Xantia-Cylinder Head Examination

[h2ocooler]

All the holes for the Crank, Cam and Pump should line up when refitting the belt, that will set the cam and injection timing as it should be, you might have to adjust the injection timing on the mounting bolt adjustment when you get it going but the chances are it will be right as your using the same pump and block, if the injection timing does need altering you will need a dial guage, there is a point in the back of the pump to insert the pin to get the reading for setting the correct static timing.
As far as I remember the metal plate only has to have to bolts removed that go into the head and does not have to come off completly.
Rob

[NewcastleFalcon]

Thanks Rob

I will have a further fiddle about tomorrow with fresh eyes and a little less rain. I think its pretty certain that the bottom two engine mounting bolts don't go into the head. I have removed the upper one, which leaves the one with the "head" on it which the cambelt covers fit over, and possibly the tensioner pivot bolt/stud although I would think this also taps into the block.

regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

The sun is out and the head is off. You don't have to remove the engine plate or the engine mounting or the tensioner or the idler pulley.

The bit that requires removing is the dowel thing that the top left engine mounting bolt goes through and into the head.

I did loosen off the bolts on the engine mounting but a mixture of levering the engine mounting away from the head and pulling and "shoogling" the head from the flywheel end, poped the dowelling bit out of its hole in the head.

Next task-get the brillo pad out and clean up the head and then ponder about precisely which gasket to buy.

Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Today the random hand of the FCF Archives February Ferret has selected this thread.

It is really Part 2 of a 5 Part story involving the resurrection of a 1.9TD Xantia from a cambelt failure.

Part 1 Xantia Crankshaft Pulley Bolt 1 Newcastle Falcon 0
Part 2 Our selected Thread-Xantia Cylinder Head Examination
Part 3 Xantia-threaded hole behind timing belt idler roller
Part 4 Xantia-Thermostat/Fuel Filter Housing Gasket

and a fitting positive conclusion
Part 5 Xantia-200,000 not out

So how can we add to the thread today a dozen or so years later.

Over the whole story some very recognisable FCF Names helped in 2010 and are still helping today, as well as
significant I will call heavyweight in knowledge contributors from past years.

Reading back to part 1 I picked out a little side discussion, and this contribution from ADDO who regularly used to both entertain and help with problem solving and was probably the FCF's unofficial Australian correspondent for a number of years.

I can assure avid readers, that the 18V Snap-On cordless rattler has plenty of poke. It'll crack damper bolts without a worry. Shame that at about USD$550 plus posting, I can't afford one!

So that was 2010, in 2023 as part of insurance if the hub nut proved too tight on the Clio when doing the driveshaft I bought this to put in the arsenal in reserve.

100 NM tightening 500 NM undoing yes attached to a cord, but 4 free impact sockets probably £20 of anyone's money on their own and the whole package £49.99 from Lidl in 2023.

maybe its not a snap-on but I reckon it will undo all I ask it to undo!
...and would have rattled off that crankshaft pulley bolt in part 1 ot the tale no problem!

Neil

[CitroJim]

I'm amazed I never contributed to this thread originally given I've had lot's of 'fun' with 1.9TD heads over the years...

Three memories, one good, two bad of the trials and tribulations of finding a new head for a Xantia that had broken its cambelt, busted the cam and caps... Just like yours Neil.

The bad ones: We spent no end of time removing a head from a 406 in a scrapyard only to find the head was absolutely wrecked beyond any sort of belief... It had been so hot it had melted and there was missing metal around the valve seats and pre-chambers... The owner of the scrappy knew the reason the car, which looked tidy and well kept, was scrapped and almost did himself an injury laughing at us...

We had the last laugh with a fair haul of goodies we sneaked past him

The second was, if I recall correctly, an eBay purchase. I checked it for flatness and found it banana-shaped with four big circular indentations from the old head gasket fire-rings... A professional skimmer confirmed my suspicion the head had been hot enough to be annealed and thus scrap.

And the good: I finally found a good head at another scrappy with a guarantee it was good and if not, it would be replaced. It was expensive... Over £200, but the need was urgent.

I paid on my credit card. Still quite a novelty in those days to be able to do so in a scrappy. As it happened, the card was going through a change of provider at the time... The scrapyard transaction must have just caught the provider transition at just the right (wrong) time as the transaction never appeared on my statement and thus I never actually paid for it...

The head turned out to be really good. Never did I ever return to that particular scrappy ever again in case they recognised me...

They are now long gone...

[NewcastleFalcon]

Part 1 Xantia Crankshaft Pulley Bolt 1 Newcastle Falcon 0
Part 2 Our selected Thread-Xantia Cylinder Head Examination
Part 3 Xantia-threaded hole behind timing belt idler roller
Part 4 Xantia-Thermostat/Fuel Filter Housing Gasket

and a fitting positive conclusion
Part 5 Xantia-200,000 not out

I'm amazed I never contributed to this thread originally given I've had lot's of 'fun' with 1.9TD heads over the years...

There were parts 1 to 5 of the resurrection story Jim and you did contribute to parts 1, part 3, and part 5

eg From Part 1...a bit of trademark CitroJim encouragement

Well done Neil, getting that manifold off is a tricky old job and you showed great ingenuity in getting at the centre bolt

Haynes are wrong for late manifolds but earlier ones were slotted. There were two reasons, firstly that bolt is a devil to get back in with a manifold dangling and secondly it acts as a sort of dowel when there is a slot. less perhaps a dowel but more of a location and convenient peg to rest the manifold on. Still, it's only light alloy so not that weighty...

You'll be pleasantly surprised with the exhaust manifold studs. They rarely put up a fight. If you remove the stud complete you can leave the manifold and turbo in place and that makes sense - the head with manifold and turbo attached is seriously heavy. If a stud stays in, use the old "double nut" trick to get it out - that's two nuts on the stud, one tightened against the other and the lower one used to undo the stud.

It's coming along a treat. keep up the good work

Neil

[mickthemaverick]

The only thing I can add to this thread does require a little thinking outside the box! When I had my misdemeanour in my Activa the front end was buried deeply in the ditch meaning we had to find a way to lift the front before we could drag it out. Finding a suitable anchor point inside the engine bay did result in an extensive examination of the cylinder head from above! Does that count?

[NewcastleFalcon]

Finding a suitable anchor point inside the engine bay did result in an extensive examination of the cylinder head from above! Does that count?

I'm sure if you had been on the forum back in 2010 you would have chipped in with some useful help. This was my get to know the Xantia intimately phase. The short story was broken cambelt and resultant broken camshaft and caps, probably one bent valve. Not much wrong with that head but the easiest and quickest route to resolution was to take the head and associated paraphernalia off my old Xantia 1.9 TD, and install it on my Xantia 1.9TD under resurrection. It worked after much BS&T, and guidance along the way from the FCF.


I think we can risk a pic of the old cylinder head from 2010!




Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

Here is a picture showing some of the special tools which helped in the job.



Clockwise from top left
Valve Spring Compressor- and collet collector (Club Hammer, Socket, Cut off end of Ballpoint pen with a magnet in the end)
Timing Pins-(M8 bolts and a bent bit of 8mm round bar)
Hacksaw blade- the most useful tool in the box
Inlet Manifold centre bolt removal tool- (19mm Spanner, 8mm/13mm squared-ended drain plug bit with the 8mm side cut off, 1/2 to 3/8 socket adaptor, 13mm socket)

The drain plug bit, 13mm Socket, and 19mm spanner is also good for undoing the right hand centre engine mounting bolt.

The 1/2 to 3/8 socket adaptor is perfect for putting in the square hole in the tensioner to move it back out of the way when installing/removing the timing belt. Used with the drain plug bit and a long 19mm spanner you can even wedge the spanner against the side of the engine mounting turret to keep the tensioner pulled back.

Neil