Head Gasket.

[kadman]

My Iveco cherry picker has developed a larger thirst for water than Rooster Cogburn's thirst for whisky crossing the badlands in Indiana on the trail of Ned Pepper.

Its something that has gradually got worse over the last 6 years, but as its used only on my property it was never a big issue. But now with
some starting hic-cups, as well as coolant disappearing its something that needs addressing.

I suspect the head gasket is gone, but its such a labour intensive job, on an unknown base I could be wasting both time and money. So option 2 is to source a 2.5 Iveco Daily engine as a replacement. But thats a near impossibility, as my own is a 1997 vintage and no engines are lurking anywhere.Option 3 is to buy a remanufactured unit for about 3K from the Uk, but no doubt Irish customs will bang on another 50% customs, vat, duties, ect,ect. Thanks Boris. So thats out.

So option 4 is a bottle of K Seal which is what I went for. If it reduces the white smoke abit, and it helps with the starting, then thats all I need.
I expected it to do neither.
Lo and behold 15 minutes after use it has reduced the smoke by about 50%. And because I cannot drive it on the road it may take a few days of running at idle to complete the process.

I will keep you posted

[Seanybiker]

Ah that's not so bad so. Be interesting to see how it goes over a bitta time.

[kadman]

If I was using the cherry picker on an ongoing basis, I would consider doing the head gasket, but its yearly use is probably 40 hours or so.

[Seanybiker]

If I was using the cherry picker on an ongoing basis, I would consider doing the head gasket, but its yearly use is probably 40 hours or so.

Ah feck that so, should be grand .

[490808]

Are you not thinking that while doing the head gasket you'll find and fix a few other issues which will keep the engine going for a few more years?

[kadman]

Are you not thinking that while doing the head gasket you'll find and fix a few other issues which will keep the engine going for a few more years?

At the moment I am knee deep in vw engine rebuilds. Current one is the 67 pancake engine from the variant.

I want to get that done and driving, and then I will re visit the others in order of priorities. The cherry picker at the moment is far down the list. And its a quicker and known expense option if i am lucky enough to pin down a replacement engine. I would jump at a uk one, but its a pain in the hole to have to give the irish government the price of an engine in customs just to get it in.

But I have a few irons in the fire, so just waiting for one of them to redden up

[kadman]

I manged to pin down a low mileage engine and gearbox from an Iveco 2.8 camper. So as soon as the vw engine is up and running, and my clio gets new discs, the Iveco will be the next up for carving.
Its a big lump of an engine, but with the right equipment, there wont be any lifting. The engine and gearbox weighs in excess of 300kg, so a 2 ton lift does the job.

I made the engine lifting deck so that its adjustable in height and width, and carries a good load with 6" heavy duty castors.