Peugeot 405 1.9td very smoky and idle jumps

[TimDonovan]

Hi, thanks for the suggestion, im rather struggling to find the spacers(ill attach a pic of the bolt and spacer) These seems to be only on the turbo models.

If they can't be sourced ill have to reuse them.....
I cleaned the head up further and I've spotted another crack,I'll attach a pic too, I'm hoping that its not too serious.

Anyone can tell me what that hole is for in the head ? Is it like a skim indicator by measuring its depth?

And I can't feel my swirl chambers extend over my head, is this peugeot specific with not having the chambers extending over the head ?keeping in mind my fingers aren't a dial gauge I'm just getting conflicting info here.
Or are mashine shops supposed to take out the swirl chambers before skimming ?
Or is it a thing that is supposed to be done and doesn't really matter?
I've found a replacement head for 200€ on eBay im konsidering that, I've read Heads aren't supposed to be skimmed when warped due to overheating. Mine never overheated, not that I saw it on my dash. So not sure on that one too...

[moizeau]

And I can't feel my swirl chambers extend over my head,

Thank goodness for that

[CitroJim]

Those spacers can be reused...

Agreed, if the head is known to have been badly overheated then scrap it as it will have become soft and annealed.

A head that planned to be reused should always be very lightly skimmed just to clean it up and endure a good seal to the new head gasket. Skim just enough to clean up and no more!

[Stickyfinger]

Or are mashine shops supposed to take out the swirl chambers before skimming ?

Yes theoretically, then reinsert/glue and then skim them so they are a tiny bit proud.....apparently to help lock them in place

[LedZep]

If this is the crack that you mentioned my friend, this head is too far gone.

[TimDonovan]

Ok, thanks for the replies.
I'll stop bothering trying to find those spacers.
With my engine never cooking over I think ill stick to my head, my holiday is over and I'm thinking of giving the sealing area a blast with walnut granulite at work to clean it all up and check for warping.turns out its quite hard to get all the carbon of just with a bit of abrasivefleece and egr cleaner.

I'm just guessing it was just my head gasket failing at one of its weakest point,

Noting that it's a head gasket type I've never seen before, apparently it's an elastomeric head gasket. I only knew mls gaskets.
I'm tempted to order an mls gasket one notch thicker as which was originally installed as Jim said.

I just noticed that my piston seems to have a little impact Mark from the swirl chamber which feels just a bit loose

That seemingly crack, is I presume the form of the head cast between the valves, but with all the carbon it's hard to tell if it has cracked there.

[CitroJim]

If that is a crack between the valves - unusual on an XUD - then it's definitely toast as LedZep says. Well spotted!

[Stickyfinger]

Concur, that head is toast without expensive specialist repair.

[CitroJim]

One way to tell if a head has overheated and annealed is to look at the impression made on the head surface by the head gasket fire rings. If they are distinct and deep then the head has likely annealed.. The annealing will make the head soft and allow the fire rings to make an impression.

In that respect, yours looks OK as far as I can tell from the photos.

[TimDonovan]

Thanks,
I have now removed the swirl chambers and valves.

Valves look pretty terrible and definitely will need lapping in.
I havent found any Cracks or fire ring indents so fingers crossed my head is fine.

I opted to remove the swirl chambers because the one on the leaking headgasket cylinder Was loose and impacted the piston. So i want the engine man to take a look at that and get the chamber protrusion right.

[LedZep]

The casting between valves i was almost sure it were cracks.Photos deceive the eye. ?t looks like made from the factory and how it is designed.Too hard to die.But it requires valve job and new seats . I'm almost sure i saw holes in some of them.In my region is an expensive repair.Maybe a good used one is a better option if found in good price.

[TimDonovan]

Yeah god knows why they casted it like that.
I gave the head to the mashine shop yesterday, the guy specialises in diesel too and has a lot of experience with the old pre Direct injection engines.
I told him to look out for Cracks and give it a good check up.
He'll ring me and give me quote,I'll keep you all updated.
I'm hoping I can get away with giving the valves a good lap in, see what the guy says.

[LedZep]

I gave the head to the mashine shop yesterday, the guy specialises in diesel too and has a lot of experience with the old pre Direct injection engines.
I told him to look out for Cracks and give it a good check up.

Hopefully there is enough "meat" on seats for grinding until get smooth and on specs with valve lapping and head with no cracks.Changing the seats is the expensive part, at least here, with laser clad in some cases like toyota heads or freezing in nitrogen to fit. And some heads are very strange to this and some seats don't like the material they seat..and leave.. . Hope for the best.Good results.

[CitroJim]

After lapping in the valves and depending on how much you need to do to make all good, re-check the valve clearances - there's a good chance some may need to be re-shimmed.

Fingers crossed it all goes well and I look forward to hearing the engine is back up and running sweetly

[moizeau]

Doing just that on my bike

Just bought some 230's