TD5 Cylinder head

[Frax]

Hi all

I have been asked by a freind if I would replace his head gasket as it is leaking oil at the bulkhead end.

I have done the 300tdi head and just wondered if there was much of a differance.

What parts do I need and about how long will the job take.

His head is not leaking into the water system, is it worth doing a re-torque ?

It has done about 90k

Frax

[Ash.Witty]

There is a lot more work involved in changing the head gasket on a Td5, get a Haynes manual that covers Td5's.

The timing chain needs to be secured so that it doesn't drop off the lower timing gear, it has a gold link on the chain and the engine should be barred until the mark aligns with the timing mark on the top gear to make sure when rebuilt its in the right location, it will take a few rotations of the engine for the mark and link to line up again as its a long chain, unlike a Tdi where its every two revolutions.

Spend time undoing the head in the correct sequence and check for flatness with a straight edge once removed, if its not overheated and removed correctly it shouldn't need skimming, my dads was in spec when I changed his 5 years ago and it's still going strong today.

The head bolts will need to be changed as they are stretch type, long and thin and for £30 could save yourself a lot of hassle rather than snapping one in the block.

If the cam and injectors are to be left in use an engine crane to lift off as they are incredibly heavy built up.

[steve200TDi]

Hi,

A good guide here:

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/projects-tutorials/66259-td5-cylinder-head-removal-how.html

as well as the Haynes manual for torque settings.

I bought my head bolts and gasket and the all important steel head dowels from Turners Engineering as they build engine I thought they would stock the proper stuff, which they do, but for a gasket and bolts its more than £30!

I completely stripped mine down by taking the manifolds off and injectors out but was still heavy to remove. You don't have to remove the injectors, but they stick out the bottom as do the glow plugs and valves so sit it on two blocks of wood.

There's a a lot of stuff to remove like the turbo, fuel lines, glow plug wiring (which is a bit of a pain), chain tensioner and vac pump pipe.

It's certainly doable, give yourself the whole weekend to do it in, but depends if you want to clean the head or rebuild it or just take it off and fit a new gasket.

To find out what gasket you need have a look on the pasenger side of the engine just above the water pump housing and you should see some half circles you will either need a 1, 2 or 3 hole gasket.

Steve

You need a female torx socket to remove the head bolts and for £8 you can buy the proper timing pins too!

[Frax]

Thanks boys

This sound a bit more involved than a 300tdi, I am sure I can do it but need to factor in more time.

Did the 300tdi in a day.

Thanks for all the info and the link.

Frax

[101sean]

Is he sure it's leaking from the head gasket? I'd be surprised it it was. They mostly leak from the rocker box gasket at the semicircular cut out at the rear making a mess of the back of the engine.

There's two types of gasket depending on age of the engine,.

[Frax]

Hope it is the rocker cover - that would be a right boost.........