DW8 possiable head gasket

danielhawkes · Unread post by **danielhawkes** » 29 Sep 2010, 18:59

Hi Guys, hope someone with a little more experience with head gaskets can help.

I bought a cheapie Berlingo with a ceased engine. Tried our hardest to free it whilst towing home but well and truly ceased.

Bought a 2nd hand engine... sold as a runner, but when we swapped it over (few days ago) would not run. Noticed at this early stage it was pressurising the header tank just turning over.

Swapped injection pumps over (damn, 2nd cam belt again on and off in 1 day!!!) engine runs but pressurises the cooling system so quickly its untrue. You cant run the engine with the cap on at all. Also white smoke in exhaust that does not clear even after 10 mins.

Has to be headgasket, right? Decide this for myself really, but just worth checking before i strip it down.

Given that i have a "spare" engine in the boot i've done a dry run and stripped the head off, fairly easy as it happens... measured all bolts which are 1mm or more under the autodata specified maximum lenght so i'm thinking OK to reuse??

I now need to know what head gasket to buy and if i need to strip the head off the running engine to count the holes/notches and order the same one, or if i just got for the thickest. Also someone mentioned a "repair" gasket, but i dont know what that is

Thanks in advance

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 29 Sep 2010, 19:18

welcome Daniel, everyone, Daniel got in touch with me about my MLS gasket originally, but between us we established mine was a D8A not a DW8, anyway... I suggested he could get away with a thick 5 notch gasket (repair) and it will help his rebuild. (I am assuming a DW8 has the same options as a DHY TD etc)

Obviously, check the head first with a skim Daniel although you can decide if it needs one once its off.. and you have a spare head too, one should be ok..

I have to go out now and hit a shuttle at people for fun

John

evilally · Unread post by **evilally** » 29 Sep 2010, 19:34

Speaking from experience with an XUD, which I believe is more or less the same as the DW8...

Personally I would just get new bolts for piece of mind. I think you can buy the gaskets and bolts in a kit for about £25 on ebay.

A repair gasket is a 5 notch gasket, the thickest there is. A lot of people say just use the thickest to avoid any mis-calculation, others say you should work it out properly. Certainly the thickest will run, but you will lose a little compression. I think you can look at your existing gasket, then ask the engineering company that does the skim how much material they took off, and work it out from that. BoL is not bad for an explanation on gaskets and head torquing procedure.

danielhawkes · Unread post by **danielhawkes** » 29 Sep 2010, 19:56

BoL ?

I was not intending to skim the head. I do have access to a Mill infact, but have checked the head and beleive it is perfectly true (the "spare" one). No signs of any cracks and the imprints the gasket left on block and head were perfect on this engine - it was not blowing at all.

Cant source DW8 gasket + bolts for less than £50-£60 on ebay.... just a little too much on an old banger if i can just change the gasket.

The FULL story is I am setting up on my own as a electrinics engineer (mostly marine, and a little automotive) as of end of this week and the budget is SUPER tight (i'm trying to keep the car and a van for running about in).

Thanks for replies so far

Trainman · Unread post by **Trainman** » 29 Sep 2010, 21:41

danielhawkes wrote: BoL ?

Book of Lies AKA Haynes Manual

danielhawkes · Unread post by **danielhawkes** » 29 Sep 2010, 22:07

I have found very little of use in any Haynes produced in the last 10 years.

"Consult the local dealer for specialist advice"

or

"Not a DIY job, requires special tool"

Total crap. DIYers can still rebuild gearboxes, and tension cambelts.

acrowot · Unread post by **acrowot** » 29 Sep 2010, 22:43

evilally wrote:Speaking from experience with an XUD, which I believe is more or less the same as the DW8...

Personally I would just get new bolts for piece of mind. I think you can buy the gaskets and bolts in a kit for about £25 on ebay.

A repair gasket is a 5 notch gasket, the thickest there is. A lot of people say just use the thickest to avoid any mis-calculation, others say you should work it out properly. Certainly the thickest will run, but you will lose a little compression. I think you can look at your existing gasket, then ask the engineering company that does the skim how much material they took off, and work it out from that. BoL is not bad for an explanation on gaskets and head torquing procedure.

The head on these engines is flat, there is no combustion chamber so a skim will have very little effect on compression, the valves will be a little deeper into the bore. The correct way to determine how thick the gasket should be is to measure the piston protrusion and determine the gasket thickness from this, it is all explained in the BOL. I suppose there is more risk of the valves coming into contact with the pistons than there being any significant effect on compression with a skim.

cachaciero · Unread post by **cachaciero** » 30 Sep 2010, 11:17

acrowot wrote:
evilally wrote:Speaking from experience with an XUD, which I believe is more or less the same as the DW8...

Personally I would just get new bolts for piece of mind. I think you can buy the gaskets and bolts in a kit for about £25 on ebay.

I would second new bolts, the torqueing of these is guaranteed to stretch them close to elastic limits I would have strong reservations about using them a second time after the number of heat / cooling cycles not to mention the tension they will have been under for a significant part of their life.

cachaciero

MikeT · Unread post by **MikeT** » 30 Sep 2010, 12:27

take a look here PSA group head gasket reference Note! .pdf!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Thank you fairy godmother

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Possible cause of coolant pressurising I would have thought could be perforated head, perforated block, head gasket (obviously), erm, what else? Anybody? Feel free to chime in!

danielhawkes · Unread post by **danielhawkes** » 01 Oct 2010, 11:31

yes i'm still not entirely convinved its the head gasket, but i am yet to think of anything else that can be causing these symptoms.

if anyone has anything i can check before i strip it down... the suggestions are welcome!

danielhawkes · Unread post by **danielhawkes** » 09 Oct 2010, 21:32

well i did this job today (been away for a week).

it looks like it was the head gasket, it was pretty horriable in there and no pressurising since fitting the new one.

i did reuse the bolts. they were all 1-2mm under the specified maximum lenght.

just need to put timing covers and alternator belt etc. back together and we should be back on the road.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 09 Oct 2010, 21:51

Excellent stuff Daniel

Fingers crossed she'll be OK now...

Did you check the head surface for trueness?