XC60 D3 Engine failure

[ntailby]

Hi,

looking for valuable expertise and guidance. Sorry for the long post but trying to be thorough on the situation. Here goes...!

I own an XC60 (Dec 2010), D3 engine, FWD, R-design. Been experiencing coolant issues and now engine failure.

- Coolant clearly leaking from the bottom RHS radiator, radiator changed.
- Coolant continued to leak, mainly on cold nights (c.300ml every few days), garage diagnosed O ring on the coolant pipe feeding off the radiator was not sealing. Pipe changed.

Coolant loss continued (c.300ml every few days, and not necessarily linked to mileage). No signs of milky oil, no signs of gases/oil in coolant or white smoke from the exhaust to suspect head gasket. Although did notice the engine started to start rough and ave MPG reduced from 37mpg to 34mpg.

- Garage suspected the EGR was at fault, EGR changed.
- Coolant loss continued. Major coolant loss happened on a journey which was clearly a blanking rubber plug on the top of radiator had perished and under heat/pressure was squirting coolant.
- Blanking plug changed, and also 2 new glow plugs to address the rough start.

The following days the rough start was still present, but drove ok, although mpg was still poor. On day 4 coolant loss happened (c.300ml) no external or internal signs. On day 6 engine showed signs of loss of power, cabin heater was giving no heat, and then coolant header tank emptied itself with white smoke coming out of the exhaust. Engine stalled and won't restart. Strangely the 'Low voltage' sign appeared on the dashboard and engine wouldn't turn over. Tow truck home.

Garage managed to start the engine, exhaust gases clearly mixing with coolant system (i.e. header tank is like an exhaust pipe) and oil is milky brown.

Is this common signs of head gasket failure or something more sinister? Welcome advice before more money is spent. Thanks

[stevieturbo]

ntailby said:

Garage managed to start the engine, exhaust gases clearly mixing with coolant system (i.e. header tank is like an exhaust pipe) and oil is milky brown.

Is this common signs of head gasket failure or something more sinister? Welcome advice before more money is spent. Thanks

Clearly exhaust gases in the header tank is not normal, so yes it is a sign of HG failure or possibly something worse.

Until it's apart you won't know.

As to whether this was the cause all along....who knows....you'd think the garage would have tested for this at a much earlier stage given the plethora of leaks and missing coolant.
But if it has been driven and cooked until it actually stopped....the engine could be scrap.

So you'd need to weigh up what a replacement engine might cost for a swap....vs how much they might charge to start stripping down the current engine to inspect to see if it may be salvageable.

[DaveGib]

Did the garage not pressure test the coolant system at any point earlier or do a sniffer test on the coolant system for any combustion gases? This would have helped rule out a more sinister problem early on.

[ntailby]

Yes, did both but no signs of HG issues. Also changed the header cap to ensure that was functioning correctly.

Thanks for your replies.

[Benrad]

Does this engine have cooled high pressure EGR? An EGR cooler failure could give you all those symptoms

[GreenV8S]

Benrad said:

An EGR cooler failure could give you all those symptoms

Wouldn't a coolant sniff test have picked that up?

[DaveGib]

GreenV8S said:

Benrad said:

An EGR cooler failure could give you all those symptoms

Wouldn't a coolant sniff test have picked that up?

Should have yes.

[ntailby]

hi - thanks for your responses. Progress update....Head off ... situation is as follows...

Gasket has clearly blown between cylinders 2 and 3, head looks ok (not tested), but the strangest part is the gap in the engine block between cylinders 2 and 3 seems to have a hole! A few observations… (trying to understand if this is by design, manufacturing error or something else)

-Initial suspicion was the hole was caused by corrosion although second look the hole appears to be uniform, relatively smooth edges and is slightly deeper than the channel that runs across the cylinders
-If the hole is by design why only have this between cylinders 2 and 3?
-The head gasket shows coolant has been passing between the other cylinders, but not between 2 and 3, the channel is blocked and not easily removed.

Any insight would be much appreciated, many thanks in advance.

[stevieturbo]

And a picture of the head for the same area ?

[ntailby]

Picture of head...