Hi, all, it’s been good to get moving on the engine again. I finished off the bottom end by installing the alloy sump frame using the same gasket sealer as there doesn’t appear to be a gasket for it. Unfortunately , one of the long bolts snapped going back in so the whole lot had to come back...

Managed to make a bit more progress today. I cleaned all four pistons , removed the old rings, fitted new along with big end bearings. Torqued everything up and spun it all over. Seems to be nice and smooth….thankfully 😀. Fitted new oil seals and gaskets to the timing belt cover and fitted that...

Yes, you are right, the 200tdi is a direct descendant of the original 2.25. The later 2.5 n/a apparently uses the same crank as the 200tdi.. I think there are parts that fit across both.

It is a 5 bearing but it’s a 200 tdi, so I don’t think the original colour was red. Fairly sure it would be gold?

I gave the bores a good clean up with a bore hone and this gave a good surface (deglazed) for the new rings to bed in. I flipped over the block and cleaned the inside of any debris or dirty oil. I vacuumed and blew it all out to make sure it was as clean as possible. After that, I lubricated the...

So, moving on with the block, I cleaned, prepped and painted it with VHT although the block will never get that hot, it’s good protection for it. I also replaced all the core plugs, using the age old method of a hammer and old screwdriver. I put some Wurth sealant around the new core plug to...

Next, I’ll clean the lot up, possibly replace the core plugs and paint the block. Not sure on the colour for the block. The original seems to be a gold colour? Maybe a satin black would work well? I have ordered new main bearing shells along with big ends, thrust washers and a set of piston...

Laid out the lot on the table, cleaned the deck of the block and cleaned of the outside of the block too.

After stripping the sump, cradle and oil pump I thought I would check the big end and main bearings for wear. Just as well I did as you can see some wear in the main bearing shells. At this point I’m committed so the lot had to come out!

It does appear to be ferrous but I think you’re right in that it found its way in there during the cam belt exchange. I can’t find any damage inside the cam belt area so it must have come from somewhere else 🤞

While the going was good, I took off the injector pipes, glow plug wiring, glow plugs, cam cover, rocker shaft with pushrods, then the cylinder head bolts. I’ll test the glow plugs and if they are still good I’ll reuse them. Thankfully, the head cam off without a fight😀 Once it cam off I was...

Made a bit of progress today on the engine. Found the water pump was seized, which I’m sure it wasn’t when I test run it a couple of years ago. May be due to residual water in the block seizing it up. I will replace it anyway. I found 3 of the bolts holding on the timing belt cover were rounded...

Thanks everyone, I’ll do another visual check this weekend and take the hoses off if they look a bit suspect. Might be split in an area that’s hard to see when on the engine. After that it’s a diagnostic check as JD suggested. I’ll get to the bottom of it somehow 😀

Thanks folks, is this the short 90 degree one you can see from the wheel arch?

Thanks JD, I’ll have a look but I would have expected a drop in performance or a DTC show up.

Hi folks, Bit of a strange one this. I have a 2011 td4 with 114,000mls and I’ve noticed that the turbo is fairly loud under boost. There are no fault codes or noticeable power loss. Mpg is still around the 40 mark which is normal for me. It has been noticeable since I bought the car 15,000...

While I am waiting for the gaskets and seals to arrive, I thought the best use of time would be to start working on the engine. I got my old engine stand out and bolted it to the engine as it’s so much easier to work on. After removing the flywheel and flywheel housing, it was quite evident that...

Made a start on the 200tdi and the original series 3 gearbox with trying to get the gearbox as clean as possible before inspection. It was caked with baked on oil/mud combination which was horrible to clean needing scrapers and various chemicals! Still a nightmare to do but it’s looking a good...

Great attention to detail there - it’s going to look better than it did when new! 😄

Managed to fit the blingy bits on too. Great to see it coming together now. As you can see I fitted new bonnet buffers but added some electrical tape on the back to help prevent differential corrosion. Less bits on the garage floor to trip over now 👍 😂. Now that’s done I really need to move onto...