Advice on turbo diesel engines

[halfinch]

Dear all,

I need a bit of advice on Galaxy TD engines, but a bit of background first might be helpful.  I am on my second TD Galaxy.  I had an R plate one which bit the dust because of rust, but I never had an engine problem.  My current one is an 02 plate zetec TD and I am about to scrap it because of overheating  problems which have led, I think, to a cracked cylinder head.  As I started to research a bit when my current problems began I found quite a lot about the later TD engines having cooling system problems and difficulties with the run-on coolant pumps which keep the water circulating after the engine has been turned off.  I am now about to buy my next TD Galaxy and wondered if anyone could provide advice about which engines suffer more from overheating.  There seem to be 115PS and 130PS versions of the engine.  Am I better going for a 115PS version?  Do the last mk 2 Galaxy models, around the 04/05 years have fewer problems?  I would appreciate advice.  By the way, I only drive manuals, in case it makes a difference.  Thanks in advance.

[Mirez]

Hi and sorry to hear of your news!

TBH the PD engine is well known to run cool and NOT suffer from overheating, some report that even with a broken water pump it still won't overheat unless pushed so I'm surprised you've found info to the contrary.

That said, the run-on pump is indeed known to fail (or rather wear out) and many cars don't have a working one as their owners don't realise which certainly won't help. Its fitted for a number of reasons and one is, as you pointed out, to prevent hot-spots after switch off on the 90 and 115 engines. It's not known why but the 130/150 engines have this pump but is doesn't run on.

Providing the coolant system has been maintained (IE the coolant is replaced every 2 years, the water pump and run on pumps both work) there should be no reason for concern around the TD overheating.

[Chrispb]

Hello Halfinch 

It's the old story, you only here about the one's having problems there are thousands of Galaxy's Sharan's Alhambra's that don't have overheating problems.

Blown head gaskets are usually the result of failure elsewhere like a hose, water pump, or radiator that's not been dealt with promptly also topping up with only water can lead to corrosion and blockages.