300tdi engine re-furb....? necessary ?

[andrew dunn]

My 110 defender 300tdi has done 150k miles. I need to get it ready for another year of hard labour (lugging a trailor up and down the highest roads in the alps every day pulling a trailor full of mountain bikes). What re-furb options would be recommended at this stage or is it a case of "its not broke so dont fix it".
thanks

[jozg44]

Land Rover diesels are capable of 200-250,000 miles (or even more) if maintained well, so 150,000 is nothing unusual, especially since you won't be working it hard through mud in the tropics or any other kind of 'abuse'. As you say, "if it isn't broken, don't fix it".

BUT- 150,000 miles is generally when the top end of the engine starts to get a bit worn- especially the valve stem seals. If your engine starts putting out blue smoke at start-up (as well as the normal puff of black), then the seals have started to give. This is not a serious problem- the blue cloud will gradually get bigger and bigger until you start losing noticeable amounts of oil- in which case fixing is a simple cylinder-head-off job. My Diesel Turbo engine is approaching 150,000 miles and is going to need this job doing- the smoke-clouds have reached epic proportions.

Also, some 300Tdi's lose their cylinder head gasket around 150,000 miles (often between No.4 cylinder and No.8 pushrod gallery), which will eventually cause failure.

The only other things that could be done is having the injectors checked, adjusted or replaced, as they could be starting to gum up as well.

If you want to be 110% sure of the engine's condition, you can check these items.

However, if the engine starts and runs well, isn't losing any oil or water, isn't smoking more than it should and their isn't any heavy breathing out the oil filler cap (a symptom of bore-wear), I would just leave it alone- there's a very good chance it will keep working hard for years. Just keep up the maintenance.

Jack

[Geobloke]

Originally Posted by jozg44

Land Rover diesels are capable of 200-250,000 miles (or even more) if maintained well, so 150,000 is nothing unusual, especially since you won't be working it hard through mud in the tropics or any other kind of 'abuse'. As you say, "if it isn't broken, don't fix it".

BUT- 150,000 miles is generally when the top end of the engine starts to get a bit worn- especially the valve stem seals. If your engine starts putting out blue smoke at start-up (as well as the normal puff of black), then the seals have started to give. This is not a serious problem- the blue cloud will gradually get bigger and bigger until you start losing noticeable amounts of oil- in which case fixing is a simple cylinder-head-off job. My Diesel Turbo engine is approaching 150,000 miles and is going to need this job doing- the smoke-clouds have reached epic proportions.

Also, some 300Tdi's lose their cylinder head gasket around 150,000 miles (often between No.4 cylinder and No.8 pushrod gallery), which will eventually cause failure.

The only other things that could be done is having the injectors checked, adjusted or replaced, as they could be starting to gum up as well.

If you want to be 110% sure of the engine's condition, you can check these items.

However, if the engine starts and runs well, isn't losing any oil or water, isn't smoking more than it should and their isn't any heavy breathing out the oil filler cap (a symptom of bore-wear), I would just leave it alone- there's a very good chance it will keep working hard for years. Just keep up the maintenance.

Jack

As above. Although I would be tempted to change the head gasget since you are at 150k miles. Having travelled down through france and back on 3 cylinders it is a mighty slow trip, blew at about 149k miles. It isn't a big job, just one you do not want to be doing half way up a switch backed mountain pass!

Other than that a damn good service, oils, filters, the lot!

What do you do that means towing loads of bikes and gear around the alps?