Hi,
Just found out that the oil leak I've got is a blown head gasket. It's gone on the corner by the cambelt, injector side of engine: oil trickling down corner of engine near oil filter. I've had a phone around and it seems the job will take between 6 to 10 hours, resulting in cost of £650 to £1000. The problem being the difficulty of getting at the various bits and the head being warped and needing to be skimmed and the valves reground etc. Car has done 60,000 miles.
My question is, are these quotes reasonable? If they are, is it a DIY job?
Thanks
Paul
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job can be done diy, fairly easy just not alot of space to work in. head is unlikely to be warped unless it's overheated, the prices you quoted sound a little high really, the parts won't be more than £200 including new cambelt, tensioners and waterpump. if you think you can do it then id suggest getting a haynes manual, reading it through a couple of times and check you have all the tools required
chris
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Thanks Chris,
The prices quoted did not include a water pump, but makes sense to change it.
Paul
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try slackening the head bolts half a turn and torqing them back up a bit more...might work if it's just a moderate oil leak...
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If you do make sure you do it in the correct order or you will not have a warped head but a cracked one.
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Thanks for the suggestions on tightening the head. I'll get the head off, as that's the best thing for the long run - also gives me a chance to get a stuck glow plug out.
Paul
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if you've decided your going to lift the head then the parts id recommend you get are,
complete headset (includes all gaskets plus valve stem seals, check it does include the headgasket as diesel engines can use different thicknesses due to the head being skimmed)
new stretch bolts (there cheap enough so forget reusing them)
coolant
oil
oil filter
air filter
fuel filter
cambelt kit (includes tensioners)
waterpump
possibly new alternator belt depending on state of current one
decent penetrating spray such as plus gas (this is probably the most important bit, snapped bolts etc. can quickly turn the job into a nightmare)
before lifting the head id also recommend removing the rocker cover and checking the valve clearences, peugeot use a stupid shim system so if there out you'll need to order new ones from your dealer, easier to fit the right ones whilst the heads stripped.
you will also need a valve spring compressor if you don't have one, should be £20 at most try ebay in advance.
if this is your first job a cheap digital camera so you can photo all parts that have multiple components so you can see how they go back together (remembering it all can take some practice, photo's are just easier)
get yourself a couple of big boxes, some sealable sandwich bags (big ones) and a marker pen. as you remove components group them then put then in a bag (eg. rocker cover and bolts, cam covers and bolts etc.) and write what it is on it, then seal it and put it in the box. stops things getting lost. when stripping the valves etc. from the head have 8 bags labelled 1 to 8, put each valve, spring, collet, shim and bucket in it's own bag (best to start with one as the cam pulley end for ease of reassembley)
as you can see from the above it's all just a case of working methodically and sensibly whilst keeping everything organised. by the time you've done it you'll wonder why people hand over vast amounts of money for what in most case is just time consuming work (this statement is only in reference to headgasket changes, im not stating that all mechanics are a waste of space.)
and my last point would be, once the head is off take it to an engineering shop to be measured for flatness, pressure tested and hardness checked, should only cost about £70 and although given the circumstances of your engine it shouldn't be necessary it's part of what id call proper working practices, you don't want to spend a week end stripping and refitting to find it fails again as it wasn't 100% flat, and observe closely the sequence for tightening and loosening the head bolts, alloy heads can be cracked quite easily
chris
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Thanks Chris for the comprehensive list of bits and working practice. It's been suggested I get a tool that will lock the cam, crank and pump. Pain about the valve clearance shims, I was hoping they would be screw/nut.
Paul
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Haynes manual explains how to lock items as above using drill bits. That's what I did on cambelt change.
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the one joy of your engine is it has holes for the timing which can be locked in place, iirc there a 6mm threaded hole, so get some reasonably long 6mm bolts and screw them into the holes this will keep the timing spot on whilst your working. you'll need to remove the one in the head when you remove the camshaft, just remember to put the camshaft back in the same place, quite obvious as the hole in the pulley won't line up if you don't.
chris
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Thanks Chris, I'll get the bolts. I hope to get to do it in a few weeks time.
Paul
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Hi Paul,
How did you get on the the DIY head gasket change?
I have an identical problem in that I have a stuck (bottom half) of a glow plug stuck in the cylinder head. There is also a hairline crack in the head by the plug- I doubt that it will cause any problems as is, but eventually I'd like to change the timing belt and as I've seen reconditioned cylinder heads for about £179 I'll change the whole head, gasket, belt and probably the pump.
I'm a novice but can get decent help from trained friends.
Did you run into any problems? or was it reasonable straight forward?
Cheers
Edited by Orphius on 05/12/2008 at 14:52
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