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Post by LandieMark on Nov 21, 2020 17:20:38 GMT
I am currently helping a friend with his Lexus IS220D.
I have come to the conclusion that I am not a fan of spannering on (relatively) modern machinery. Well not this one. There are wires and sensors all over the place which make it hard to get to stuff to remove.
It is pressurising the coolant and having already changed the EGR cooler, it is still doing it so the head is coming off to go and get pressure tested. It's a £1k car, so not worth having a garage do it.
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Post by Blarno on Nov 21, 2020 19:24:09 GMT
Pressurising coolant? Have they done a sniff test on the expansion bottle? Because that points to a head gasket failure.
Or even worse, a crack in the block.
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Post by LandieMark on Nov 21, 2020 19:28:19 GMT
I've got the kit for that and it was negative.....but, the fluid may well be old and not reacting or be the wrong fluid to test a diesel. Their isn't much info on the bottle.
We tried the simple first - these are known for EGR cooler issues (give exactly the same symptoms as a HG failure) and HG issues - I suspect the latter with the former being changed, so the head is coming off.
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Post by Blarno on Nov 22, 2020 14:45:58 GMT
One of our test engines recently started overheating and pressurising. We sniff tested it, but the head gasket was good. It turned out that the engine had been detonating due to a fuel irregularity, which put a small crack in the block near the coolant jacket and crankcase pressure was leaking in to it. Not ideal on a £20k engine.
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Post by LandieMark on Nov 22, 2020 16:46:39 GMT
Ouch.
Head is off. I had to cheat and leave the timing gear in situ - cable tied so it won't move. The oil pickup pipe comes into the front cover so it can't be removed with the engine in the car as it is impossible to drop the sump as it sits tight against the subframe.
The head gasket looked pretty ropey - one of the combustion rings was knackered so hoping that is the problem.
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Post by Martin on Nov 22, 2020 18:49:42 GMT
I’ve had to put some Adblue in, which is a first for me as even thought the 535d was Euro 6 it didn’t require it. That, along with adjusting tyre pressures is it as far as modern spannering goes for me. I don’t even change the wheels over now, as there’s a local mobile tyre fitter who’s very reasonable.
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Post by LandieMark on Nov 24, 2020 16:17:16 GMT
Verdict from the engineering works is that the head is fine. They have skimmed it slightly amd removed a snapped bolt my ham-fisted friend broke off.
That is this weekend buggered again. My mate owes me several beers!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 24, 2020 16:42:33 GMT
That sounds bloody cheap, even for mates rates.
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Post by LandieMark on Nov 24, 2020 20:30:02 GMT
I can drink a lot of beer in an evening. 😁
He has no money and I feel marginally guilty after going to look at the car with him. The only fault it had was the heater not getting hot. He replaced the thermostat and it started blowing coolant out a few days after that. Getting a garage to fix it would cost more than he paid for the car and he simply can't afford it.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 24, 2020 21:28:37 GMT
At least he has a decent mate, can't go far wrong then.
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Post by ChrisM on Nov 24, 2020 21:31:18 GMT
What did he replace the thermostat with? A genuine one or a motor factors special?
After it was changed, was the heater behaving properly?
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Post by LandieMark on Nov 24, 2020 22:33:50 GMT
Heater was marginally better and at least the tempersture gauge moved from cold to normal (it barely got above cold before) but as soon as the cooling system gets pressurised, the heater goes cold as it hasn't got any water flow. Take the cap off and release the pressure and the heater gets warm again.
I've had it before with a Volvo with a blown head gasket. Combustion gases migrate to the matrix and stop coolant flow.
Cabin blend valve has also been checked and that is operating fully.
The head gasket was visibly damaged in any case.
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Post by LandieMark on Nov 26, 2020 21:24:58 GMT
This is hopefully going back together this weekend.   |
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Post by LandieMark on Nov 28, 2020 17:11:12 GMT
Head is back on, camshafts in, timing gear connected and front cover all bolted back up and it turns over by hand without any interference. Phew.
Manifolds and fuel system to go along with EGR and ancillaries and various pipes - plugging things in as we go working from bottom to top due to complete lack of clearance for everything.
Hopefully finished tomorrow.
If we do finish tomorrow, that's about 20 hours work.
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Post by LandieMark on Nov 29, 2020 18:04:59 GMT
It's all back together and it runs and drives without pressurising the coolant. Startup was a little fraught. There is a prime function in the OBD which we used but it wouldn't start initially. We missed a plug on the fuel rail and after that it spluttered into life and started diesel knocking horribly. We let it prime for 5 minutes and then the pump shut off and we retried it. It fired up without diesel knock, although it was running a little rough. After about five minutes it suddenly smoothed out - I guess it took a while to bleed all the air out of the high pressure side. It ran up to temperature and didn't pressurise coolant. Excellent. By far the most complicated and difficult job I've ever done on a car. Clearly relatively modern stuff is designed to be repaired with the engine out of the car. No wonder a lot of seemingly decent end of life vehicles exist. It took 22 hours of my time with my mate helping. A garage would be quicker, but including parts, I bet there wouldn't be any change from £1,500 for this job. The sense of achievement is huge.  |
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Post by ChrisM on Nov 29, 2020 18:18:32 GMT
22 hours to change a head gasket sounds ridiculous ! As you say, the reason for so many end-of-life cars that are ok apart from comparatively minor maladies that cost an arm and 2 legs to fix.
But well done! I am sure that your sense of achievement is indeed huge, and well justified
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Post by LandieMark on Nov 29, 2020 18:37:29 GMT
I reckon a garage would estimate a day to strip and a day to get it all back together before contingencies so 16 hours labour, but the risk of overrunning is high. The head work and parts was £300 plus VAT.
16 x £50 per hour = (£800 + £300)x 1.2 = £1320.00 which is about what the car is worth.
This is a 13 year old car, but even that compared to my fully mechanical TDi, the added systems and complications are mind boggling. I was cursing Toyota while doing this job, but one positive is that all wiring plugs are unique in their groups so when you lay it out, the plugs can only go in one place.
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