1.9TD - Cambelt & Head gasket change

[spider]

Good point about cleaning bolt holes out so you do not get hydraulic lock or snap them undoing them (excellent thought Jim) I've had a couple snap on the petrol XU although due to corrosion I think.

EGR: To be honest the bin is the best place for that on an XUD unit, it was never designed initially with that in mind.

If you do not have an airline, one of those aersol 'air duster' cans from Maplin or perhaps a art shop etc would be OK I think. Eye protection recommended as its surprising how the tiny bits that will be ejected aim straight for your eyes. Having once (on a bike) had some aluminium fragment in an eye, its not a pleasant experience.

[RichardW]

There's an awkward bolt in the centre of the inlet manifold. It's worth going straight to this, because if you can't get it out, the head needs to come off complete with the turbo and manifolds. If that is the case, then you really need to lay in some help - it's flipping heavy like that! I did it on a BX TD and couldn't get that bolt out (it had to be removed with a pair of stilsons on the bench later) so had to take it complete - it was about as much as I could do to lift it out. If you go this way, you need to make sure you get the turbo feed pipe on the right side of the driveshaft BEFORE you torque the head down again and also use a bit of cardboard to protect the block whilst you put the head back, then slide the gasket in underneath - otherwise it gets wrecked and you have to buy another one Make sure you've got a tool for the headbolts - they may be T55, or later ones may be E type (inside out Torx).

[Old-Guy]

Jim, thanks for the extra tips. Personally, I prefer a modified bolt as you describe rather than a tap which may take some metal off the threads.

I'll add one of my own for anyone else reading this. Make a pair of guide pins to hold the new gasket (and then the head) in place while you screw the other 8 new bolts:
Cut the heads off 2 old stretch-bolts and hacksaw a slot about 25mm down the diameter of each. Sand/grind/file off all the rough edges and put a chamfer round the cut end. Screw the guide pins, finger-tight, into bolt-holes at diagonally extremes of the block. Screw new bolts finger-tight into the other 8 holes, remove your home-made 'guide pins' with a thin screw-driver jammed into the long slots and replace with the last 2 new bolts.

Richard, many thanks for that absolutely vital info on the bolt heads - I'll take a look when I go out later. I've got a 1/2" drive set of hex/torx/E-spline but I'll check that it includes one that fits. And it sounds as though my demon tip above wont work as there's not enough clearance?

I've been ringing round for parts prices this morning: HG (exact price depends on which is required) - Citroen £67, GSF £48. Citroen total - £271, GSF - £128. Citroen asked for the chance to re-quote on cam belt when I'd shopped around. Frankly, I'd rather order everything (bar the Citroen-only pulley bolt) from a single source.

But a couple of problems have come up, meaning that I can't order all the parts until I've got the engine in pieces - a PITA but can't be avoided.

• 1. The factory used several different (thickness) Head Gaskets - you can't see which until the head is off.
  2. The manifold gaskets may be either one piece, or 2 x exhaust + inlet - ditto.

On the manifold gasket front, I've had conflicting information from Citroen, who used the last 8 digits of the VIN, (separate gaskets) and GSF, reg no., (one piece) - fortunately ALL the parts are available next working day.

No EGR, no fuel system ECU.

[spider]

I think most of the inlet / exhaust gaskets are the single ones, ie a combined / shared inlet and exhaust gasket but I'm not 100%

The notches you can sometimes see, look at the vacuum pump end of the engine (may have to shift some bits out the way) I think you can see the notches exposed here, personally I'd just put the thickest one on.

If you wanted to do it properly (!) then once the head is off you need to use a dial gauge to measure piston protrusion so knowing what thickness is there now is nto a lot of help, plus you need to check the head for straightness etc anyway first so these factors will determine which gasket, hence me saying just pop the thickest one on, but each to their own.

EDIT... Bolts, yes I have two old ones with thick slots in them to help me, these are also useful as the head will slide about on refitting if not careful due to lack of dowels, well lack of one I suppose. Have to watch that the studs are not too long to stop you fitting it etc and you can get them out again, you could test fit the head without a gasket (carefully! do not drop) to see if you can cheat this way. I did not do it that way on mine though but it seemed a good idea afterwards.

[RichardW]

Manifold gasket changed at RP 6720 (3rd April 1995) so yours might be either, but should be possible to tell with your RP number - I suspect as you have no EGR, yours is not the EEC 95 engine, and therefore one piece gasket.

[Old-Guy]

The only way I've done a 1.9TD head is by removing the manifolds. It's not easy as you need to extract the studs but apart from one or two which are a bit hard to reach all can be easily 'double-nutted' out. The inlet manifold is a devil as there's one central bolt which is hard to get to.

You're not kidding, Jim.

Half-an-hour of cussing so far - can't get a socket on as the exhaust manifold is in the way, can't get a ring-and-open because the inlet manifold is in the way, needs a cranked ring. Oh, and it's all done by feel - still trying to work out what size.

BTW - the BoL's instructions to measure piston protrusion is nonsense, you simply replace with the same thickness gasket as the original. You'd only need to faff about with a dial indicator IF you have the BLOCK skimmed.

[bonnyman750]

IIRC the bottom manifold bolt is a 13mm hex and I have always used a deep fluted socket on mine, (i.e. the hex end a smaller diameter that the drive end) and yes it is a pig to get undone. BTW don't believe the BoL when it tells you to just undo the bolt and not to remove it as the manifold is slotted...utter tosh...took me ages first time around till I realised it was a drilled hole...I did think about slotting it myself then and the few times since that I have removed the inlet manifold (swapping turbo, replacing leak back pipe from doseur valve etc..) but on each occasion time had been against me and I am not sure whether it would weaken it either...
When I did my HG my local Citroen Indie advised me to get the thickest gasket available (metal sandwich type)...76000 miles later still going strong...
After removing (double nutting) all but one of the ex manifold studs I put a small trolley jack under the exhaust downpipe to support both it and the turbo...gently does it though...don't want to break the oil feed pipe...

HTH

Glyn

[evilally]

Took that exact bolt off the other night no problem with a 10mm socket and short wobble bar extension The rest of the studs took a long long time. There was hardly any stud protruding so was unable to double nut (and I'm sure I used this method on the 405, hmmmm). Got a stud extractor which again was struggling for enough purchase, not to mention clearance. Got there in the end though.

[bonnyman750]

I'm sure the bottom manifold bolt on the Xantia is 13mm...and AFAIK the exhaust manifold studs on the Xantia have spacer tubes between the manifold face and the locking nut, thus allowing for the double nutting routine to get them out...Don't know about the 405/406's though...

Glyn

[evilally]

You're right, I have it here and it's 13mm! Yes, exhaust has spaces so double nutting should be easy. The inlet on mine was the pain.

[Old-Guy]

Right, that inlet manifold bolt (properly it's set-screw): Yes, it's definitely 13mm hex. It needs to come out BEFORE the six socket-head bolts. Stupid part is that this one really, really DOES need to be socket head. Anyway the tech-ni-Q is to use a short bi-hex 3/8" drive on a 6" wobble extension (had to borrow one to finally discover this). A 1/2" drive socket is too big in diameter to fit in there as is a 1/2" wobble bar and rachet. Once cracked off, it can be wound out with 1/4" drive socket, extension and diddy ratchet (easier to use in the confined space). If I expected to ever need to undo it again, I'd make the effort to find a socket head bolt of the right dimensions.

Job's taking an age: everything beyond that disturbed 5+ years ago for the 1st cambelt change is as it left the factory 17 years ago! Every rubber pipe was welded to its stubs and as most of them seem to be no longer available, I've been very careful. Talking of which, the cam cover breather pipe has gone rock-hard and split as I was try to separate it from the stub in the cover; has anyone cobbled up a reasonable alternative?

Exhaust manifold nuts and studs like new - no difficulty removing. Hung the turbocharger by a stout bungee from the top bulkhead lip. I haven't come across the excellent idea of longer (plated) studs with spacers before - I was expecting the usual rusted horrors - first thing I did was to squirt plenty of penetrating oil at the nuts to soak in while I stripped the front end of the engine.

Middle head-bolts v tight, two bolts nearest the oilway moved a lot more easily and the block threads were slightly rusty in the bottom - hmm.

Definite sign of a slight leak from the oilway into the water jacket at the gasket.

It's all cleaned up very nicely ready to go back together starting tomorrow - after I've taken a couple more photos and changed the camshaft oil seal; I think it's weeping and as a new seal was less than a fiver, it seems stupid not to do it.

One odd thing is that there's slight crevice corrosion in the block face right down at the back where the water seal on the gasket sits on the block face. Just like stainless where there's a lack of oxygen. That and the bright clean block face makes me wonder what is the composition of the block (Yes, I know it's cast-iron, I'm curious about the alloy composition). Corrosion marks will get treated with silicon grease.

I have photographic proof that at over 130,000 miles (of gentle use) this particular engine is still not run in - the original honing marks are clearly visible in bores 2 & 3 and there's not the slightest lip at the top of them.

[Xantidote]

As you're finding, it's not the sort of job you want to do on a regular basis - sounds like it's progressing OK.

Curious as to whether you've found much carbon build-up on the underside of the valves

[uhn113x]

In the distant past when I had a BX TD it was the same problem. I cured it by welding a 4cm bar across the head of the bolts so they couldn't rotate.

[Old-Guy]

Teat break report. Slow and steady progress (repeated interruptions this morning) - got the workshop to myself for the rest of the weekend. Head back on and tightened - you really do need a torque wrench, a 36" breaker bar and an angle indicator; an assistant to make sure the angle indicator doesn't move would be a great help. The BoL says tighten to 20Nm then to 60Nm. Then rotate each bolt a further 220° - can't be done, that's a complete 180° plus another 40°. I did it in two lots of 110°. Biggest problem is finding a secure reference point for the angle indicator. The second 110°really needs some beef.

Putting the exhaust manifold back, it's essential to put the sleeve on the lower bolt nearest the camshaft sprocket before pulling the manifold up to the head - otherwise you have to undo all the nuts and start again!

Back to work - camshaft oil seal now.

[evilally]

Good work chap, sounds like you're ahead of me. Although I've spent a long time decoking the inlet thanks to EGR