Technical Marea TD100 ELX Weekend - Cylinder Head Gasket?

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Technical Marea TD100 ELX Weekend - Cylinder Head Gasket?

penenden

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My S-Reg Marea TD100 ELX Weekend (89,000 miles) has been playing up with difficult starting especially in cold weather, taking several times to start, having died on each occasion. In addition, diesel consumption has been getting progressively worse; the injector light was coming on particularly on long, fast runs and I have had white smoke and a very lumpy and "clattery" engine whilst cold..... I know, a long list of ailments.

I have had all the heater plugs changed and a normal service, which improved the starting, but didnt make it perfect, and I recently had the cam belt changed too.

On a recent run in cold weather, I felt the heater air go cold and then noticed that the engine temperature had gone sky high. I stopped, and the AA attended and said there was CO2 in the cooling water, suggesting the cylinder head gasket has gone. :(

Does anybody have any idea how much this will cost me to fix, and whether the head gasket is the source of all the problems that I have been experiencing? or is there more behind this.... Many thanks in anticipation.
 
A head gasket failure can give you white smoke as well as the other symptoms you describe. If you have CO2 in the water then this is a likely cause. The water may also be scummy and smell of bad eggs. You could also check your oil to see if it has a white scum in it. Looks a bit like mayo.
A gasket change and block skim should cost less than £300. Try a few garages for quotes.
 
Thanks Polecat.... The first thing I did was check the ooil filler cap but it, and the oil were clean. However, this was within 5 mins of the engine going hot, or I guess the gasket may have failed into a cylinder or to outside of the engine block, or may not yet have "spoiled" the oil. Anyway, thanks for your help. Cheers.
 
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