Club 80-90 Forums

Hello everyone,
My 1.6 jx engine had a rebuild about 3500km ago. The old service manual said that the cylinder head should be retorqued after 1000km for additional 90 degrees. I tried to torque them but they seemed very tight so i let them be. Well now i am experiencing a coolant leak from the corner nearest to the turbo, but the fuilds have not mixed? I tested the head bolts and the corner bolt turned about 30 degrees without insane force. It reduced the leak but it still leaks.

Can this be saved by torquing all the bolts 90 degrees by force or is a new head gasket a better idea? Thanks for helping a noobie

Yes try to torque them up , there is a sequence for the procedure and once they have had the final tightening they will will need replacing if the head has to come off again.

Thanks for the reply! I will try to retorque them asap. Any idea how much force they are going to need? Last time i used a 50cm breaker bar and still seemed pretty tight. Just need more muscles?

It depends on the type of head bolts you have:

Wow! Thanks for the picture mate! I have the 12-point bolts. That manual does not say anything about retorquing them. I have a old manual from 1990 in my native language (Finnish) and it says you have to retorque them (M12) too. Any experiences?

The multi spline bolts have to be re tightened after 600 miles. 

Tightened the bolts and now i have a constant blue smoke in exhaust and it does not start up. Probably time for a new head gasket. Gasket might have cracked?