Picasso 2.0 HDi - head gasket?

JamesQB · Post by **JamesQB** » 28 May 2011, 13:49

Hi,

Doing a favour for the father-in-law whose Xsara Picasso 2.0 HDi 2001 had stop lights and overheating messages pop up the other day during a long drive. AA man came out and found coolant was gone but no leaks anywhere, and said looked like head gasket failure. He apparently put some stuff in the coolant tank that he said might gum up the bad bit of the gasket and improve it for the return journey. As it happens, it didn't help and he got home by stopping frequently and topping coolant up.

A mechanic at his workplace put some kind of pressure measuring contraption on the coolant tank and said there was pressure build-up and that this made him also think head gasket failure.

As money is tight, he wants to change the head gasket himself, but before buying the bits, I wondered if it's very likely to be the gasket, or is it possible the head has a crack?

Most of all though, curiosity has got me: in an otherwise healthy car that's been running fine, what can cause the head gasket to suddenly fail like this? Anything that we should be looking for?

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 28 May 2011, 18:47

maybe rad cooling fan/s nbot cutting in,

regards malcolm

citroenxm · Post by **citroenxm** » 29 May 2011, 15:59

The HDi engines - in 8v guise, have so far prooved extereamilly GOOD in the head gasket deparment, due to laminated gaskets fitted from the go..

Its not a bad job, but no way easy either... As the manifold nuts for the turbo are soo dam awkward to get at - in the xantia, probably worse on the picasso - the whole head, inlet AND turbo needs to come off as a single piece. This means disconnecting the Oil feed and return from the back of the block.. The general procedure is similar to the older XUD.. just a few oddities to remove..

I would defeantly say its a damm sight harder to do then an older XUD.. and hence so very pleased that they do not fail as often as the XUD used to...

Paul

Post by **Peter.N.** » 29 May 2011, 17:56

I seem to have different experiences to Paul regarding head hasket failures, my 2.1 XUDs always seem to fail at about 150,000 miles and when I was looking for an Hdi the first two I looked at had leaky gaskets - having said that though the one I bought has done getting on for 200k and is still good but anything over 150k I would be suspicious of.

Peter

citroenxm · Post by **citroenxm** » 29 May 2011, 19:11

Hi Peter,

Ive also got a HDi 110 on now 177k, bought on 159k, but theres NO sign of water leaks, and still doesn't use any water or oil...

Trust you to find leaky head gaskets Peter, but as I said above, how many HDi's have you heard of out of the millions with failed head gaskets, in comparison to XUDs...!

Paul

Post by **Peter.N.** » 29 May 2011, 20:32

Only the ones I look at

P616VKX · Post by **P616VKX** » 09 Jun 2011, 00:28

Sounds stupid... But my old HDi Picasso started doing this... And it turned out to be the plastic Thermostat Housing... Couldn't see a leak anywhere but it'd p**s coolant out over 4-5 miles... Refilling constantly to get it home. New housing, all sorted.

Chlorate · Post by **Chlorate** » 09 Jun 2011, 01:25

Sounds like a head gasket job to me, diesels tend to pressurise the coolant system with exhaust and coolant disappears through the rad cap. Even if it wasn't to start with, if she overheated the head gasket has probably failed by now.

The XUD head job was extremely fiddly. and by the sounds of things the HDi could be a nightmare. Definitely a job where you could save a lot of money doing it yourself, even if you have to buy every single tool.

The head could have cracked if the engine had overheated for any length of time, it's always a good idea to send the head off for a skim and pressure test to make sure if it's still serviceable. Cracked heads can be repaired by a good engine refurb shop, but often it's cheaper to buy a new head. But bear in mind it'd probably still be cheaper than having a mechanic do it for you.

Any engine's head gasket can simply go out of the blue. The main culprit is neglecting the engine coolant, since these engines have cast iron blocks they're heavily reliant on anti-corrosion chemicals to prevent the build up of sludge in coolant passages in the head and block. If these become blocked (or even partially so) you can end up with hot spots on the head leading to a failure of the head gasket and eventually engine overheats.
Other causes include faulty water pump, coolant system leak, blocked radiator or radiator fans not activating at the right temperature.

-Alex

boristhespie · Post by **boristhespie** » 09 Jun 2011, 13:44

Don't know if you can but rev it and look in the coolant tank and if you see a flow of small bubbles then headgasket. Mines when like champagne.

Also doing it yourself, you may need to get the head skimmed. I did.