Glow Plug Woes

Lawrence1973 · Unread post by **Lawrence1973** » 04 Nov 2009, 14:04

Sounds like things are progressing nicely....I like the set up - good lighting.

Ok,
I see no reason why the cam sprocket can't stay on - I left it on when I took the head off my 406.

I'm not sure about the vacuum pump, from memory the 406 one was bolted to the block as well as the head. I guess it can stay on if not but be careful because it has internal springs and various pieces that can fall out.

I'm afraid the tensioner frame does have to come away....it took me ages to get all the bolts out and because it is bolted to the engine mounting, some of the bolts are locked with compound.

You might be able to only remove the bolt that goes into the head. Take care though - there is a long locating stud. This is why they suggest removing the whole tensioner frame.

Front plate, not sure. trace back all of the things to remove, it might be the plate that the injection pump is mounted on.

Let me know about the gasket and check that the timing covers are bolt types rather than the old clip ones......I have a set of bolt types.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 04 Nov 2009, 17:12

I like the gazebo!!

The vacuum pump will have to come off. Three bolts and a messy spill of oil.

Ditto the cambelt tensioner.

The plate they refer to is, I think, the plate behind the cambelt covers. This was only fitted with the early clip-on covers. If you have the later bolt-on ones, there is no plate.

If you do have the early cam covers and backplate then the cam sprocket will have to come off.

evilally · Unread post by **evilally** » 04 Nov 2009, 18:27

Good stuff guys. I have the bolt on type covers, and the car is a 96 plate, so I think I don't have to worry about an engine front plate. Right, off to remove vacuum pump and tensioner, then it's head off time. I bought myself a T55 bit just for the occassion

evilally · Unread post by **evilally** » 04 Nov 2009, 20:57

Right, stopped in my tracks again. I've removed the head bolts, however the head seems to be stuck solid. I'm going to try and source some steel rods as Haynes suggests tomorrow. Any tips on this?

About the tensioner.....looking at it only the adjustment bolt seems to go into the head. I just removed this, and let the tensioner go back a little bit. Is this ok? Haynes was talking about fabricating a tool to keep the plunger in place and it all sounded a bit complicated.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 04 Nov 2009, 21:12

One thing that MUST come off is the whole RH engine mount as this is dowelled into the head. To remove this, the tensioner has to come off.

There is a big spring in there but it's not as bad as Haynes make out. Carefully slide the tensioner off it's pivot and be ready to catch the spring. It will help if you have an assistant to hold a bar up on the bottom of the spring to keep it under control.

This is a diagram of the tensioners showing the spring and plunger. The spring is housed up in the engine mount.

The head is dowelled to the block and gentle rocking will help it come away. Normally they come up and away quite easily. Watever you do, don't lever it.

Lawrence1973 · Unread post by **Lawrence1973** » 05 Nov 2009, 18:53

Cor, where do you get these diagrams from Jim!?

It's a tough one evilally. I worked through by process of elimination. As Jim says that whole mounting is integrated into the tensioner and head. I guess it has to be as it holds the engine up on the left hand mounting.

I wasn't totally sure if you could leave it in place and only remove the necessary bolts to save time. Having thought about it I realise you have to (sorry) I took the whole lot off on the 406.

As there is horizontal and vertical dowelling, don't think you have a lot of choice.

good luck

Lawrence

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 05 Nov 2009, 22:05

Lawrence1973 wrote:Cor, where do you get these diagrams from Jim!?

I have my ways and means Lawrence

Sadly I can only do them for Citroen specifically but where there is commonality, no problem at all. Anything you need, just let me know and I'll see what I can dig up...

Lawrence1973 · Unread post by **Lawrence1973** » 06 Nov 2009, 19:07

Nice one,

Must arrange a visit - the old 406 isn't quite right.

First thing I need to do is get an exhaust when I can afford it!

Drop me an email if you have time.

Lawrence

evilally · Unread post by **evilally** » 07 Nov 2009, 00:24

Off with her head!! $\:D/$

My old man says it's in great condition for a 131k car that runs on home made fuel, good stuff.

Wishing I had taken the crank pulley off, the lower cover got in the way of everything. I think I'll take it off tomorrow to ease refitting.

Plunger wasn't too bad in the end, I made a little hook out of steel rod to reach down and pull it upwards.

So, what should I be doing to get this sucka cleaned up before it goes back on? I haven't looked at it much yet, I've still to extract the bit of glow plug that caused all this.

Huge thanks again to you guys, I wouldn't have got here without you

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 07 Nov 2009, 06:24

Well done ally $\:D/$

Excellent work

I'd give it all a good clean-up and have your local head skimmer give it a very, very light skim just to clean up the mating face. It will make everything so much easier and ensure all stays good for a long time to come.

Give the block face a clean-up with Scotchbrite and then it's a reversal of the disassembly process

evilally · Unread post by **evilally** » 07 Nov 2009, 12:13

Ok, will do.

I have the head on my worktop in the kitchen. I think I was under the mistaken impression that I could access the swirl chamber via one of the valves, this doesn't appear to be the case. So I'm still stuck with the problem of getting half a glow plug through a 5mm hole. The bit is kicking around somewhere in the swirl chamber. I'm not sure what to do next. Any ideas on this?

The way I see it there are 3 points of entry to the swirl chamber. Through the injector hole, the glow plug hole and a little hole that's in the cylinder itself.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 07 Nov 2009, 17:50

The swirl chambers will knock out of the head and replacements are available as spare parts (Part No. 0218 80) It's described as a Chamber, Repair 0.4 so intended for just this eventuality.

It's likely best to leave this work to a skimmer as any new chamber will need to be faced off flush to the head. A good skimmer should be able to advise.

Off-times they will come out without too much problem as I've seen a couple of heads now where they've been a tad loose. Even after removal it's unlikely it'll give you any further access to get at the bit of glowplug so a new chamber is likely the best way to go.

Good job you have gone this far as a sizeable bit of glowplug kicking about in the swirl chamber would have done nothing for the sweet running of the engine at all.

Lawrence1973 · Unread post by **Lawrence1973** » 07 Nov 2009, 18:06

Fantastic work!

Let me know about the head gasket and bolts. I will send them through to you with timing covers. just let me know what you need.

well done

evilally · Unread post by **evilally** » 08 Nov 2009, 01:44

Success!!!!!

I kid you not, it has been at least several hours work to get this thing out. It has involved hammers, drills, dremmels and a whole host of other creative tools (including about 6 cans of beer). I only got it out about 10 minutes ago, and I've been at it more or less since lunch time. I'm so pleased that I can wake up tomorrow morning knowning that it's done! A large part of it is metal, I'm glad I didn't fire the engine up and "hope for the best"!

Lawrence, your offer is much appreciated, I'll figure out what bits I need tomorrow and let you know.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 08 Nov 2009, 06:56

Excellent stuff

In reading all of this I never realised it was such a big lump of glowplug stuck in there

Yes, it would not have done the engine any good at all.

So tell, us how precisely did you remove it then? All those implements used sound a bit vicious to me..