I killed my 2.8TDI

[White Elephant]

Well, it finally happened, on the way home from work yesterday I cooked the motor in my GQ. So my xmas break is going to be spent rebuilding the top end.(hopefully just the top end-I haven't inspected the damage yet)

The reason for my post is that I am interested in everyone's opinion on head gasket kits. I'm leaning towards monotorque but thought I would see what everyone thought. Also do you think it would be worth doing rings etc while she is in pieces? I'm going to basically have about a week to pull everything down, get the head off to a head specialist and then put it back together. Your thoughts and comments will be appreciated!

Thanks!

[White Elephant]

So the old girl is all stripped down, had a fun weekend swinging on spanners, but the hard part is done. Just got to get the head off to the specialist for the rebuild, so there will be a few other bits and pieces to do while that's being done. I'll get as many pics as I can while I'm doing the overhaul and will post them up when I can.

[AB]

Thanks for letting us know mate, shame you haven't got any other info from this thread too.

Hopefully you get some feedback on this.

[rkinsey]

I dont know what your budget is but I found a bloke in Melbourne that will do a straight swap for the 2.8 Head. Lifters, valves, CAM the works really. Apparently it includes a new head bolt kit to. All up is $2,000.00

Cheers,

Rob

[rottodiver]

White elephant.... i really have nothing to add to the rebuild but just wishing ya luck and hope it all goes well!!!

Scotty

[Silver]

mechanic mate of mine swore by Monotorque gasket kits - but that was 20 years ago and I have no recent experience.

New head bolts seem to be accepted as necessary. Be tempting to do the rings while you are at it. In days of old, ie P40 and L28 petrol engines, the lore was that the bores would be good for a few sets of rings - dunno about the newfangled TB42s, let alone the leading edge technology you are playing with!

Congrats on getting into it yourself, and all the best with it

Rick

[White Elephant]

I dont know what your budget is but I found a bloke in Melbourne that will do a straight swap for the 2.8 Head. Lifters, valves, CAM the works really. Apparently it includes a new head bolt kit to. All up is $2,000.00
Cheers,

Rob

Thanks rkinsey, that's around about what I'm paying. Figured I may aswell give the old girl a good once over while the donk is in pieces. I've pulled all the injectors out, they're off for an ultrasonic bath, the turbo is going in for an overhaul, I'm gonna pretty up the manifolds, replace hoses, chuck a new waterpump on her, replace the crank seals and anything else that I can think of while I'm in there. It's bit of a spend at Christmas, but she's my daily driver, and I have a few days off over the break, so I may aswell do it now so I can get her back on the road while I have the time!

[White Elephant]

mechanic mate of mine swore by Monotorque gasket kits - but that was 20 years ago and I have no recent experience.

New head bolts seem to be accepted as necessary. Be tempting to do the rings while you are at it. In days of old, ie P40 and L28 petrol engines, the lore was that the bores would be good for a few sets of rings - dunno about the newfangled TB42s, let alone the leading edge technology you are playing with!

Congrats on getting into it yourself, and all the best with it

Rick

Cheers mate, I've always used monotorque when rebuilding other motors, this is the first diesel I've owned so just thought I'd see what everyone thought. I'm going to go with the monotorque, incidentally, Nissan Genuine turned out to be cheaper, but I can't get one in Australia at the moment.

I do enjoy getting into it myself, but finding the time is the killer these days! Nothing worse than having to cram your repairs into a weekend when you can't get parts etc. I've done a few rebuilds in the past, grew up in my Dad's workshop pretty much so I learned a thing or two!

[BennyRenny]

hey,

i just rebuilt my RD28t and had it boared out i got a new head with all my old running gear for $1300 with head gasket inc.

my rebuild kit was $2000 with oversized pistons and rings, and get my crank reground $400 and bored out $200.

if you do a ring around im sure each place will match the others price so try to barter.

hope that was useful


Ben

[White Elephant]

hey,

i just rebuilt my RD28t and had it boared out i got a new head with all my old running gear for $1300 with head gasket inc.

my rebuild kit was $2000 with oversized pistons and rings, and get my crank reground $400 and bored out $200.

if you do a ring around im sure each place will match the others price so try to barter.

hope that was useful


Ben

Cheers Benny, that was super useful, I'm already about $3k in,(including Turbo rebuild and injector service) and now I have to rebuild the bottom end, cylinders 4 + 5 are scored up pretty good. If you could pass on the info of who did the bottom end work I would appreciate it. Incidentally, did you have it all out of the car and take the block etc in or did someone pull it out of the car for you?

Oh and it cost me $2k for a new head casting with all my old gear and a monotorque head gasket.