Citroen XM Forum

You can make out the coolant getting out at the gasket. It's not the core plugs of the block below though it is confusingly running down to them and dropping off.

Btw what kind of socket is needed for those exhaust bolt nuts? Is it just a normal socket?

Yep that's he head, your not hanging around are you!
I'm sure despite how they look they are standard sockets but they could be torx the same as the head bolts

D

Got the torx sockets. I tried the tx55 in head bolts to check it fits- need to take rocket cover off first by the looks of it as the sockets don't fit without fouling on the rocker cover

Yep Dean I can never leave things alone once I know something is wrong with it... well I'll need a second tx55 with a 1/2 inch drive to fit the torque wrench for refitting. Also gonna need a key to lock the flywheel

That's a very good way to be Graeme, just dive right in there. A lot of people dread and put off a big job such as this but you're straight at it, I like it, wish I had half the enthusiasm and capability

Ciarán

If its auto it will not have a timing pin in the flywheel, will need to have the toothed locking pad, cam cover will have to come off to access front head bolts, three 10mm head nuts on studs

D

Thanks chaps. It's more to do with dread ciaran ! And the need to get things done since I hate using my parents' garage for extended time-consuming they're good enough to let me use it but it's unfair that I hog it at times. I was tempted to point and pay for this job but it's too much dosh. I'll still need to pay for the pressure testing and skim though. Also I do kind of enjoy the work though I prefer driving it!!

Still not quite figured out how I'm going to lift the ' head when it comes to it as I have no hoist. There are two lifting eyes on the front of the head though so that's useful.

Don't even have the gaskets yet but tonight I'll make a start and return throughout next week for the rest

Those eyes are for lifting the engine. You wing need a crane to lift the head. Although, it might be worth living the engine out to do the clutch too. I highly recommend you change the exhaust manifold gasket when you have the head off. It's a common source of noise and failure on this engine.

The exhaust manifold was changed on HAZ Ciaran, she was noisy when I first saw her.

Yep me be changing that too. Have got intake manifold off, timing belt cover off (why such large bolts to hold the top section on?? and OMG the second bolt of the top cover... jeez that was a terror to remove. Anyway, early days - much more to report as we go..

Aerodynamica wrote:Yep Dean I can never leave things alone once I know something is wrong with it.

Ciaran wrote:That's a very good way to be Graeme, just dive right in there.

I admire Graeme's tenacity and drive but the downside is that a small job that can wait can turn into a big job that can't.

robert_e_smart wrote:The exhaust manifold was changed on HAZ Ciaran, she was noisy when I first saw her.

Thanks Rob, yet another headache you've saved me!

It's hard to tell with that car sometimes as the exhaust is generally noisy, on account of being missing the secondary rear silencer, however when I think back to the black TCT of Adrian Chapman's (which Jaap later broke and ironically the exhaust from which is now on HAZ!), the gasket on that was gone and I remember it being distinctly raspy and blowy at idle.

Ciarán