Blown Head Gasket??
 

I'm afraid I already know the answer....

Overhauled my 3.0 litre OM603 20k miles ago. It was assembled with a fairly new #22 head, new head bolts and a Reinz head gasket. It's been great for the last 20k miles, until yesterday....

While idling, (engine thoroughly hot, 85c) I noticed for the first time, white smoke- and a fair amount too. Cleared up while driving, seemed to come and go, engine running smooth and quiet.

Later in the day, I noticed the engine temp start to run a bit warmer, switched on the heater and headed home. Checked the coolant tank, and it is clearly low.

I haven't touched anything since, , too depressed.

i just went through this too, and decided i did not after all have a blown gasket, but rather a leaking seal in my turbo.

it was pointed out to me that a coolant leak test kit is $50 or so, much less than the cost of getting at the head gasket, so i bought the kit and found no hydrocarbons in my coolant. crisis averted, sort of.

anyway, there are 11 out of 12 tests left in the kit if you would like to be its next owner.

Thanks, certainly for offering up a little hope!

I need to check first for pressure in the cooled engine, but yeah, I may want to take that off your hands!

Radiator hose was quite firm after cool down, opening the pressure cap on the overflow tank vented pressure.

Sorry to read about this, ChiefRider, but it sounds like a decapitation is in order, or at least compression and leakdown tests. If you must use the car for now, run it with the pressure cap loosened to the first detente to avoid coolant loss and reduce pressure stress on the rest of the cooling system.

Sixto
87 300D

Thanks Sixto, I think you're right about the head coming off. I will check compression first.

I'm really piqued by this. The block and head were dead clean, and there were no previous head gasket issues. I used all new bolts, and spent a lot of time making sure to torque the head according to the manual.

Damn.

Did you check the surface of the Head and the Cylinder Block to be sure they were not warped.

I remember some one mentioning that it is considered normal for the Aluminum Heads to have some Cracks; specs in the Manual.
It is like that with My Volvo Diesel. Some cracking is allowed.

Perhaps there is nothing wrong with the Head Gasket but the Head is cracked through.
Having the Cylinder Head hot pressure tested may or may not show that.