Discovery 300 tdi

Hoping someone can maybe help me out,

as above.

Bought the discovery knowing the head might possibly be needing fixed,

Guy I bought it from wasnt sure about the head so I took the chance and took it.

I bought some ceramic sealer hoping that it might cure the problem. worked perfectly on my younger brothers car and that was ****ing out about 2 litres of water in a journey of about 3 miles so his car was pretty bad.

So I thought I would give it a try.

Firstly you drain radiator and flush it out to get the anti freeze and that out the system.

All that was done. filled radiator back up with fresh water and added the ceramic sealer.

You have to leave car running on fast idle for an hour then drain.

Did all this, all I had to do was let it air dry for at least 12 hours.

Gave it 36 or something like that so it has had plenty time to dry.

put it all back together.

Temp gauge went to half way mark roughly. heater wasnt great.

Hoses werent warm, opened up the bung for bleeding it and the water didnt seem to be cirulating.

Water in expansion tank wasnt circulating as well as the water at the radiator. water at thermostat was moving slightly.

After we tightened up the bung again,
The heater was blowing cold.

Opened bung again and put my finger into it to see if water in coolant system was warm or cold, it was cold.

Discovery was running for at least 20 to 30 minutes.

Not sure if maybe the thermostat wasnt opening up. guy I got it from said it was a new thermostat.

Anyone with any suggestions on what to try would be greatfull.

were you driving it afterwards or just idling?
300's dont usually warm up when sat ticking over.

did you correctly fill and bleed the system prior to chucking your ceramic **** in?

what was the original head problem?

leak fix stuff aint recomended as it blocks up stuff it shouldnt too.

does the coolant system pressurise and remain so after the engines been switched off?

Any of these products are a waste of time the only way to cure a failed head gasket is with a new gasket

to be honest , its less work and cheaper just to do the head gasket , its not hard , just fiddly and annoying the first few times...gasket 15 , bolts 20 , new torque wrench 15 , do the angle tighten by using the flats of the hex heads of bolts with marker pen dots . I find it help to paint the numbers of the tightening sequence on the bolt heads too rather than keep looking at a book with the pages blowing in the wind and oily hands buggering the paper up . Some nylon potscrubbers and some paraffin for cleaning the head and block faces after gentle scraping with stanley blade or similar . Elring composite gaskets are more forgiving of minor faults . Its all on here and you can get loads of support as you do it .

What the instructions on these miracle products dont mention is that the blocking agents cant differentiate between the good gaps and the bad ones . Sounds trite but I reckon we have all at least considered using the stuff at some stage out of hope or desperation !

I know its a hard bullet to bite but it gets easier as you go and if you are planning to keep driving these things you are going to be doing this again ....might as well start now .

Good luck mate , remember you are not alone .

Yes I bled the system before I put the stuff in.

I was just looking for an easy route to fixing it I think,

As I said it worked on my younger brothers car, that was ****ing the water out too.

The engine was pressuring up yes before I put the stuff in.

I think the head was actualy cracked to be honest.

The guy I got it off gave it to a guy to repair. he was told the head was cracked.

The guy couldnt afford to get it fixed so he told the guy doing the repair to put it back to gether.

He is a mate of a mare sort of thing I bought the disco off.

Looks like I may have to change or repair the head then.

Was hoping I didnt have to go down that road but thats how it goes I suppose.

was going to get the cam belt kit as well and get that done so I might as well just get it all done together.

Thanks for the advice and info, it is very much appreciated.

Cheers
Dales

So do I need to put on new head bolts or will I be able to use the ones on the engine ?

You need a new head if it cracked not hard you dont need to go near the cam belt for changing the head new bolts new gasket no point doing it half arsed

dyte said:

Any of these products are a waste of time the only way to cure a failed head gasket is with a new gasket

Click to expand...

Yep , change the head gasket . If it's fooked it's fooked !

I have an engineering place next to me that can repair heads.

Was thinking of going to them to get the head repaired if they can,

They preasure test it first, if its warped they skim it and they can also weld them if needed in most cases.

Guy did say though its not very often that the discovery heads actually crack and they mostly warp

Was thinking of going down that road if I have to repair the head,

Rather than buying second hand and it ends up the second hand head is fooked as well.

would never use a 2nd hand head unless i knew where it had come from and its history!

Aggree with you nrgserv.

Too big a risk buying used head I dont know history of.

I could end up with the same problem I have now.

Im hoping the engineering place Iv used before will be able to fix the head on my own discovery.

Just leave it with them and they preasure test it. fix it if they can.

Only trouble with that though is Im not sure how long it will take, depending on how busy they are and it ties up my brothers garage.