205 cylinder head

[anonymous-user]

ok, i am pretty sure my GTI has had a HGF and want to take the head off to get it skimmed, the car hasnt run since april.

do i need to take the injectors off?, i have taken the bolts of the rail but cant get the injectors out, the car has now petrol in it and i cant imagine that the system is still pressurised.

anyone give arough guide what they did to take the head off their car?... was it injectors out etc?!??

[GnuBee]

You need to look on forum.205gtidrivers.com but in the meantime...

Firstly get hold of a copy of the Haynes manual (not the recent one, the older one subtitled Service and Repair).

Have you got the alternator belt, pulley and cam belt off yet?

Firstly drain coolant from car (pull lower radiator hose)

Then you need to get the alternator belt, pulley and then cam belt off

Then remove bolt from the top of the OS engine mount and using a well protected jack, jack the engine up enough so that you can undo the two bolts that pass through the mount and into the head

Remove exhaust manifold (use penetrating oil on the nuts)

Remove inlet manifold there is NO NEED to remove the injectors - the manifold will probably need some "encouragement" to release it from the head

Spray lots of penetrating oil on the head bolts, wait, do it again and then slacken them off gradually in the reverse order to the tightening sequence; Do not slacken right them off one by one - you need to get the tension off evenly - they will be very tight so you'll need a breaker bar. Do not lose (or forget later) the head bolt spacer for the bolt over the water pump - if you forget it when you put the bolt back in you're in for some "fun"

When you've got the bolts out and are confident that you've removed all breather hoses, coolant hoses and ECU sensor connectors you need to roll the head off - do not lift it straight up because you run the risk of lifting the liners which will require new seals and is in reality likely to be an engine out job

Autofive will sort you out for a complete head gasket set (includes all gaskets required and cam shaft oil seals). At the same time consider doing the water pump and the cam belt tensioner. Buy new head bolts - some people have successfully reused the original ones but they're not expensive so don't bother taking the risk.

Edited by GnuBee on Tuesday 13th November 12:13

[GnuBee]

Of course probably should have asked - why do you think the HG has gone?

[anonymous-user]

just a hunch but...

mayo in filter cap, enough water from exhaust to generate suspicions, will be a track day car so want it to be reliable, 110K miles, absolutely no history of car at all, never known a 205 which hasnt been ragged from cold by at leat one previous owner....

[GnuBee]

Mayo in the filler cap is pretty much guaranteed on these cars. However as you don't know the history you're probably doing the sensible thing (is it 1.6 or 1.9?) especially as it it'll be a sensible time to change the belts.

I don't know how much you know about doing the HG but I should of mentioned that before taking the belts off you need to get the timing to a known point and Peugeot have made this relatively easy.

Using a socket on the alternator pulley bolt or a screwdriver on the ring gear you need to rotate the engine until you can get a 10mm drill bit through the alternator pulley and into the timing recess and another 10mm drill bit through the cam shaft sprocket and into it's timing recess. Once you've done this take the 10mm bit out of the alternator pulley before loosening the bolt (i.e. don't use the bit to stop the pulley moving) and then before removing the pulley make sure you can still get the drill bit through the pulley and into the recess.

Can't stress highly enough how worthwhile it'll be for you to be a member on forum.205gtidrivers.com - there's a wealth of knowledge on there and it'll prove really helpful...

[Rob_the_Sparky]

DO NOT change a head gasket on a hunch. At least do a compression test and ideally get a garage to do a leak down or test for exhaust fumes in water.

It is not a fun job and you have to be very careful putting it back together (paricularly the order in which you do up the engine mount and the head bolts. Best not to attempt it if you don't need to.

I have had a head bolt snap when taking off a head. This scraps the engine as you need a machine shop to get the remains of the head bolt out of the block (ali block and steel bolt). Having said that I do know someone on the forum who has removed one without a machine shop but then he made a tool for the job in the machine shop he has free access to!

Rob

[Simes205]

As Rob said - don't take it apart without testing.

This time of year there is always a big build up of condensation in the exhaust. My car hasn't moved more than 10m in the last 5 weeks but after starting her up it took an age to clear the steam.