Pug 405 TD Head Gasket

[205GRD]

Hi

I have been asked by a friend to change the head gasket on his car. Any hints/tips/ extra parts required will be gratefully recieved.

doug

[504gld]

OK, firstly establish why the gasket failed in the first place or you'll be doing the task twice when it fails again. It is important to rectify the root cause. The XUD engine has a alloy head which could warp so you need to get it skimmed. This in turn may lead to the requirement for a thicker gasket. XUD engines have several gaskets designated by notches on the right hand side. Be sure to buy a head gasket set, branches of German Sweedish and French will have these at a reasonable price. They will consist of at least the gaskget, head bolts, timing belt and belt tensioner. YOu may want to change the water pump whilst at it. Do not use the old timing belt or head bolts thay strech and have a once use only design.

You will ned a set of locking bolts to lock the injection pump and the camshaft in place once the timing belt is off.

I would fully drain the coolant and flush before having the head off. Refill with 4 year life "green" coolant, like Comma Coldstream. You must get the system bled of all air, using a header tank when refilling or risk further head problems.

[dabber]

I have just changed my cylinder head on my 405 estate turbo diesel, my advice would be to get someone else to do it !! its a nightmare. You will not be able to remove the head without allowing the engine to rock forward slightly (hence haynes manual suggesting removal of the Drivers side engine mount)suggest supporting engine on a trolley jack at the back and some other jack at the front, you will also need to lock the flywheel in place using a piece of threaded M8 bar ,bloody awkward itself might be worth using a bent piece of 8mm unthreaded bar. Mark the timing belt you are replacing and the cam/fuel pump sprockets and count the number of teeth on the belt between the marks (i have not done this and am regretting it) also mark the camshaft sprocket to make sure it goes back on with the correct face pointing towards the head. Dont worry about the head bolts as the Haynes will tell you to measure them and within certain parameters can be reused. The notches that indicate the gasket thickness are hidden behind a bracket carrying a coolant pipe on the right hand side of the cyclinder head, use thin screwdriver to check no of holes, again refer to Haynes, will tell you that the rear set of holes refer to the car model type and only the front holes apply to gasket thickness, personally I would recommend getting a analogue gauge to measure the piston protrusion of pistons 1 and 4 above the block (they should be at TDC when you put the locking/timig pegs in the flywheel) and refer to Haynes for correct gasket, I say this because I found that someone had bunged a thicker gasket than was required onto my engine, this will affect compression. Watch out for the tensioner pulley spring as you will find this pops out when the Right hand engine mount is released from the side of the engine, the manual recommends retaining this with a piece of 'L' shaped plate, I found that there was a small hole in the housing that retains the spring which a small nail will go in through nicely and hold it together when putting the cam belt on .