B

bendit

New Member
hiya folk, any help would be appreciated, i have a 200tdi defender approaching 200k and have been slowly loosing coolant (more rapidly now) and today began producing some fairly impressive white clouds from the exhaust (moist feeling to the touch :). Now, there's no mayonaise on the filler cap, and when i turn the engine off i can hear a hissing coming from the header tank cap.... I guessed head gasket, a friend suggested core plugs.....any more symptoms i can look for to diagnose further?
 
If the exhaust is producing white clouds then I'd say it is almost certainly blown the HG from a water channel into a cylinder - the hissing from the tank on shutdown also suggests this - if you run the engine with the header tank cap off can you see any bubbles or does the water level rise and bubble or anything?

Core plugs would just leak and wouldn't give you white clouds.
 
Do i have to introduce myself everytime i post? I could swear i introduced myself when i joined this forum some time ago??? Although i have been wrong before!
 
Start with the simple things....

Are ALL the jubilee clips tight?
Are all the pipes free of any cracks?
Is the radiator and heat exchanger ok?
Are the bleed screws tight?
Is it loosing pressure via a broken expansion cylinder cap?

If none of the above remember that coolant leaves residue when it boils away, can you see any residue anywhere?

If there is no white in the oil there could be a leak between the coolant and cylinder only but this doesn't happen that often without breaking into the oil galleys too.


Most of the above explains the loss of water but only really the head gasket explains the rest :(
 
Cant find any evidence of residue anywhere, i too thought i had a dodgy header tank cap as up until today this was the only symptom along with the coolant loss, but with the clouds today my suspicion was gasket.... Is there any other way of making steam with the exhaust as whenever ive had a hg go before ive definately found a thick emulsion on the filler cap?
 
bendit said:
Do i have to introduce myself everytime i post? I could swear i introduced myself when i joined this forum some time ago??? Although i have been wrong before!
Click to expand...

You had only made 1 post when you posted your first question so apparently not, can cause some agro around these parts if you don't.
 
cowasaki said:
Start with the simple things....

Are ALL the jubilee clips tight?
Are all the pipes free of any cracks?
Is the radiator and heat exchanger ok?
Are the bleed screws tight?
Is it loosing pressure via a broken expansion cylinder cap?

If none of the above remember that coolant leaves residue when it boils away, can you see any residue anywhere?

If there is no white in the oil there could be a leak between the coolant and cylinder only but this doesn't happen that often without breaking into the oil galleys too.


Most of the above explains the loss of water but only really the head gasket explains the rest :(
Click to expand...


He has clouds of white smoke, I'm thinking it's not leaking externally.
 
bendit said:
Cant find any evidence of residue anywhere, i too thought i had a dodgy header tank cap as up until today this was the only symptom along with the coolant loss, but with the clouds today my suspicion was gasket.... Is there any other way of making steam with the exhaust as whenever ive had a hg go before ive definately found a thick emulsion on the filler cap?
Click to expand...

Is it steam, steam will look like steam, all that can cause lots of white steam is water in the engine, either coolant or your engine has taken in water via the intake system etc but you'd need need a fairly constant supply to make the steam and if you had that much in there your engine would have probably swallowed it in one go and caused other issues.

You can get clouds of white smoke when stem seals go etc - although if you rev it it goes grey, that is smoke though.
 
bendit said:
Cant find any evidence of residue anywhere, i too thought i had a dodgy header tank cap as up until today this was the only symptom along with the coolant loss, but with the clouds today my suspicion was gasket.... Is there any other way of making steam with the exhaust as whenever ive had a hg go before ive definately found a thick emulsion on the filler cap?
Click to expand...

a slight head gasket often doesnt produce mayo, head gaskets dont last forever even if cooling system is good ,though they wont last long if cooling system is poor
 
When you say 'other issues' caused by water in engine, would symptoms of those be the engine being very stiff and hard to turn over?
 
bendit said:
When you say 'other issues' caused by water in engine, would symptoms of those be the engine being very stiff and hard to turn over?
Click to expand...

what symptoms do you have in that regard does it stall on first cranking then spin over after a try or two
 
Upon checking today, when i run the engine with the header cap off, it bubbles fairly powerfully.....i take it this is venting from cylinder to water channel?
 
If you have a small garage local you could pay a small fee and have them do a sniff test to check for exhaust gas in coolant but with the symptoms you describe its almost cetainly hg failure / warped or cracked head if its been allowed to get hot

Not a huge or expansive job to repair if your handy with spanners and the heads not cracked
 
Buy the sniff kit of Amazon, it's only £30.

Personally, if you're approaching 200 miles I would purchase a new Head Gasket and replace the existing one. If it hasn't fully blown, which by the sounds of it, it hasn't there will be very little need to have the head skimmed. Also get cam belt changed at the same time. :)
 
Landyfox said:
Buy the sniff kit of Amazon, it's only £30.

Personally, if you're approaching 200 miles I would purchase a new Head Gasket and replace the existing one. If it hasn't fully blown, which by the sounds of it, it hasn't there will be very little need to have the head skimmed. Also get cam belt changed at the same time. :)
Click to expand...

Makes senser, unless OP knows belt was changed in last 30k miles
 
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