Hi all
Wife phoned me said the waters low as the stop light has come on. Sure enough no water. I filled it up but find when i rev the engine the water level rises and then boils, although its not hot. The engine runs fine and there is no sign of oil in the water. There is no smoke. I think it's the head gasket but not sure. Is it economic to fix ? Just put new tyres on and new battery. Also just got through the mot ! Some one has said the engine must be removed as the head bolts don't clear the fire wall ??
Any advise welcome
Regards
Phil (1996 2.1 TD Auto )

sounds like a gasket issue if it bubbles a lot when revved

but that can also be traped air being forced out then mixed up by the pump...

its one of those things you have to see to diagnose.

The head gaskets do go, but they also last well, i had a water leak on my xm taxi for a week i could not find, it would often go on a 5 mile drive with water that probably wasnt covering the head..... then as soon as the passeneger was out i;d throw 6ltrs back in and off to the next job..

the level also went up and down in mine when revved, its a design thing, nothing to worry about. (although why it does that i cant ex
plain to myself, its got the same amount of water no matter what the rpm...

Bov. That sounds like classic head gasket failure as diesels don't mix the oil and water, just blow all the water out, due to the compression and lack of cylinder vacuum.

You can do the 2.1 head gasket in situ, I've just done my second one.

The EGR valve makes it considerably harder to do, but if you part the exhaust and lift the manifolds off with the head it will be much easier.

I left the manifolds in place and found it a struggle, but late on realised that all I needed to do was to raise the exhaust manifold to allow the head to lift off the dowels, then pull forwards.

If doing the job yourself, expect the total cost including machining an MLS gasket and new timing belt, to be in the region of £200.

Hi Phil

Not the easiest of jobs but well worth doing if the rest of the car is in good condition, the gasket usually goes at around 150,000 miles but once replaced will do another 150k, apart from that these engines are pretty well bomb proof.

Peter

economic to do if you love your xm then money isn't an issue i'd get it repaired, if you get another xm/car you could end up in the same boat, at least if you spend out and repair it you know it's done

good luck

Thanks for the replys much appreciated. I will give it a go there seems plenty of help about which is great. I did see a nice C 5 diesel auto on eBay for £1295.00 but it's in Essex and it may be buying trouble. You never no at that sort of price !!
Kind regards
Phil