Yoda Lives.

[Ski_Extra]

lets assume some things.

I normally do.

the rad cap and t/stat are both nearly new

Check.

water flows throught he rad when disconnected.

Seemed to flow quiet well.

the injectors are bolted down and glo plug feed bar is suppling feed

Injectors are in and glow plugs are working.

the water pump works

when the engine is running there is constant activity under the rad cap.

all hoses are done up correctly in the right places.

it is possible that i am loosing a little coolant somewhere, on tuesday i topped the system (not the tank) up, slowly, when i started the car wednesday it took another 1/2L direct into the system. otherwise to the best of my knowledge hoses all in the correct places.

you got at least eigt/nine litres of water/coolant in to the system, and burped it /bled it properly with the rear heater switch turned to hot

well... it's only got water in at the moment. i wanted to be sure i didn't have to take the rad out again before i filled it with coolant. it hasn't been properly burped, just filled super slow with all fans turned on to hot. there is a chance the system had an airlock...

the expansion tank is about a third full

i had it on low, once it over heated it was almost full.

the viscous fan is working as is the electric fan on front of rad

the viscous fan goes round. what else to look for? the electric fan kicked in when the temp gauge gets hot.

the head is bolted down properly and to whatever the torque settings in nm are,and the bolts are not to long and need washers underneath

torqued for sure, all done in the correct pattern. box indicates they are for my engine.

Other things we know:

It's smokier than a rasta at a Bob festival. Although the smoke appears to change. Very much like a rasta.

It has trouble starting, I need to turn it over several times before it catches.

Once running it seems to idle pretty smoothly. Then after driving it often cuts out when the revs drop.

I have run out of my diagnostic powers. (Never really had any.)

My last chance saloon is to do an oil / filter change and fill the cooling system with real coolant and burp it properly.

The last thing I did before I replaced the head: I started the car cold, in the 20 minutes that I was burping the system it over heated and the head cracks opened spewing coolant everywhere. I guess if there is a problem with the gasket, this will happen again.

[Ski_Extra]

And the head gasket that was supplied was one thickness. I was expecting to have to measure the piston clearance height and fit the appropriate gasket...

[gwh200]

And the head gasket that was supplied was one thickness. I was expecting to have to measure the piston clearance height and fit the appropriate gasket...

hate to say it ude,

but you may have sustained some other engine damage,dont know wthough.

it may be prudent to give it to a garage and do as much diagnostic work as the wallet allows