406 1.9TD Head Gasket

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Paul 123
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406 1.9TD Head Gasket

Post by Paul 123 »

I've just got (well, 3 months and 5K miles ago) a 406 1.9TD with 190K on the clock. It starts and runs perfectly, temperature stays at about 70 degrees rising to about 90 when stuck in traffic, the only bugbear being the loss of water at about 1 litre every 500 miles. However, when topping up the oil last week I noticed alot of 'mayonaising' in the filler neck. Putting 2 and 2 together I suspect the headgasket may have blown but before I put it into the garage is there anything I should do just to confirm this? Also, is there any chance of a coolant system sealant (BARSEAL or similar) providing a cure? I'm using the car every day for work and as I said, it runs fine, but I don't want to risk further damage so does the job need doing urgently? Finally should I get the head skimmed as a matter of course and how much would the whole job cost.
Sorry for the long list of questions but any advice gratefully received.
Thanks
Paul
JohnD
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Post by JohnD »

Make sure the water loss isn't somewhere else; hose joints, perished hoses or leaking heater matrix. Feel the carpets in the footwells. To check for a blown head gasket, top up the header tank, making sure that all air is bled off through the bleed valves. Start the engine and let it tick over for a few minutes. Remove the rad cap and see if the reservoir has pressurised and look for bubbles. Don't even think about using a sealer to stop the HG leaking - it won't work. And yes! if it is the gasket, get the head skimmed and checked for cracks.
markallinson
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Post by markallinson »

This is exactly what my Xsara 1.9 TD was doing, I tried BARSEAL to no avail. Then I searched the web and found this site, there are some tips and hints. In there I found a tip to change the thermostat, as the engine won't heat up enough to get rid of the condensation and won't get hot enough to make the BARSEAL work. So I checked my thermostat, and sure enough the rubber seal was U/S. One new thermostat and its sorted the water loss and the horrid mayo has gone, job done. I nearly did my head gasket and I am SOOOO glad I tried this first.
Hopefully this will help.
Cheers
Mark
Paul 123
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Post by Paul 123 »

Thanks to those who replied. Unfortunately, when I checked last night there were bubbles appearing in the radiator header tank and the coolant is milky so I guess it is the head gasket. Any idea how long it takes to replace and what a garage might charge?
Thanks
Paul
JohnD
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1998 Citroen Saxo 1.5D
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Post by JohnD »

I've no idea what the cost of replacement head gasket would be - but make sure the head is throughly checked and/or skimmed. Also it's recommended that new cylinder head bolts are used in refitting. Any short cutting will require the job to be done again in a few months time.
Mosser
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Post by Mosser »

I have recently changed my head gasket (along with new valves too and the cam belt),
If you are doing it yourself and you havent got much experience doing this sort of thing (like me !!) then it will take you about 20 hours in total, bear in mind that if you want to do this over a weekend and you take the head off on a saturday, you wont be able to get your head skimmed until monday as machine shops dont work sundays, so if you then finish the job in the evenings once your head is back it is about 3 evenings work to get it all running again,
The gasket kit you need will cost about £50 for everything,then the new head bolts are about £3-4 each, reuse the spacers but get new washers, and get the correct grease for the head bolt threads and if it s been a while since the cam belt was changed you might as well fit a new one as you will have the cam belt off anyway
Mosser
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Post by Mosser »

Forgot to add, that you also need to check that your cooling fans are cutting in at the correct temperature, if they arent then either the bitron unit will be faulty or, like mine, the pins will be so corroded that when you unplug the unit most of the pins will snap off !!
Paul 123
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Post by Paul 123 »

Hi,
Just to cover all the angles before the headgasket is replaced, I changed the thermostst at the weekend. The old one seemed to be fine but I have noticed that nows its been replaced the natural running temperature of the engine is just over 80 degrees where with the old thermostst it was 70. Haven't been far enough to find out but I'm now wondering whether the increased running temp will have any effect on the mayonaising (although I'm still convinced its the head gasket it would be great to be wrong). Does anyone know what the correct running temperature is for the car and how critical is it?
Thanks
Paul
Mosser
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Post by Mosser »

My car was running at 70 degrees before my cam belt snapped and i had to rework the top end,
After i put it all back together it was still running at 70 degrees which i thought was a little low, so i put a new thermostat in and it now runs at 79 degrees instead and is a lot better at maintaning its temperature too,
One thing i did notice is that the new thermostat had an extra plate with a spring on it on the end that goes in first, the old one didnt have this so i wondered if my old stat was duff or the design difference was the reason for it running 9 degrees hotter
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