300 Tdi Rebuild

Saint.V8 said:

Or you could leave as is for now, then when you have confidence your engine is now sound as a pound (can we still use that phrase considering the volatility in the market nowadays???) you can then remove the EGR rubbish!

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I'll probably overcome the worry and just fit it. I'm sure the engine must have beeen designed to run without it in the first place. Another thing is, will it still be working properly anyway after 180K miles? Probably not.

Al2O3 said:

I'll probably overcome the worry and just fit it. I'm sure the engine must have beeen designed to run without it in the first place. Another thing is, will it still be working properly anyway after 180K miles? Probably not.

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The 300 didn't have a EGR originally, it was around 1996 that it was introduced (mid 300 production life 94~98 (ish)). You could say the EGR is actually an addition and by removing it you are returning the engine back to as it was originally designed!

You have us holding our breath here, hope this good weather has allowed you to crack on.

raywin said:

You have us holding our breath here, hope this good weather has allowed you to crack on.

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Unfortunately, real work is getting in the way. I took some time off over Easter when my eldest son was coming home from Uni for 8 days. We had talked about him helping with the engine, but he had loads of revision to do We did get out for some family time, but he largely revised and I just cracked on with the engine. He went back to uni on Thursday and so I have also returned to work. Sadly, have a bit of catching up to do too. I was hoping to get much further on during my time off, but I always over estimate how much I'm going to get done. Learning as you go along and worrying about stuff too much does narf slow you down.
I know! Snapping bolts doesn't help either

Al2O3 said:

Unfortunately, real work is getting in the way. I took some time off over Easter when my eldest son was coming home from Uni for 8 days. We had talked about him helping with the engine, but he had loads of revision to do We did get out for some family time, but he largely revised and I just cracked on with the engine. He went back to uni on Thursday and so I have also returned to work. Sadly, have a bit of catching up to do too. I was hoping to get much further on during my time off, but I always over estimate how much I'm going to get done. Learning as you go along and worrying about stuff too much does narf slow you down.
I know! Snapping bolts doesn't help either

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Don't rush it, plenty time to get it right, remember you will be driving it for many years to come, so it's worth talking your time.
Remember the old saying measure twice cut once.

raywin said:

Don't rush it, plenty time to get it right, remember you will be driving it for many years to come, so it's worth talking your time.
Remember the old saying measure twice cut once.

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Certainly will be taking my time. Shame work gets in the way, but I've got to pay for all the new parts somehow

Al2O3 said:

Certainly will be taking my time. Shame work gets in the way, but I've got to pay for all the new parts somehow

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Think you need to take some sick time!! Sick time is unoffical holiday time!!! lol

Any more news yet?

+1

Rome weren't built in a day ! LOL

Magicgrotto said:

Rome weren't built in a day ! LOL

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But he has had a couple of weeks!

Magicgrotto said:

Rome weren't built in a day ! LOL

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Well the footings are in

Evening gents. Got in just after six and it was about 9 degrees, Tropical. Woken to a good covering of snow the last two mornings, so I was pleasantly surprised. Sun was out anorl. I hadn't torqued the big ends down yet, so took the nuts off and leaned them and the studs with brake cleaner and torques them down to 59N.m In order 1, 4, 2, 3.
Following the previous discussions and JM's recommendation I thread locked them. I really wanted to anyway after being surprised at how easily they cam off on strip down.

Then I set the DTI up to start taking piston upstand measurements. All I wanted tonight was to get a few measurements so I can get my head around where I really stand with the head gasket.

I only measured 2 and 3 as it was getting late. For each piston I took a few measurements at the timing end and a few at the clutch end of each piston.
Piston 2 The measurements are in mm
Timing end I got 0.63, 0.60 and 0.68
Clutch end I got 0.62, 0.62

Piston 3
Timing end I got 0.14, 0.14
Clutch end I got 0.19, 0.20

I moved the pistons up and down between measurements with a socket wrench on the crank bolt.
I'll repeat the process tomorrow night and, hopefully, get all 4 done and in each quarter of the piston face.

Right, I'm off to try to find out what that lot means.

This is the gasket section from the overhaul manual.

There seems to be a canny difference between those two stand ups. I don't know if that is normal?
Obviously, I've the other two to check. I've bought a three hole gasket, so will hopefully be ok so long as other two stand ups aren't much higher than the 0.68 I've got so far.

Seems to be a big difference between the pistons 2 and 3 that's close to 0.5 mm
To try and cut down on any possible error do you have something like a flat piece of bright steel, or possibly an aluminium level, make sure it's clean and the top of the block is clean then rest it across the top of the bore centre at 90 degrees to the crank. Put the clock on top of it and set it to zero.
When you rotate the crank and the piston comes up it will lift the metal or level and the clock will indicate the exact amount. You could then rotate it by 90 degrees to lay in line with the crank and double check.

Stupid question,

Did you zero off of the surface of the block for each piston? also with a difference like that you could double check there is such a big difference by eye and using the feeler gauges.

Cheers

neilly said:

Stupid question,

Did you zero off of the surface of the block for each piston? also with a difference like that you could double check there is such a big difference by eye and using the feeler gauges.

Cheers

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Yes the zero process let's in a potential error, it's good to try and cut that out.

Going back out to do some more measuring after this post.

raywin said:

Seems to be a big difference between the pistons 2 and 3 that's close to 0.5 mm
To try and cut down on any possible error do you have something like a flat piece of bright steel, or possibly an aluminium level, make sure it's clean and the top of the block is clean then rest it across the top of the bore centre at 90 degrees to the crank. Put the clock on top of it and set it to zero.
When you rotate the crank and the piston comes up it will lift the metal or level and the clock will indicate the exact amount. You could then rotate it by 90 degrees to lay in line with the crank and double check.

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I think I get this, but will that not mean getting one one measurement per cylinder? It's still getting an average though, isn't it.

neilly said:

Stupid question,
Did you zero off of the surface of the block for each piston? also with a difference like that you could double check there is such a big difference by eye and using the feeler gauges.
Cheers

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Well, looks like I'm stupid and that's not a stupid question. Yes, I zero'd against the block face on each side of the piston. Reason I did that was because there is not a lot of space between the cylinders to fit the mag base and adjust the arm holding the dial. When you move it between the next two cylinders the arm is not in a suitable place so you have to adjust it, which means zeroing the dial again! Why is that such a bad thing? I'll try to find a way around it in a minute.

If your that worried Al stick a 0 hole gasket on !

Al2O3 said:

Well, looks like I'm stupid and that's not a stupid question. Yes, I zero'd against the block face on each side of the piston. Reason I did that was because there is not a lot of space between the cylinders to fit the mag base and adjust the arm holding the dial. When you move it between the next two cylinders the arm is not in a suitable place so you have to adjust it, which means zeroing the dial again! Why is that such a bad thing? I'll try to find a way around it in a minute.

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No, my point was that as long as you know you are working to a zero relative to the block surface to measure the piston top. The main thing is to make sure no movement in your measuring kit has happened when you moved it, if it did, then you need to reset the zero. A simple thing , but I have seen someone in a simialr situation miss it and get spurious results. Providing of course your block is flat.....LOL

Cheers