Blown Head Gasket ???

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celticknight

celticknight

New Member
Posts
44
Location
North Wales Coast
returning home down A55 last night, approaching a roundabout in the 2nd lane, engine stops.... thinking ive stalled tried to restart... nothing !!!


initial panic, phone Police as I cant go anywhere...

Lift up bonnet, water all over battery,
looks like the expansion bottle has split along the seems. the cam belt is ok.

Engine unsterstandibily Very Hot.. checked oil cap and dip stick, no evidence of white stuff on them.

so is this a classic case of a Blown Head Gasket ????


oh and 3 Hours to be recovered........ NOT Impressed with the AA !!!!!!
 
Hi
What checks have you done since???? does the engine turn over?? does the filler cap on a 300 tdi have a pressure relief valve built in, if so that should have done the biz, is it working???
what did the AA say about it??
 
hiya,

The AA didnt really look at it, just got on the phone to get me home via relay.

the engine did turn over.. until the battery started to give up. the AA tried a Battery Booster it would crank over but wouldnt fire up.

this relief valve ? on the water expansion bottle ?

the expansion bottle split, it seems to be in 2 halves top & bottom. it has come apart at the seems inner wing side, the water blew out over the battery.

have checked oil cap and pulled out dipstick no eveidence of white stuff..
but i guess this is not always an indicator.


as said, was slowing down to enter the roundabout, acclerated to start off , next it cut out, thought id stalled , tried key noticed dash board light up like christmas tree...
there was not indication of a problem prior to this...

it drove faultlessley till the end ...

question... Is the P gassket behind water pump a suspect ?

I allegely had it changed when it went in to have a new fuel lift punp fitted abt 18mths ago.

thanks for taking the trouble in helping :)
 
celticknight said:
hiya,

The AA didnt really look at it, just got on the phone to get me home via relay.

the engine did turn over.. until the battery started to give up. the AA tried a Battery Booster it would crank over but wouldnt fire up.

this relief valve ? on the water expansion bottle ?

the expansion bottle split, it seems to be in 2 halves top & bottom. it has come apart at the seems inner wing side, the water blew out over the battery.

have checked oil cap and pulled out dipstick no eveidence of white stuff..
but i guess this is not always an indicator.


as said, was slowing down to enter the roundabout, acclerated to start off , next it cut out, thought id stalled , tried key noticed dash board light up like christmas tree...
there was not indication of a problem prior to this...

it drove faultlessley till the end ...

question... Is the P gassket behind water pump a suspect ?

I allegely had it changed when it went in to have a new fuel lift punp fitted abt 18mths ago.

thanks for taking the trouble in helping :)
Click to expand...

Does sound like the head gasket going,blowing into coolant system and popping the the expansion tank,resulting water everwhere shorts out fuel shut off solanoid-engine stops! or worse still over heated and seized but it would'nt turn over easily afterwards if it had.

How often do you check coolant level?

The mad thing is that the engine temp sensor is into the water on the thermostat housing, so basicaly if you have low or no water your sensors going to give you a low false reading cos it's just sat in thin air.

If your "P gasket" was still leaking (white dribble mark down engine block behind water pump) and you never check your coolant level (I check and top mine up at least once a month) you might have run dry, blown your head gasket which in turn blew your expansion bottle.

When it stopped was it well steaming, gurgling etc.............

Jason
 
Hiya,
there was some steam, guess that was just the water when it hit the inner wing from the bottle. no great clouds of it.

checked the water level other day as i was contemplating changing the EGR to fit a new blanking kit, levels were ok...

no evidece of white dribbles..


the reason i asked about p gasket, is the place i had the job done at only billed me for 1.5 hrs in total for Fuel Lift pump and P gasket change.
it didnt seem long enough to do both jobs.


so, it looks like the head has to come off then ??

will be looking for a recommended more reptuable garage on north wales coast then.
 
celticknight said:
Hiya,
there was some steam, guess that was just the water when it hit the inner wing from the bottle. no great clouds of it.

checked the water level other day as i was contemplating changing the EGR to fit a new blanking kit, levels were ok...

no evidece of white dribbles..


the reason i asked about p gasket, is the place i had the job done at only billed me for 1.5 hrs in total for Fuel Lift pump and P gasket change.
it didnt seem long enough to do both jobs.


so, it looks like the head has to come off then ??

will be looking for a recommended more reptuable garage on north wales coast then.
Click to expand...


Not necessarily got to be head gasket, funny things car's you know:confused:

Start off the cheap way,I would get a new expansion tank as it's not the first time that one's been faulty and as it's a pressurized system yeh cap might have failed and the tank just split!Fill system back up with coolant and try and get the old girl started and we can take it from there :)

I would say about 1 to 2 hrs to change "P Gasket",depends if any bolts break etc........

Good luck

Jason
 
when you crank the engine now do you get a geyser of water out of the expansion bottle?
 
If you have the black expansion tank they are notorious for breaking along the horizontal seam. The replacement white ones are better. I have a stainless steel larger tank fitted. Maybe you should fit a 'little black box' which will warn you before you overheat your motor.
 
Get a compression test done on the engine, this should confirm or rule out HGF, if compression is low on a cylinder, this indicates a blow into the cooling system.
 
thanks for all the suggestions...

didnt know about the white tank... are they readily available in the UK ? have only come across the black plastic one or an aluminium upgraded one.

can you tell what the "little black box " is please ?

cheers Ian.
 
RGT said:
when you crank the engine now do you get a geyser of water out of the expansion bottle?
Click to expand...

havnt tried this yet ...

so the suggestion is i refill the damaged tank with coolant and try and crank over the engine ??

i think this would be ok until the engine got too warm...

will try and track down this ellusive white tank replacement

cheers
 
KEEP CALM, and do as Jason2 and RGT advise.

Clean it all nicely, and get it dry.
Fill the cooling system, and when you try to start it leave the pressure cap OFF the expansion tank.. Try to start it with the expansion tank open to the air. Don't have anyone's face over that when you start her up.

If / when it starts, one of two situations will happen:

1. It will run as if nothing was ever wrong with it. Say after me "There is a God".

or

2. there will be lots of violent bubbling gaseous action in the expansion tank, and that almost certainly means head gasket failure.

CharlesY
 
As CharlesY sez - dont panic and do one thing at a time - yu need a new expansion tank anyway - so there is ya first job. After yu fitted that and refilled with water (no point in adding antifreeze at this stage) try restarting and watch what happens.
 
Hi all,

with the help of my friendly neighbourhood RAC gentleman, who does live next door to me, has given his seal of approval that the head gasket has well and trully gone.

so it is back to PLAN A, the expensive 1...

find out who can fix it for me....??????


i shall report progress when happens.....

thanks again to you guys for the help :)
 
celticknight said:
Hi all,

with the help of my friendly neighbourhood RAC gentleman, who does live next door to me, has given his seal of approval that the head gasket has well and trully gone.

so it is back to PLAN A, the expensive 1...

find out who can fix it for me....??????


i shall report progress when happens.....

thanks again to you guys for the help :)
Click to expand...

Would be very interested to know how he Diagnosed blown head gasket so quickly?
 
Hi Jason,

I followed the advise, refilled the expansion tank and cranked the engine over
the water got pumped out the tank...

QED gasket blown...

hope this may be conclusive proof. open to further suggestions and advise.
 
celticknight said:
Hi Jason,

I followed the advise, refilled the expansion tank and cranked the engine over
the water got pumped out the tank...

QED gasket blown...

hope this may be conclusive proof. open to further suggestions and advise.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear it mate!:(

There was a hope, not the end of the world though as long as you did'nt realy over cook everthing,easy to do on the 300tdi.

Good luck

Jason
 
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