Camshaft oil seal on Xantia 1.9TD

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steviewonder7
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Camshaft oil seal on Xantia 1.9TD

Post by steviewonder7 »

Hi All,
Been a while since I last posted,great to see forum still active,alive and very helpful.
Hopefully some kind soul can advise me on a small matter.
I'm in the process of renewing the timing belt on my 94 Xantia 1.9TD.I've noticed that there's some oil weeping from somewhere on the back of the engine block below the turbo on what appears to me to be the coolant inlet block!!There's also oil on the water pump housing but I suspect this coming from the camshaft seal as this is appears to be weeping aswell.
Is it an easy job to replace the camshaft seal on these engines?Is it a case of just removing the camshaft timing pulley and then prising out the seal and then replacing it.Will i have to find a means of holding the camshaft in place so as not to lose its position in relation to the rest of the timing.
At the moment I have the engine locked in position as per manual instructions and old/existing timing belt still in place waiting for the next step.
Any ideas folks??..Thanks for your answers in advance..Steve:)
1994 Xantia 1.9TD sx non anti sink.No aircon.Gone to the great scappy up above.

Now with Xsara Picasso 2.0 HDI (90 bhp)(03 plate) in 'Wicked Red'
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CitroJim
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Post by CitroJim »

Hi Steve,

Yes, a very easy job to change the seal, exactly as you describe but it might not be necessary, you are more likely to be weeping from your cam cover gasket as these get hard over the years and don't seal as well. They weep at the back because of how the engine tilts back. There is a tremendous amount of oil floating around the top of the engine. Oil, like water, is shocking for leaking from one place whilst giving the appearance of leaking from somewhere else entirely!

Another cause is if the seal on the camshaft outer bearing caps has failed. Here, the very ends of the bearing cap must be sealed with a smear of Hylomar or similar where they rest on the head. Oil leaks are a dead cert if the camshaft has been out at any time and the sealant is not reapplied.

If you do swap the seal, and it is not a bad idea whilst it is all in bits, take care to do the cam sprocket centre pulley bolt up to the correct torque.
Jim

Runner, cyclist, time triallist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
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steviewonder7
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Post by steviewonder7 »

Thanks for your reply Jim,I'll get the seal ordered shortly and have ago at replacing it.
Saying that,I'm still a little aprehensive as to wether the camshaft will move out of position once the timing belt and camshaft timing pulley are removed.I havent got many tools for the jobs i do on cars and i definitely dont have any tool that might hold the camshaft in place.Will it be necessary to have one?
1994 Xantia 1.9TD sx non anti sink.No aircon.Gone to the great scappy up above.

Now with Xsara Picasso 2.0 HDI (90 bhp)(03 plate) in 'Wicked Red'
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CitroJim
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Joined: 30 Apr 2005, 23:33
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My Cars: Bluebell the AX, Polly the C3 Picasso, Pix the Nissan Pixo, Propel the duathlon bike, TCR Pro the road bike and Fuji the TT bike...
x 6160
Contact:

Post by CitroJim »

I find, Steve, that if you are careful, the cam will move very little as you undo the centre bolt.

I would get the cam in time with the 8mm timing pin bolt well screwed into the hole and start undoing the bolt. It is actually not that tight (hence my caution about tightening it).

When the bolt is loosened off to finger-tight but still holding the sprocket on solidly, wrap an old timing belt around the sprocket and remove the timing pin. It may go a little tight but with gentle pressure on the old timing belt (acting as a sort of lever) you will be able to get the pin out quite easily. Remove the bolt and sprocket, taking care of the locating key and swap your seal. If memory serves me correctly, when the cam is on time, the lobes are in such a relation to the buckets that it is fairly well locked. I cannot recall any problems when I had the cam out of Dads 205D, nor when Xac and I were playing cams on his 1.9TD. On the 205 I rested the cam down, more or less in time and tightened down the caps evenly and it ended up very nearly spot on time.

Reverse the procedure to refit, turning the cam using the old timing belt to get back to exact time to replace the timing pin.

NEVER trun the cam on the centre bolt. It'll torque it up far too tightly.

Correct torque for the centre bolt is 33 ft Lbs (45 of those funny metric things, Newton Metres :roll: ) Not very tight at all really.
Jim

Runner, cyclist, time triallist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
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