50mph? Are we talking about an old 2 1/4?

I think your best bet is to drop in a decent secondhand petrol engine.

Matt B

Reply to
Matt

in article snipped-for-privacy@news1.mweb.co.za, fanie at snipped-for-privacy@checkitsystems.com wrote on 2/4/04 7:06 am:

done this myself - to an old escort I had - caused a great clould of burning oil be hind me.

Did this also, but the burning oil billowed out from under the bonnet!

Not done this but my Dad di with the same effect as above.

Reply to
Nikki Cluley

LOL - those little words 'drop in' hide a whole world of hurt :)

Wonder whether I could just snick out the engine from my old BMW and blu-tak it into the Landy. Little bit of duct tape to stop it from bouncing around too much...

:)

She got me to work ok this morning with only the slightest little puff of white smoke every now and again... I'm going to have to just drive gingerly until I can afford someone with a spanner and a brain to have a look at it...

Thanks,

h
Reply to
h

Thanks all for your responses folks - there's enough doubt about the cause for me to be sure I need a professional eye on it; no point in me looking at head gaskets etc if there's a fair chance it's something different.

And like the fellow who convinced me a Landy was the best option for me said right at the beginning - they'll keep on going even when they're almost dead. Mine is still driveable and so long as I don't put too much weight on the throttle she seems smoke-free too - and she got me back from Derby in one piece.

It's all character building stuff of course, and I'm properly bonding with my Landy. [maybe I should wash more, ho ho]

Thanks again kind folks

h
Reply to
h

I use Land Rover Hospital a lot, Unit 7, Croft Industrial Estate, Dunster Road, Birmingham B37 7UU A-Z Page 78-3C. By A452-NEC Tel: 0121-770-9399

Stuart runs the place with his wife Maureen, he used to work in the garage workshop at the factory. Very nice chap, was a great help when i decided to do my cylinder head replacement on the disco myself with his advice and guidance.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Ward

Can you ask him if he's the same 'Stuart' I was chatting to at the Marque Day last year? 'Land Rover Hospital' rings a bell and I sort of promised I'd send him some high resolution pics of the power steering conversion on Grumble, then, erm, lost the bit of paper with his name and address on...

Reply to
Mother

In his late fifties(?) short with glasses, dark hair... if that helps!

Anyway I'll ask him when I pop in next, if he does turn out to be one and the same, if you point me in the direction of the pics i'll print them out or bring him round here so he can have a looksie.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Ward

Crumbs, dunno if I can remember (slept since then), but the names certainly ring a bell...

No problem the pics are here in 'normal' format:

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and here in higher resolution:

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(Filenames are the same, but the resolution is much higher, if that makes sense).

Reply to
Mother

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