1.9TD - Cambelt & Head gasket change

[Old-Guy]

Sit. rep. Sunday am while I have my 3rd mug of tea. Yesterday pm did the Camshaft oil seal - decided it would be easiest with head fitted; WRONG as it's awkward to get at with the head in situ. The cam cover securing bolt nearest the sprocket was almost loose, with sprocket off it was clear that leak was from the cover gasket not the oil seal, but as I had a new one, I might just as well fit it having got this far.

The BoL suggests two ways of holding the camshaft to undo the sprocket bolt: spend an hour making a tool, put a big spanner on the forged square on the camshaft (the square is very rough, only a huge adjustable would fit it but the jaws are too thick to go in). The solution is simple: strap wrench around the sprocket, the bolt is only done up to 20 ftlb (IIRC).

The head face had some traces of sealer on it, suggesting that attempts had been made to fix a leak previously. Cleaned up both this and cover carefully, fitted new gasket (oiled the mating faces) and refitted cover. Didn't do much more than nip up the three bolts last night to give the gasket a chance to settle into its proper shape. 1st job now is to tighten them down gently.

I don't suppose she'll be on the road tonight as, in the interests of marital harmony, I don't intend spending a full day on it.

[Old-Guy]

Slight problem: the fuel return pipe that goes down the back of the engine has a little clip that slides down onto some sort of pin somewhere around the back of the cam-belt cover. IIRC, I undid the pipe and pulled it gently upwards so I could get at the dreaded 12mm bolt at the back of the cover. Now the pipe is flapping a bit.

Can anyone remember what it goes onto please? Of course I can't see down there, nor can I feel anything.

Hopefully back on the road in an hour or two.

[CitroJim]

EDIT: I just typed a load of complete tosh...

[NewcastleFalcon]

Probably a few posts too late, but for anyone struggling with the centre inlet manifold bolt, the above "tool" solved the problem for me.

It is a 13mm 3/8 drive socket, a 1/2 inch to 3/8 inch adaptor, and a 13mm/8mm drain plug key with the 8mm end sawn off, and finally a 19mm spanner.

The spanner acts on the body of the drain plug key and pokes up sufficiently above the inlet manifold to get a decent turn on it.

The car in question is a 1994 Xantia 1.9TD. I have found my little sawn off drain plug key has come in handy many times for undoing nuts an bolts where space is restricted.

kind regards

Neil

[Old-Guy]

For me, in the end the perfect combination of tools proved to be:
1. 1/4 (inch - half the top row of the keyboard has just stopped working) square drive hex socket plus 75mm wobble extension and fine ratchet; for quick doing up.
2. bi-hex socket on 3/8 square drive mini-breaker bar: offered as "would this get in there?" Magic. This bar ('Mad' brand made in USA) ideally could be a bit shorter but it was fine to finally tighten up beyond the point at which I would worry about over-stressing the 1/4" ratchet.

Final problem (apart from noticing the throttle cable is starting to fray) was bleeding the injection system. Like an idiot I thought all (relatively) modern systems were self bleeding - flattened the battery last night. Then looked at the BoL - bleed valve on injection pump? Not on my Bosch there ain't. The inlet fuel union was as tight as.... when finally cracked off, one squeeze on the priming bulb blew out some air followed by fuel. Then bled no 4 injector (more cranking) - and she started firing on 2 of the other 3 cylinders. Nipped up the bleeding injector - off on 3 then the 4th chimed in. Bingo .

Just been for an extended test drive - once hot, needed to stop and re-bleed the cooling system. Of course I burnt my fingers and dropped the bleed valve cap down behind the fuel pump 5 miles from base Fortunately, there was a bit of wire in the boot to flick it out and onto the ground. Amazing the effect of even quite a small amount of air in the top of the cooling system.

Now to have a final check underneath for drips and put the under-tray back.

Next job: replacement O/S strut mount from Lithuania ASAP.

My thanks to all those offering advice and suggestions.

[Old-Guy]

The job took a lot longer than I anticipated, but I'll admit to being a bit of a perfectionist. There did seem to be a lot of oil in the header tank after the first couple of runs - wondered if I'd made the problem worse not better. However, persevered with bits of magic oliophylic matting from Pertec (adsorbs oil but not water) cable-tied to the coolant filler tube. The first bit was fairly (alarmingly) well soaked with oil, with more oil traces in the header tank, but having changed it, the second bit seems to have mopped up most of what little is (hopefully) still sculling around the cooling system. Having to avoiding using the car for now while I wait for a new strut mount to arrive. Fingers crossed that when I can use the car again, no more oil will appear in the coolant.

Those breather hoses (cam box to oil filler pot and filler pot to valve): if you need the first one,the real thing looks nothing the shape shown on Citroen's parts drawing. When I got the parts listed (1180 86 and 1180 F1 respectively) they look just like the originals. By the same token, ignore the parts drawing for the manifold gasket - go by the part no(s) listed for your VIN. In fact, for S1 Xantias, don't trust the drawings to show any part accurately!

[Xantidote]

The job took a lot longer than I anticipated

Alas, as you've found, certain bits of the job are rather fiddly, but JOB DONE Well done. There's no harm in being a perfectionist - saves the risk of having to redo the job again later. You've given it your best shot, and given the car a new lease of life.

I did the HG on my TD several years ago and it cost about £400. Took the view that if it lasted another couple of years, the repairs would have paid for themselves, and it just soldiers on(albeit a little slower nowadays - maybe carbon build-up under the inlet valves?)

[CitroJim]

There's no harm in being a perfectionist - saves the risk of having to redo the job again later. You've given it your best shot, and given the car a new lease of life.

I very much second that

[Old-Guy]

This morning I intended to complete a major revamp of my website, and was going to post some pictures, including some showing the gasket leak. All change; had a call earlier to ask me to be 'mechanic-minder' shortly. Never mind, I can change those rock-hard breather hoses in a proper workshop out of the wind without creating another favour to be repaid

[EDIT] Health Warning: The cambox to oil pot hose is a total nightmare to change afterwards. I did eventually manage it without removing the cold-start thermostat (which would have meant draining down the cooling system) but I did have to remove the fuel pipe (and drain the filter) and the inter-cooler to manifold air duct and modify a very long pair of side-cutters to cut the steel hose-tie (one of those stupid ones that can't be released).