Renault 1.9 diesel headgasket change Q's?

[mikdys]

Can anyone help me with some advice?

Against my better judgement my son bought a 1996 Renault Clio 1.9 Diesel and now the headgasket has blown. He doesn't have much money and so I'm going to try to replace this for him (if it had happened last week before he had spent £150 on new tyres I might have advised him to scrap it but if he bought another banger most likely there would be some other problem with that to fix and we've already fixed the exhaust, steering and tyres on this one!).

I have changed headgaskets before on (older) petrol engined cars and the access to the head on this car (1996 1.9 Clio Diesel) is good and so I'm fairly confident to have a go but some aspects worry me. Can anyone advise me:

1. I'm guessing the head bolts are "stretch bolts". Where can I find details of the length of these to measure to see if I can use them again, and details of the torque-down procedure?

2. With timing the injection pump is it as easy as lining up a mark on the cambelt pulley (I can make my own mark on dismantling if there isn't a factory one) or is this more involved and will I need any special tools to lock the injection pump in position?

3. I'm hoping this isn't a wet liner engine (if it is then I'm not going to mess with liner seals/heights and we may have to scrap the car after all). Does anyone know if this engine has wet liners?

4. I'm assuming it will be OK to skim the head, or does a warped head on this engine mean a replacement (also, can anyone recommend where to get head skimmed in North Hampshire)?

That's about it - any comments welcomed (if only to berate me for letting my son buy a Renault!).

[thong]

new head bolts must be use'd
torque

1-30nm
2-100 degree's
3-wait 3min's
4-slacken centre two bolts the re torque to 25nm then 213 degree's
5-same for two bolts next to centre two
6-the other side
7-and soforth get where im at.

timing belt will come marked with lines to line with crank gear,cam gear and injector pump,crank should idealy be locked with tool to set up,but you can do it by marking it all up youself.

[mikdys]

Thanks for the info - any idea how much the head bolts cost?

[thong]

sorry no idea how much they are,there not that expensive and if you attempt to re-use them your just going to over stress them,change them do it right.

[mikdys]

Thanks again, I can easily check with a Renault dealer tomorrow.

[Jaguar steve]

mikdys said:

Can anyone help me with some advice?

Against my better judgement my son bought a 1996 Renault Clio 1.9 Diesel and now the headgasket has blown. He doesn't have much money and so I'm going to try to replace this for him (if it had happened last week before he had spent £150 on new tyres I might have advised him to scrap it but if he bought another banger most likely there would be some other problem with that to fix and we've already fixed the exhaust, steering and tyres on this one!).

I have changed headgaskets before on (older) petrol engined cars and the access to the head on this car (1996 1.9 Clio Diesel) is good and so I'm fairly confident to have a go but some aspects worry me. Can anyone advise me:

1. I'm guessing the head bolts are "stretch bolts". Where can I find details of the length of these to measure to see if I can use them again, and details of the torque-down procedure?

2. With timing the injection pump is it as easy as lining up a mark on the cambelt pulley (I can make my own mark on dismantling if there isn't a factory one) or is this more involved and will I need any special tools to lock the injection pump in position?

3. I'm hoping this isn't a wet liner engine (if it is then I'm not going to mess with liner seals/heights and we may have to scrap the car after all). Does anyone know if this engine has wet liners?

4. I'm assuming it will be OK to skim the head, or does a warped head on this engine mean a replacement (also, can anyone recommend where to get head skimmed in North Hampshire)?

That's about it - any comments welcomed (if only to berate me for letting my son buy a Renault!).

Try GSF for Reanult spares.

Get hold of a Heynes manual for the Clio or Renault 9/11/19. Have a look at what you're getting into -I don't know how skilled you are - but this is not a job for the faint hearted.

The chances are the head gasket has failed through internal corrosion of the water galleries in the head - replacing the gasket alone will not solve the problem. If the corrosion is serious the head will be scrap. If this is the case there is also a likleyhood the head bolts will have corroded to the head and will snap off when you try to undo them.

Do not re use the old bolts. They WILL fail after a period of time.

You will encounter several very awkwardly placed bolts on the timing belt cover.

Access to the belt tensioner, belt, crank pulley is limited and fiddily.

You will need a 8mm drill bit to lock the crank at TDC, timing up the pump and cam is not difficult there are timing marks. Using Tippex to make your own marks on the belt helps.

Due to bolt corrosion it took me two it took me two days to remove the last head bolt from my Extra van (admittedly a 160k abused and neglected wreck - I was given it as a scrapper).

I took a gamble on replacing the head due to corrosion and the replacement gasket failed after a few months. I fitted a second hand head in better condition a year or so ago and I suspect the gasket is slowly failing again - the usual first symptoms are airlocks in the cooling system and frothy bubbles in the stream of coolant returning to the expansion bottle.

I worked on these Renault engines when they were new. Certain aspects of the design were a PITA then and they still are now.

HTH

JS

[thong]

Jaguar steve said:

mikdys said:

Can anyone help me with some advice?

Against my better judgement my son bought a 1996 Renault Clio 1.9 Diesel and now the headgasket has blown. He doesn't have much money and so I'm going to try to replace this for him (if it had happened last week before he had spent £150 on new tyres I might have advised him to scrap it but if he bought another banger most likely there would be some other problem with that to fix and we've already fixed the exhaust, steering and tyres on this one!).

I have changed headgaskets before on (older) petrol engined cars and the access to the head on this car (1996 1.9 Clio Diesel) is good and so I'm fairly confident to have a go but some aspects worry me. Can anyone advise me:

1. I'm guessing the head bolts are "stretch bolts". Where can I find details of the length of these to measure to see if I can use them again, and details of the torque-down procedure?

2. With timing the injection pump is it as easy as lining up a mark on the cambelt pulley (I can make my own mark on dismantling if there isn't a factory one) or is this more involved and will I need any special tools to lock the injection pump in position?

3. I'm hoping this isn't a wet liner engine (if it is then I'm not going to mess with liner seals/heights and we may have to scrap the car after all). Does anyone know if this engine has wet liners?

4. I'm assuming it will be OK to skim the head, or does a warped head on this engine mean a replacement (also, can anyone recommend where to get head skimmed in North Hampshire)?

That's about it - any comments welcomed (if only to berate me for letting my son buy a Renault!).

Try GSF for Reanult spares.

Get hold of a Heynes manual for the Clio or Renault 9/11/19. Have a look at what you're getting into -I don't know how skilled you are - but this is not a job for the faint hearted.

The chances are the head gasket has failed through internal corrosion of the water galleries in the head - replacing the gasket alone will not solve the problem. If the corrosion is serious the head will be scrap. If this is the case there is also a likleyhood the head bolts will have corroded to the head and will snap off when you try to undo them.

Do not re use the old bolts. They WILL fail after a period of time.

You will encounter several very awkwardly placed bolts on the timing belt cover.

Access to the belt tensioner, belt, crank pulley is limited and fiddily.

You will need a 8mm drill bit to lock the crank at TDC, timing up the pump and cam is not difficult there are timing marks. Using Tippex to make your own marks on the belt helps.

Due to bolt corrosion it took me two it took me two days to remove the last head bolt from my Extra van (admittedly a 160k abused and neglected wreck - I was given it as a scrapper).

I took a gamble on replacing the head due to corrosion and the replacement gasket failed after a few months. I fitted a second hand head in better condition a year or so ago and I suspect the gasket is slowly failing again - the usual first symptoms are airlocks in the cooling system and frothy bubbles in the stream of coolant returning to the expansion bottle.

I worked on these Renault engines when they were new. Certain aspects of the design were a PITA then and they still are now.

HTH

JS

as jag man said as good as changing the n/s turbo on a diesel v6 jag,(have fun)or the timing belt's
:-)

Edited by thong on Monday 14th April 00:29

[mikdys]

Thanks for the advice - the plan is to strip out and see how bad it all is. If its too bad (or it won't come apart) then its "spares or repair" time before I buy any parts at all.

I've changed head gaskets before so I'm fairly confident of being able to get the work done, but I have limited facilities if I come across seized head bolts etc.

Fingers crossed

[That Daddy]

mikdys said:

Thanks for the advice - the plan is to strip out and see how bad it all is. If its too bad (or it won't come apart) then its "spares or repair" time before I buy any parts at all.

I've changed head gaskets before so I'm fairly confident of being able to get the work done, but I have limited facilities if I come across seized head bolts etc.

Fingers crossed

You wont,they are a good diesel unit,you should have no problems and make sure you fit the correct thickness headgasket(notches on corner of gasket indicates thickness)that will have to change in thickness if you have the head faced,the machine shop will be able to advise on this one depending on how much they remove,usually the thickest.