Hi,

I have a 2004 L200 animal (95K) which I've had for a couple of years that has developed at best a blown head gasket and at worst a cracked head. My usual mechanic apparently has too much work on to do this so I am looking for reliable garage who aren't going to charge the earth to take the head off, get it tested for cracks, either put it back together with a new gasket if the head is OK or get a new head. Does anybody have any suggestions for tried and tested mechanics who they would recommend for this type of job in Leicestershire or Nottinghamshire?

Any suggestions would be really appreciated,

Thanks,

Matt

@Warriorbez or @diggermandan are that way and may be able to assist, iv'e tagged them so they'll get notification of my post here..

I never actually used a garage for repairs when I was in Leics... However all the landy boys at uni always recommended Davies and Stevens in Loughborough for works they couldn't do.
Matt are you sure that is is the head or gasket? Often the EGR cooler can go porous and exhibit similar issues or even cause HG failures.

I have read about the EGR cooler issues and I have been considering that myself, in fact I was going to tell whoever does the repairs to replace the EGR cooler too as I read about replaced HG that go again very quickly due to the EGR cooler. When I had it MOTd in Feb the guy blanked off the EGR value as it was failing on the emissions.

It does make sense though as I have receipts from the previous owner who firstly had the HG replaced, then about 1500 miles later replaced the head, (I assume the new HG didn't fix the problem!) this was all about 15K miles ago now. So when it first started playing up I thought that maybe they did a shoddy job of the HG when they replaced the head as it was fine for the first 18 months that I had it and it pulled trailers full of cattle without any problems at all and temperature gauge never moved off normal. But I guess it could quite easily be the EGR cooler that has popped the HG. In that case maybe I should replace the EGR cooler myself first and see what effect that has before paying someone to take the head off possibly for no reason?

For information the symptoms were as follows:
After about 10 miles of driving the temperature guage needle would start to go rapidly up to just below the red mark (over about 30 seconds) and then come down again to normal within another 30 seconds or so, I'd stop then there would be bubbling in the header. I put a new thermostat in to make sure it wasn't that and it made no difference. When it was cold I took radiator cap off and started it and it took about 10 seconds for bubbling in the radiator and about 20 seconds for water to be bubbling vigorously out all over the radiator.

Best thing you can do is remove the EGR cooler, don't replace it. Especially if the EGR is already blanked off. Is your water dirty or oily?

OK. No, the water doesn't seem particularly dirty or oily

Hmmm you might be in luck. get the EGR removed ASAP there is a how-to on here if you want to do it yourself. doesn't take long

Thanks, I shall dig out the how-to and get it taken off.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Thanks again.

Matt, cheaper one first is to replace the rad cap mate, the seals are often shot allowing the pressure to 'leak' and then it seals again for a bit, then blows off again, this will give you your rise and fall in temp....
The cooling system is pressurised to allow the coolant to run at around 120 degrees without boiling, (just like a pressure cooker) this is why we get boiling water shoot out from the cap if we crack it open when the cap if it's hot... as the pressure drops when the caps released the coolant will now boil very quickly,, and out it comes, but when under pressure it is just wet and hot, but not boiling...
Hope that makes sense..

Quote: A guest wrote in post #4

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When it was cold I took radiator cap off and started it and it took about 10 seconds for bubbling in the radiator and about 20 seconds for water to be bubbling vigorously out all over the radiator.

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