Arggh! not again!!

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Hello all,

well having fixed my turbo I drove the jeep on a fairly long run on the motorway the other day only to find it was losing coolant. to cut a long story short, turns out the cylinder head/gasket has gone again!! After having the work done only a month ago. I took a risk putting a recon head on the jeep but I really hoped it would last longer than a month, time will tell the root of the problem when I take the head off later this week. My question is: does anyone have any thoughts on the different gasket sets available for the daihatsu rocky/fourtrak? is there a difference in quality/durability? I didn't really think about it when it was done last time, but now I am doubting everything, logic dictates that the cylinder head will be the cause of it but has anyone had different experiences with gaskets bought from different places? Also is there anywhere to buy a brand new cylinder head? and what sort of cost would I be looking at?

thanks again for all your help.

As you said it looks like

As you said it looks like the head is going to be at fault. You shouldn't need a new head, just get it skimmed properly, this costs about £40 in the UK. I doubt you could find a new head, and if you could I think it would be rather expensive. I don't know about the Fourtrak, but on most engines its a good idea to get new head bolts as they can stretch. If your 'trak has overheated badly the head may be badly warped, so it might be an idea to get one of a scraped vehicle and get it skimmed.

Sorry to hear about your trouble Sad

I just checked my service manual and it states to replace the head if it exceeds this warpage:

0.10mm

The head that was put back

The head that was put back on last time was from a wrecked vehicle (old one was warped, cracked and basically knackered), and I was told it was skimmed and everything was good. I didn't have any time then to do it myself so I obviously don't know exactly what went on, whether it was bodged etc. This time I'm going to do it myself at my mate's garage, he's pretty good with this sort of thing and has done it many times before. Obviously I won't know for sure what's going on before I get the head removed but this time I'm going to take it myself to get compression tested and welded/skimmed/reseated if needed so I know it's done properly. I was only asking about new heads to see what options are out there but looking at this out of date looking Milner page I'm sure it's out of my budget:

http://www.milneroffroad.com/F70.htm

I'll buy a second hand engine before paying that much and have all the rest that comes with it for spares.

Thanks for the tip on the bolts, I'm definitely up for covering all the bases this time just to make sure.

Wow, with what that head

Wow, with what that head costs you could buy a new 'trak! The other thing I thought of was that there could be a problem with the Turbo, i.e the waste gate is dodgy and producing to high a pressure. I had that on a DAF 75 at work that blew a new gasket. I'm sure you checked, but the gasket was for Turbo engine and not the natural aspirated engine?

I bought the F70/F75/F77 Service Manual on CD so if you need any measurements or tech detail I can try to send you some of the page pics or failing that just type them out.

Hope you can get this sorted!

I did think that the new

I did think that the new turbo might have contributed to the gasket going... my thought was that maybe the old one wasn't producing as much pressure on it's way out and the extra punch of the new one sent the gasket over the edge. How do you check the waste gate on the turbo? I was seeing some blackening around the back of the turbo from what seemed like exhaust gasses but I ingored it in my rush to refit, won't be so hasty next time.... would this suggest the waste gate is backing up or causing to much pressure?? excuse my ignorance, this is all still pretty new to me and I usually only attempt stuff with my mate on hand for advice, I only started fiddling with jeeps since I had an old Lada Niva that kept going wrong, the daihatsu was supposed to solve my 'constantly in garage' problem but this rocky is starting to make the old Russian look reliable!

Re gaskets, I bought it as a kit from ebay and it stated turbo, although it was a cheap set, which is why I am questioning it now.

To test the waste gate you

To test the waste gate you need to remove the pipe to it and put your own pressure into the waste gate valve, and see when it opens, when you remove the pressure you should hear it "click" closed. This can be dangerous though because you can only put very low pressure into the waste gate without damaging it. Don't take what I say as 100%, because I hasn't tested one before. You need to know what pressure the gate is mean't to open and close.
The black around the Turbo shouldn't have been there regardless of the waste gate, was it just a loose clamp?
I don't know about the Turbo, if you want to test it yourself...I can try and find the pressures in the manual, but I think you should ask someone who knows what they are talking about before you attempt it!

This site doesn't really give a fair view of the 'trak, seeing as alot of people only come here when something goes wrong!

Edit: This is what the service manual says about checking the Turbo pressure:

Checking operation of turbocharger waste gate valve;
1. Remove the waste gate actuator hose at the actuator side.
2. Connect the turbocharger pressure gauge. Ensure that the rod and link operate when a pressure of 92.2kPa is applied and the valve returns to the original position smoothly when pressure is released.
Shaft Stroke: About 2mm with a pressure of 92.2kPa.
NOTE! If the pressure exceeding 117.7kPa should be applied to the waste gate actuator, the diaphragm may be damaged.

Hope this helps?

Thanks for the info, I'll

Thanks for the info, I'll take this to my man and see if he can do the test from what you describe. If not I'm sure I can find a specialist who'll check it over. I'm assuming I can use what's good on the old turbo to replace anything damaged on the new one, it was only the actual turbo fan that was dodgy so maybe I can transplant the good one onto the old set up to be sure.

I realise my experience of the Rocky has been abnormally unlucky, I did a lot of research before I bought it and most people seem very happy with the reliability of their Daihatsus, I'm determined to persevere with it cos aside from the engine the rest of the jeep is immaculate, a far cry from the rustbucket that was my old Lada, the best bit on the Lada came from Peugout, a 1.9 normally aspirated diesel which was very reliable, it was just everything else that use to break down!

You're a great help, cheers.

The waste gate is very

The waste gate is very simple, so I would hope you could replace it if needed with the old one.
I'm sure all you need to test the waste gate is a gun fitting with gauge that plugs into an airline, any turbo specialist should have one.

The body on my F70 is perfect apart from a few stretches, no rust at all. Which is quite rare here in England! Alot of 'traks have the wheel arches patched. The only trouble I've had so far is the synchro ring going on 2nd gear, I bought a gear and transfer box for £50 though so it was no worry. They are so easy to work on too! I've got the MOT in Feb though, so I better not curse myself Blum 3

If you need anything else let me know Wink

Metal ruler and a torch

Here is a little tip for seeing if your head is warped (lol), get a torch and a nice workshop metal ruler, lay the ruler horizontally along the head but not the thick part laying flat on it, using a torch light behind the ruler run it along the botom edge with your eyes on the other side looking for any light shining through - you dont want to see any light, if you do the answer is a warped head providing your ruler isnt a cheap one!

Full of ideas but no time to do them!!

www.bloodredoffroad.com
www.milneroffroad.com
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youtube: Redfourtrack

My head is definitely warped

My head is definitely warped from this jeep! Smile

Thanks for the tip... the head will definitely get a very thorough check this time.

I just did mine last week

I just did mine last week here in Aus... got a brand new head for $750 thats about 380 quid.. but it was bare and aftermarket... My head seemed perfect till the third skim when they were grinding it, then you could see the tinyest little crack coming from the precombustion chamber.. so had to get a new one.. all is good now though.. You should really check the deck of the block as well to see if it is warped.. even cheaper gaskets should be fine if your head and block are skimmed.. as long as you have it tourqed down correctly.... By the way I just recieved my f78 independant manual today so will have a copy for sale sometime soon.. let me know who's keen...

It seems that you confirm

It seems that you confirm what I suspected, that it's best to be around when these kind of tests are done just to be completely confident of the head before you go to the effort and waste time and money putting it back on (or at least get someone you really trust to do it). Looks like you got a good price for a new head too, although I have found low mileage second hand engines in the uk for that price with the turbo and diesel pump included, my only expense would be pallet shipping it here to Portugal. Part prices here are ridiculous, you might be able to get a pint for a quid but god help you if you need new parts for your motor!

Whole motor too

You would get the whole thing for that price over here too most probably.

Full of ideas but no time to do them!!

www.bloodredoffroad.com
www.milneroffroad.com
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youtube: Redfourtrack