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Welcome to the forum Alex. welcometomyturbodies
Well to determine if its the valves which will result in lack of compression you would need to do a compression check. This would mean obtaining a compression gauge for a diesel engine. They should be available for petrol engine at some auto store as they only screw into the spark plug theads and the gauge can measure pressures up to 200psi. With a diesel the pressures are higher plus you have no spark plug so you would need an adaptor that fits the injector.
Now a lack of compression on one or more cylinders will make the engine run uneven at all times, its like running the engine with a fauly injector so it runs on 3 cylinders depending on how burn it is. I would have thought to determine if the camshaft lobes are worn you could remove the cam cover of top of the engine and do a visual inspection. If you really want to be accurate then you would need to use a Dial Test Indicator (DTI) that would measure the lift on each cam so you could compare each result to see if one or more is less.
Now as for being quoted £7000 CAD (4,337.26 GBP) to replace the entire head is extorsionate. The only reason you would replace the head if it was cracked and couldn't be repaired all other parts in the head can be services, bearings, valve guides, valves etc
As for doing the job yourself you say you've worked on farm tractor diesels so I'm assuming you have a basic understanding of engines. I can't tell you if you need any special tools to do the job others on here can tell you that.
Well to determine if its the valves which will result in lack of compression you would need to do a compression check. This would mean obtaining a compression gauge for a diesel engine. They should be available for petrol engine at some auto store as they only screw into the spark plug theads and the gauge can measure pressures up to 200psi. With a diesel the pressures are higher plus you have no spark plug so you would need an adaptor that fits the injector.
Now a lack of compression on one or more cylinders will make the engine run uneven at all times, its like running the engine with a fauly injector so it runs on 3 cylinders depending on how burn it is. I would have thought to determine if the camshaft lobes are worn you could remove the cam cover of top of the engine and do a visual inspection. If you really want to be accurate then you would need to use a Dial Test Indicator (DTI) that would measure the lift on each cam so you could compare each result to see if one or more is less.
Now as for being quoted £7000 CAD (4,337.26 GBP) to replace the entire head is extorsionate. The only reason you would replace the head if it was cracked and couldn't be repaired all other parts in the head can be services, bearings, valve guides, valves etc
As for doing the job yourself you say you've worked on farm tractor diesels so I'm assuming you have a basic understanding of engines. I can't tell you if you need any special tools to do the job others on here can tell you that.
