Cooked 300TDI, what are the theories for how much damage she has done

We have owned the “Black Pig” for several years now. It is a 1994 Hi Cap 110 which has had an auto 300TDI conversion and a tray back (drop side flat bed) on the rear. We bought it off a one legged scrap man (really, I think he had taken off his eye patch and lost the parrot as we came around the corner) and spent the next six weeks sorting out the majority of bodges and hidden nightmares. We blow the head gasket early on as the alternator was only held on by one bold and slipped the belt off the pulley which of course stopped the water pump. We then discovered that almost everything was held on by only one bolt! Many bolts and a rear quarter chassis later it is all good. It has done sterling work for the last 3 years hauling very heavy kit all over the country and delivering it to very difficult places.

That was until Sunday when a small water leak sprung from the rad and my better half was not watching the temp gauge as much as she should. Result, the engine stopped going up a hill at 40mph. Seized! We left it on the side of the road and carried on with the delivery using the other truck and came back for it later. Filled up the rad, flicked the starter and away she went. We then did the criminal action of driving it 20 miles home stopping to fill up about 4 times.

The head gasket has definitely gone although it is pulling OK. The engine sounds quite a bit more noisy than before (but how do you tell!) . My choice now is to take the head off, get it skimmed again, replace the rad and soldier on. Or do I look for another engine as this one has probably had its chips.

What else are we likely to have cooked when it seized? Any guesses?

i did something similar - I've had to get a new ( as in NEW) head, as the old one was more banana than anything else. as for anything else, I will report back when I rebuild next weekend

Only way to tell is to take the head off and see!

I'd also seriously check the pistons and rings and maybe also drop the bottom end out to check little and big ends and straightness of con-rods.

Having had the head off before and seen that it was not in the best condition, I have bottled out and got a new (as in old) engine and will replace. I fired up the old one on Friday and am fairly sure there were a few more heavy knocks going on that were not there before.

Once I have fitted the new one (assuming all is well), I’ll probably strip the old one and see what the damage is. I don’t know at what temp an engine seizes but it can’t be healthy!

I bought an engine from ebay and have taken to old one out, no dramas, well I hope. I have never done an auto before and as I got my hands on the manual today noticed it said undo the tourque converter retaining bolts and don't let the TC seperate from the gear box. To late. The new engine still has its TC attached as well. What is the issue? Mr Haynes says DO NOT etc but not why or what if you do.

Maltloaf said:

I bought an engine from ebay and have taken to old one out, no dramas, well I hope. I have never done an auto before and as I got my hands on the manual today noticed it said undo the tourque converter retaining bolts and don't let the TC seperate from the gear box. To late. The new engine still has its TC attached as well. What is the issue? Mr Haynes says DO NOT etc but not why or what if you do.

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it just means if your refitting engine to the auto box you need to fit the tc to the box first , it helps to use 2 long m10 bolts screwed in tc securing posts to help locate tc over the splines and oil pump slots , you should feel tc jump in a little after each is aligned 3 times in total , them measure depth of a location post from face of bell housing, and then measure amout the drive plate is from rear face of engine plate, the latter should be a mm or 2 smaller to ensure you pull tc up to meet drive plate once engine is secured to box and not drive plate pushing tc against auto box pump

Brilliant, thanks