Just bought 405 diesel. It's done 200k
Has been losing oil, about 1 litre every 500 miles. Definately not burning it - you can see it dripping off the block at idle. On further examination I can see bubbles of oil blowing from the head/block face at idle, obviously from oilways.
Oil not mixing with water, and vice versa - yet! Don't no much about diesels but could it poss be a porous head. Only ever owned petrols but I imagine due to higher compression, a diesel cylinder head will be under more pressure.
Car was only £275 and would be prepared to change head gasket but i'ts not worth getting head skimmed or even another head.
Does anyone have any diesel experience with this prob, and is it likely that head is porous.
Thanks if anyone can help.
405 Diesel Porous Head?
Moderator: RichardW
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- Posts: 650
- Joined: 20 Nov 2003, 16:51
- Location: United Kingdom
- My Cars: C5 X7 2.7 hdi
Past cars
Activa, silver MK1 (221bhp stock) stripped out with twin sparcos Evo seats. 95
Activa, light met red MK1 98
Activa, dark met red MK1 98
Activa, dark met blue MK1 (202bhp stock) 96
Xantia exclusive V6 auto 3l 98
Xantia 2l 8v auto
BX 4x4 GTi dark met silver
BX 4x4 GTi white
BX GTi 16v white fibre bumpers
BX GTi 16v black fibre bumpers
BX GTi 16v hurricane (doa)
BX DTR estate
Sounds like a head gasket gone, best thing would be to take the head off and take a look. the head is yours for nothing + postage (donations welcome of cause but I don’t expect anything for it), or if you collect you can walk away with it, it has no cam so you will need to take that off your engine.
I'm in Redditch Worcestershire.
Andy
I'm in Redditch Worcestershire.
Andy
For what it's worth (this is something of a leap), I sorted a leaking head gasket on a 2.0 petrol Xantia 12 months ago by backing off one headbolt at a time (starting from the centre of the head and working out towards the ends) I oiled the thread, and then re-torqued the bolt up to the spec for a BX 1.9 plus an extra 5 Nm for good measure (they don't give a final torque figure for the Xantia headbolts. It has been fine since. In this case, the head had not been heated to the point where stress relief would begin, so I was pretty confident that the head had not warped. This is a lot quicker and simpler than replacing a head gasket ; If it doesn't solve your problem you haven't lost much time and can still go ahead with lifting the head.
It is my opinion that the frequency of headgasket failures on modern Citroens is due to their omitting the re-torquing procedure that used to be done after a head gasket had done about 1500 miles, and that this shortcut has been implemented to give the illusion of lower servicing costs.
It is my opinion that the frequency of headgasket failures on modern Citroens is due to their omitting the re-torquing procedure that used to be done after a head gasket had done about 1500 miles, and that this shortcut has been implemented to give the illusion of lower servicing costs.