Tips or advise for head gasket change - 1.6d

Post by **dave friday** » 26 Jan 2007, 23:27

hi all, having just replaced the head gasket and cam belt[and tensioner] i agree about the head torques[the bently book says 40 60 75 with a torque wrench then 180 with a breaker bar!!!]. my chest still aches!. what's worrying me is i still have to do another 90 deg[and another 90 at 1000 mls]. and yes the cam on mine has a keyway cut into it. i had to use a dial guage to get the pump timing spot on.
good luck
barry

Post by **camper** » 27 Jan 2007, 08:44

When you undo the 19mm bolt on the cam sprocket give the wheel a tap with a soft mallet .This should loosen. Regards to the keyway ignore it as its a taper intereferance fit for the diesel ."When the cam is kept in position with the locking plate and cambelt is refitted for tension adjustment".The 19mm cam sprocket bolt should only be lightly holding it on the camshaft taper as to allow the sprocket to move with belt adjustment tension.After this tighten of course timing checks should be done .

Post by **SplendiferousII** » 27 Jan 2007, 12:12

Right - glad someone mentioned to leave the cam pulley loose and tighten it after tensioning the belt. Makes perfect sense now.

I am going to pull the head off again today, as I am not happy at all with these bleedin stud bolts. I am never going to gain another 180 degrees.

I am concerened that the bolt holes are not clean enough and that causing the to bind at the bottom of the thread. - A mate did that little task for me and I need to know if he went deep enough and I am a little concerned he used a taper tap not a plug tap - no reason to beleive he did this just paranoid about it now.

Post by **camper** » 27 Jan 2007, 15:18

If you are going to pull the head off remember you have streched the bolts when you did a torque down.It might be wise and obtain a new set .Regarding after cleaning threads a airline to blow out is the best bet some of the head bolt strech sets have a small supply of copper grease to use on the threads.

Post by **SplendiferousII** » 29 Jan 2007, 11:52

Well I pulled the head off again. Ran a tap down through the holes in the block and hey presto - loads of cr@p came out of a few. Slapped it all back together and the bolts torqued up with ease. Rather than just jamming up as before and being impossible to turn.