HHmmm, that's interesting.

When I bought the car a year ago it had to go back and have a new
cylinder head under warranty.

Makes me think only the symptom was cured and not the source of the
problem. Will heed your advice. Have since found out that there is a
replacement metal gasket available for the water pump gallery where it
enters the engine. This replaces the known troublesome paper version.

"fanie" > wrote in message >...
> All I can say is get it fixed now. I have just spent a big fortune
> rebuilding my 300TDi after it lost a little water.
>
> These engines blow up in about 5 seconds and give very little warning. It
> seems quite normal to have to renew the cylinder head etc which all adds up
> to big loot so be warned and get yours fixed now.
>
> I would also suggest fitting some sort of vehicle alarm that will start
> buzzing/flashing when either the oil temp/pressure and water temp/level
> exceed set normal parameters as this could help avoid my situtation.
>
> Regards
> Stephen
> PS I thought that it would not happen to me as I always drive with one eye
> on the gauge and tend to drive slowly.
> "DaddyMonkey" > wrote in message
> ...
> > first, clean the front of the engine.
> >
> > then, disconnect the cooling fan to eliminate the 'blast' of air hitting
> > it.
> > AC off
> >
> > sit back and 'watch' the engine while cold.
> >