2006 Transit connect - Suspected head gasket failure?

[Jellybelly]

Hi All!

I just had my Transit connect (1.8 TDCI) suddenly start throwing plumes of white smoke out - I revved it a little bit too hard after not quite being able to get into gear (worn syncros) (about 3500 revs) and moments later noticed the smoke. I was about a mile from home so I thought I'd chance it and try and make it back, which it managed with no noticeable lack of power, misfire or anything.

Initial checked showed coolant reservoir empty, Oil looked absolutely fine, if a tad low.

So a bit of history first,

I got this van as a set of spare wheels for peanuts off my mate who wanted it off his driveway as it had sat there gathering moss for three years. When he first got it four years ago he heater matrix was clogged completely and he had no heating whatsover. It also had the fuel filter collapse at one point, so that got replaced. Other than that it gave him no mischief for the year or so he drove it before parking it due to not needing it.

When I first took a look at it after being parked, It cranked but didn't start - issue was just a bit of air in the fuel lines, which was sorted by a hand pump, it also needed a new relay due to corrosion of electrics here and there. At the time there was NO coolant in the header tank- his fiesta also had no coolant and told me that he thought he only had to put it in in the summer time.... good start I know! I thoroughly washed the header tank out several times (I should have done it to the rad as well, but oh well), put some coolant flush in with water, flushed it, and off I went. It had a slow leak the whole time, but I kept it topped up.

After I had had it a few months, winter was approaching so I thought better put some actual coolant in and find this leak - I got someone local to do this as well as a couple of other bits, and he traced the leak to the thermostat housing, which he replaced. After that, it held its coolant fine, but I was advised it should get another coolant flush soon as its still quite dirty.

Fast forward a couple more months into real winter, and now I have a problem with the engine not really heating up. I can go on a 20 minute drive, and there's barely heat coming out the vents, and the temperature showing barely moves off the minimum mark unless on a long drive. I thought the mechanic might have left the thermostat out, but it was in there and working as it should. It was around this time as well, that I would occassionally have to crank it for a long time to start it - seemingly quite an intermittent glitch.

A few weeks ago, I decided to check on the coolant situation due to the lack of heating, and I noticed something hard in one of the overflow lines! (the one coming from the radiator NOT the thermostat housing). I poked it to no avail and eventually cut the pipe open to find a bung clogging it up... I assumed this was some kind of holdover from when the Heater matrix wasn't working under one of the previous owners. I took this out and noticed no difference in anything and I wasn't losing coolant either. I still have the bung, which I found out has a little 2mm hole once I removed the crap! I'm wondering if this having been just a couple weeks before this issue, was the cause of, or contributor to, my problem.

So the history part over... back to the present.

I'm not sure whether this van is really worth spending all the money on a new head gasket, when I know it needs a small fortune spent on it for other bits, rusty sills, brake pipes, crankshaft pulley, and it generally looks quite tatty inside and out. 7 owners and nearly 200k miles have taken their toll - also the fact that I want a bigger van when I can afford it! So I thought I'd try my chances with some Steel seal and worst case I'd be down 50 odd quid rather than 500.

It had pink OAT coolant in it, which as I hear is not compatible with Steel seal, so I flushed the system 3 times with normal water and twice with deionised before putting the gunk in with deionised water. - I poured the stuff directly into the big hose from the header tank before adding any water. I have blue coolant ready to pour in afterwards. Before all this I took the thermostat out as well.

Seeing as I can see and smell combustion fumes in the header tank and see bubbles coming up from the overflow into the header tank, I guessed I had backpressure, so I followed the slightly different procedure that steel seal recommend... there are basically two options - easy and hard. I tried the easy one first.

Easy way - "If you cannot find the spark plug/cylinder that is causing the back pressure, run the engine with the coolant level down to the top of the radiator core and with the radiator cap off or leave the expansion cap off the expansion bottle with water only just visible."

Hard way - Take a plug/injector out one at a time to see which one causes the bubbling to stop.
Actually isn't that hard but somebody told me that the glow plugs are a nightmare to take out on these things. I didn't find it to be that hard at all. Also incidentally, two out the four glow plugs are knackered and fell apart. I didn't want to take injectors out as I don't want to break those seals if I don't have to.

Then you are supposed to run the engine with steel seal with that plug out so it doesn't force it out of the hole.

I found that I couldn't tell which cylinder was doing what - every cylinder gave me bubbling and white smoke. I also tried a boroscope but mine isn't small enough to fit down the glow plug holes. I have read that you can see which cylinder has water ingress by which one appears polished from the steam.

I ran it for a good 10 minutes and the plumes of white smoke just kept coming, along with a load of black water dripping from the exhaust (about two litres over half an hours running), which I'm guessing is just the exhaust system being inadvertanly steam cleaned from the coolant leak.

Also I did a code scan and found a few codes. Sorry I forget which order all of this happened in, I cleared some that didn't come back and also some of them popped up when I was running the van with no intercooler.
P0191 - Fuel rail Pressure Sensor Range/performance issue
P0405 EGR sensor A circuit low
P0110 - intake air temperature sensor circuit
U1262 - SCP link error
P1000 OBD system readiness test incomplete
Also it should be noted the handbrake and ABS light have been on since I replaced the ball joints. My mechanic can't seem to talk to the ABS module.I think this happened when I ran the van with no wheel sensors connected and haven't been able to clear it since.

I'm not assuming 100% that this is a head gasket... I had thought it could be a piston ring or injectors at one point, and I welcome anybody's thoughts on this! I'm not a mechanic but I do try and fix my own stuff where I can armed with youtube and a Haynes manual. Any ideas would be much appreciated, and thank you if you bothered to read all that

[metalworker0]

Bypass the EGR cooler first ..connect the two hoses together ..see if it stops.

As i tell everyone ..when a head gasket begins fail, it can play all sorts of tricks, often for a long time , months, even more than a year, totally confusing symptoms that baffle a lot of even experienced mechanics, until one day it fails completely.

Tests for head gasket failure are many and varied .

1. The sniff test ..that bubbles header tank fumes through a demijohn water trap style device with liquid in it, this is screwed onto the header tank in place of the cap ..liquid turns another colour when combustion gases mix with it.

2, Coolant system pressure tester
Screwed onto the header tank ..lets you test the system in a number of ways .
(a)Device is pumped up to 15 psi ..you then watch it ..if it looses pressure you find out where the leaks are.
(b) Device is left on the header tank, you start the engine and observe the change in pressure ..if it goes up to 10 Psi even before the engine has reached say 50 degrees centigrade ..you have a definite head gasket failure.
(c) This is easily done on petrol engines ..but not so easy for diesel engines, as requires removal of injectors ...to observe inside of cylinder whilst pumped up with the pressure tester, with boroscope...look for leaks. but as you said you cannot do that

other tests ..are compression tester will reveal a head-gasket leak by low compression between two adjacent cylinders ..


AS well as head gasket failure, don't rule out a crack in the cylinder head !


all the best.mark

[metalworker0]

Even more detail, i have given here in second post down

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=230669

all the best.mark

[Jellybelly]

Awesome mate, thank you!

Yes to be honest I think this has a long time coming - this van has had dirty coolant, leaks and cooling system issues for years. Come to think of it, I remember being mystified by how there was pressure in the cooling system after running for 5 minutes without getting anywhere near operating temp - now that makes sense!

I like the compression tester route the best - I find it has all sorts of other uses as well. I guess I would put the pressure on and see which cylinders it takes the least time to leak off? I haven't got a compression tester but I've been looking for an excuse to get one and here it is!

Judging by the sketchy history of this thing, I think its more than likely that not only is the gasket the issue, but the head could be warped or cracked like you say. In which case I should probably think about whether its worth just putting a second-hand engine in this thing. I've seen them around out of a focus C-Max with half the miles and a gearbox included for £400... or do I just get another van. I really don't know at this stage.

Either way I'll get hold of a compression tester soon and run this test when I can... after removing the EGR cooler like you said.

[Jellybelly]

I made an error in that last sentence.... I won't be removing the EGR cooler, but bypassing it like you say,

Having done a bit more research on that, I'm hoping THAT is my issue rather than the head gasket.

The two litres of water coming out my exhaust tell me that it could well be that... I hope it is because thats economically viable

[08SWB-connectOwner]

Mine throws a fair bit of white smoke from the exaust when cold starting during winter.
Mine was also consuming an inconsistent amount of coolant, especially during the winter.
The engine had a hard time to get warm during winter (even when assisted by the aux fuel heater).
There was also plenty of sweet tasting steam from the engine compartment = coolant steam.

Turned out to be:
- Leaky coolant pipe connections at the thermostat unit.
- Warped or micro-craked thermostat housing.
- Air in the loop, likely caused by a drop in coolant loop pressure and/or insufficient quantity of coolant

Replaced the thermostat housing (40€ part) and the original spring hose clips with screw-style clips.
No more leaks, no more lost coolant, engine temperatures rise a bit quicker.

To note:
- Mk1 Tdci's have grossly oversized radiators, especially for winters. Use a cover.
- The 'white smoke' can be very misleading. It's likely either steam, or just harmless smoke from a cold and small common rail diesel engine.
- Check your coolant pipe connections all over the engine.
- Thermostat housing problems are clearly a common issue, as evidenced by how cheaply and readily replacements are available.

[Jellybelly]

Thank you mate,

As I said earlier, I have already had the thermostat housing replaced quite recently as it was cracked, but I will take your advice on using normal jubilee clips! Sounds like a better idea than the original rusty spring clips. This isn't just a little bit of smoke though this is like a steam roller - I was concerned about blinding other road users with it on my mile drive back home.

I managed to get the hoses off the EGR cooler - I have the rarer kind with one barb at the top and one at the bottom, instead of both at the top - annoyingly they cost a bit more. I'm getting hold of a hose coupler to join these bits of hose together, then I will do the bypass test.

[Jellybelly]

Wow, so I tried the bypass.

I'm now getting ZERO bubbles in the coolant though I'm still getting smoke/steam but considerably less, and I'm not longer getting litres of water out the back.... I also haven't lost any coolant after a good half hour of running!

I think its worth me getting an EGR cooler, replacing it, and running it for a while to see if she's still alright. And a new set of glow plugs.

I don't want to say it too early, but I think you might have saved my van!

[metalworker0]

Good === hope it stays OK

all the best.mark

[08SWB-connectOwner]

If your van has an aux heater, I would *not* suggest just getting the thing reprogrammed and the whole EGR shut off.
Then *don't* bypass the EGR cooling loop as well.

This is usually the cheaper option, versus getting a new EGR unit.

EGR is essentially a useless component for anything else than warming up the engine a bit faster. But an aux heater does that better anyway.
(yes, it's also for limiting emissions)

[Jellybelly]

Okay so, I sorted this out now and have driven 100 miles. I'm happy to report problem is fixed!

I made a few mistakes doing this, most notably that I tried to take the intake manifold off to get to the EGR cooler easier, seeing as I managed to score a second-hand intake manifold AND EGR cooler for £40 posted. What I didn't realise was that you pretty much have to take the exhaust manifold off to be able to get to the intake manifold off because 3 of the 4 lower bolts are behind the exhaust manifold. I thought ford ditched reverse-flow heads with the crossflow in the 60s! . I stupidly attacked it with a thin scraper thinking the intake was just stuck on from gunk deposits before I realised that I had in fact removed the top exhaust manifold bolts instead of intake manifold bolts, and probably damaged the gasket and now I have a bit of a leak so it sounds like I have the worlds smallest supercharger. Its a cheap van so I'm using gorilla tactics - not even guerilla tactics. Stupid mistake as by removing enough hoses, the EGR cooler comes out easily enough without taking any manifolds off.

Also I replaced the water pump as a precaution with a Borg & Beck one - I'll see how that holds up. I think coolant is circulating a tad better as there was a bunch of sludge in the block. Engine comes up to temp quicker I want to try and flush this again at some point - I think my heater matrix is gummed up again as well. I know this was replaced by my mate who owned it before, but they didn't replace the coolant tank, which I just did.

add to that some new glow plugs, fuel filter (primed with an external hand-pump), oil filter, new coolant tank and sod it, some wheel trims as well. I had loads of dirty diesel smoke for about 10 miles before it cleaned up its act and its been going good since! Except for one thing.... Bloody CV boot split while I was testing it. I put new J&R driveshafts in when I got it 8 months ago - turns out their quality has gone down the pan recently. So hopefully they sort that out on guarantee. Will get some NAPA ones now unless anybody else has better recommendations.

Thank you all for your suggestions! I'd consider removing the whole system but it sounds like more work than swapping one bit out - I'll consider it if anything else goes wrong though.