bushmechanic

New Member
Just realised I probably should have posted this here:

New to owning a Land rover Defender, I have 2002 td5 and was about to start the task of removing the old waxoyl and sorting some rust issues on the chassis. That's when i discovered what looks to be some serious deep rust on the engine block.

I've attached some photos and was hoping I could some pointers from you guys on how to tackle this? I can't strip the engine don't have the skill or the time . To me this looks pretty serious but not sure how bad it really is. I've never seen this kid of rust on an engine block .

My thoughts are to try get a wire brush to the area get as much off as possible and then neutralize the rust with some bilt hamber hydrate 80?
 

Attachments

  • td5 engine rust 1.jpg
    td5 engine rust 1.jpg
    52.2 KB · Views: 849
  • td5 engine rust 2.jpg
    td5 engine rust 2.jpg
    52.2 KB · Views: 314
tap it with a toffee hammer and nothing bigger and see how bad it is
 
tap it with a toffee hammer and nothing bigger and see how bad it is

Will try that, had to Google toffee hammer :) The landy runs fine so its not all the way through just surprised to see this on only one side of the engine block and for it to be this bad!!! looks like the previous owner waxoylled over rust!
 
Cast iron shouldn't normally corrode. It's one of the most durable materials known. Looks like it's been attacked by acid.
 
Thanks guys, have any of you seen this kind of corrosion on a defender engine block?The car is only a 2002 !
Do you know any history of the vehicle? Some environments, for example by the sea or in a china clay pit, will cause a lot more surface rust than you would expect in a vehicle kept indoors or in a sheltered street.
 
I live in Jersey Channel Islands so were surrounded by the sea :) :( .. Hoping its just surface rust and not to bad. When i started chipping away earlier it just kept on coming though ..pretty scary
 
What is the bulkhead and rest of chassis like? If that was caused by salt water you would have thought the rest of the land rover would be falling apart...not seen it like that before.
 
Salt has the same effect as acid, it's the chlorine ions that do the damage, it just takes longer. I'm still amazed at the extent of it in your pics. I would whip the engine out and establish the extent of it and treat it properly.
 
What is the bulkhead and rest of chassis like? If that was caused by salt water you would have thought the rest of the land rover would be falling apart...not seen it like that before.

Hey Oli, the Bulk head looks fine. The chassis also doesn't look to bad, some surface rust but okay/. The rear cross member is the worst, clearly used for deploying boats nothing compared to this part of the engine block though! However there is waxoyl on everything so could be a lot worse then it looks :(
 
Salt has the same effect as acid, it's the chlorine ions that do the damage, it just takes longer. I'm still amazed at the extent of it in your pics. I would whip the engine out and establish the extent of it and treat it properly.

I wish i could whip the engine out :) but i wouldn't even know where to begin! I'm going to try tackle it with engine in place first and see the extend of the rust :(
 
Hey Oli, the Bulk head looks fine. The chassis also doesn't look to bad, some surface rust but okay/. The rear cross member is the worst, clearly used for deploying boats nothing compared to this part of the engine block though! However there is waxoyl on everything so could be a lot worse then it looks :(

And there is you answer! I would suspect it will only be surface rust. Give it a thoroughly good 'gentle' clean and then swiftly treat the area with a good neutraliser.

Don't worry and keep positive, you've got your first landy now and everything on them can be put right!! :)
 
A small amount of iron can turn into a large amount of rust flake. As everybody else has been saying, scrape and tap your way to something solid underneath. With a bit of luck it won't have weakened the casting too much.

Many years ago a friend with a boat noticed that the oil in his bilges seemed to be coming from holes that had rusted in his engine. We cleaned them up and stuck patches over them with Araldite. It lasted for ages. Of course, I'd never recommend doing any engineering as shoddy as that:D
 
And there is you answer! I would suspect it will only be surface rust. Give it a thoroughly good 'gentle' clean and then swiftly treat the area with a good neutraliser.

Don't worry and keep positive, you've got your first landy now and everything on them can be put right!! :)


Thanks for that :) Just the positive inspiration I needed :cool:. Was feeling pretty down about it as its the most I've ever spent on a car but have always wanted one. I will only be able to tackle it properly next weekend and will post pics of my findings.
 

Similar threads