It started using a little coolant about 3 weeks ago, not a lot to begin with but got progressively worse toward the end with coolant not being sucked back into the radiator from the overflow bottle anymore.
I took her to Silvertons for a pressure test (we also did a load test as against the torque converter & first gear to about 2500RPM - to check for a possible head leak), they said my radiator was a little dirty and my cap failed the 0.9bar pressure test, but no other leaks were visible and the pumped pressure (1.4bar) stayed consistent during the load test.
They then chemically cleaned my radiator and pressure tested it under water in a tank, all passed and we fitted new 0.9bar radiator cap. I took it home and was told to keep topping up with coolant for 3 days due to possible airlocks in the system.
I went back to silvertons last week Friday (28/08/2015) due to it still losing coolant after the 3 days period. I had no coolant contamination in engine oil, ATF or any sign of any white steam out of exhaust either. They pressurized the system for an hour, but the pressure dropped about 0.1bar every 10 minutes or so and we could not see any leaks on the system. We also did another high load test up to 2500RPM again in first gear (against the brakes and torque converter), nothing out of the ordinary except the slight pressure loss once switched off again. I left silvertons with a 5 lt container of coolant (for good measure) to go away for the weekend to Breede River with friends later in the day.
We left Cape Town at about 16h00 and later stopped in Robertson for a quick snack, and when I started the Pajero again I saw the very first dreaded puff of white smoke/steam of the exhaust. We then drove cautiously on toward Swellendam, and about 20 minutes later just over a hill my MadMan started screaming "LOSS OF COOLANT" and over temp of 105 Deg C, with huge billowing clouds of white steam out the exhaust, my heart sank.
I pulled over and switched off and let things cool down, and refilled the radiator which was quite empty. We limped down to the river which was closer than going home – refilling every 15-20 minutes or so. We left on Sunday for home and again also stopping every 20 minutes to refill the radiator and still leaving a plume of steam in our wake.
Once home I decided to pull the head for inspection, took me Sunday night and Monday night to get all the bits off to get the head off, quite a job. In order to get the head off, the exhaust manifold must come off, including turbo and down-pipe due to the studs on the block – that took Sunday night.
Monday night I pulled the intake side of things; injectors, pipes, intake manifold, and lastly the head. Once opened I saw the inside of the engine was in bad way, scuff marks on the sleeves lots of carbon on the head and to my worst fear, I saw cracks in the sleeves of piston no.2 & 3…. See pics.
- Piston no.3 - Pit marks and crack
- Piston no.2 Crack
- Piston no.2 Crack
- Piston no.2 Scuff marks
I am looking into having it re-build as a last resort, do any of the Cape twon member know of a reputable engineering shop to do the re-sleeve of the block for me? Any advice would be appreciated.
