Citroen XM Forum

I've decided to take the head in for a straightness check before deciding on skimming and which gasket to fit.

I'm meant to be stripping the engine right now, but have to take the newly hatched ducklings for a walk to the brook...

Dieselman wrote:I've decided to take the head in for a straightness check before deciding on skimming and which gasket to fit.

I'm meant to be stripping the engine right now, but have to take the newly hatched ducklings for a walk to the brook...

Sounds like our house

I've started stripping the engine down and have a couple of queries and a dilemma.

What size torx bit are the cam box bolts and head bolts, they are too large for a good fit at 40 and 50 respectively, but too small for 45 and 55. I'm guessing 42 and 52..

So far I have the exhaust manifold undone, the intake manifold undone, the cam cover off, the timing belt off, the engine mount off...etc..etc..

Here's the dilemma.

The reason I think the HG may be suspect is that from cold the engine starts lumpy with copious smoke and I removed the header tank cap and there were bubbles.
The bubbles could possibly be air trapped in the system, but I'm not sure how since it's not been drained.
While removing all the pipework around the head I found the fuel feed pipe to the heat exchanger to be a loose fit which could be leaking in air...so that leads me to the dilemma.
Do I carry on with the head strip and gasket change or do I put it back together and just tighten the fuel pipe to ensure no air enters..

I think that the cam carrier bolts are actually allen screws - they were in mine anyway.

All I can say is, wouldn't it be frustrating to have put everything back together to find out that it wasn't the fuel heater!

Peter.N. wrote:I think that the cam carrier bolts are actually allen screws - they were in mine anyway.

Yours are later cars, these definitely look like Torx bolts.

robert_e_smart wrote:All I can say is, wouldn't it be frustrating to have put everything back together to find out that it wasn't the fuel heater!

That's my thinking too.

I couldn't get he head bolts undone last night otherwise it would've been off then...slightly frustrating at 11:30pm.

Is there a reason people remove the cam carrier when in situ, because the head bolts are accessible through the carrier unit?

Hi Dman,i suppose it depends on how much you intend to o/haul.As i previously posted i didn't remove the cam carrier on my second HG change.It does however make lifting and lowering the head heavier if you do it on your own as i did.I removed the bonnet in both cases and used a block and pulley to lower the head.I found it just too heavy to position.
robertm

Hi Robert.
I'm now definitely leaning towards just doing the head gasket as I'm not even sure there is anything wrong with that even now, but I'm in too deep to not do it now.

I'm pretty sure I'll be able to lift the head and carrier as a unit, having twice manhandled engines out without lifting gear by standing on the inner wings, in my younger days.
Just need to undo the damn bolts...once I have the size of bit required.

Hi DM,

I've just been to check, on mine the head bolts are a 55 Torx and the cam carrier bolts are 6 allen head.

Steve.