Head gasket 1.1 desire

30th September 2013, 15:23

Hi all, new to saxe and unfortunately my first post is a bit bleak. I have bought a 1.1 desire 2001 privately with 12 mts mot 59000 on the clock. Had the timing belt changed and water pump for peice of mind. Now ive discovered creamy sludge in my rad. My usual mechanic had said its the head gasket and it wont be worth fixing as there will be no ent of problems to follow if repaired. Sorry for long post but gutted as only had car 2weeks and looking for maybe a better soloution. I would like to know if anyone has had theirs replaced and their car ok after. Also thinking of doing the job myself as car owes me so much money. Any help much apreciated,ta Rob.

30th September 2013, 15:35

Why would it be a problem?

Head off skimmed new headgasket new head bolts oil & filter change also coolant.

Job done

30th September 2013, 16:27

The 8v is possibly the easiest car in the world to change the head gasket on, Give it a go yourself. If you plan on getting it skimmed, it might be an idea to get a spare head ( cheap as chips these days) and get that skimmed so your not without your car for ages.

Another good thing about these engines is they're tiny so you've got loads of space to work around it

30th September 2013, 16:29

No offence to your mechanic but it sounds like he can't be arsed. I've had a few cars and replaced the head gasket and it's always been ok. You can strip the head off yourself it's not a bad job and not that expensive.

30th September 2013, 16:48

Thanks for replys, I feel much better now and will make a plan to do it myself. I have the haynes man for the car, does anyone know if there a specific guide on the net for this job. Thanks again.

30th September 2013, 16:54

haynes is pretty much as good as you can get.
only thing that can be a pain is if you've driven it for awhile with it like that it could have cooked the head and make it impossible to skim.
i've seen it on a punto. the enginnering place we took it to said basically cause it has got that hot the alloy is soft so the machine just rips the alloy rarther than cut.

30th September 2013, 17:00

Dont know if the engines been cooked, i only know th HGs gone through the creamy sludge in the rad and visable oil from where the head joins the block. There is oil in the water but no water in the oil, dont know if this means it hasent been cooked. The car still drives well and hasent overheated with me, but only had it 2 weeks though.

30th September 2013, 17:04

Very much doubt you'll have cooked it, but a 1.1 head can be had for next to nothing if it was worst case scenario. Sure you'd have a scrappy near you with one or two in.

30th September 2013, 17:17

Just tried local scrappys only complete engines at the mo. I wont the atempting the job for at least a week due to work and having to aquire some tools (torque wrench,Torx etc). Will it be obvious if the head is warped or is it always best to skim?

30th September 2013, 17:43

Always best to skim it. I've heard of people who don't bother, but if it is warped a bolt will never close the gap and you've just wasted a load if time stripping it down and building it up just to strip it down again.

30th September 2013, 18:06

Is the head ready for skimming when unbolted or does the head need stripping down. Only asking as getting more complicated if it does, cheers. o and how much is a skim average/ cheers.

30th September 2013, 18:13

Everything needs to come off the head when it gets skimmed.

30th September 2013, 18:14

Ok thank you.

1st October 2013, 16:11

hi, does anyone know if the peugot 106 1.1 is the same or simlar to the saxo. If so there is a good vid on how to change HG on youtube.

1st October 2013, 16:39

Exactly the same , and have a search on youtube, the head can be taken off in an hour or less on those mate

1st October 2013, 16:43

Piss ball of a job on a 8v just factor in £30 for a head skim you can do it in under 3 hours with the skim.

1st October 2013, 16:44

My rocker cover looks different to the pug hut if the rest is the same i cant see it being too difficult cheers.

7th October 2013, 10:57

Hi all, just started stripping down to replace HG. Have realised that the way i was going to lock and align the timing is different from the you tube vid i was following. eg where i was going to put a drill bit into lock the flywheel doesnt seem to be there and is sort of obstructed by i think the oil filter. Is it ok to line it up on the timing belt cog only? Cheers

7th October 2013, 11:39

I'd have tried flushing out the rad first to see if it was just a build up of crud!

7th October 2013, 17:35

Just about to torque down bolts. The spec Ive read is 20nms but this seems very low and it doesnt have mark on my torque wrench. Can someone clarify this is correct or am i looking at the T wrench wrong cheers.

7th October 2013, 18:02

Ok sust it now cheers

7th October 2013, 19:14

nightmare,tightened down bolts down ok then turned engine and it turned ok, i thought the ratchet was slipping and kept turning but it was the belt slipping now i dont know where the timing is. any help gladly received. Cheers

7th October 2013, 19:19

Did you lock both the camshaft and the bottom end using the holes provided? It should be a case of slip the belt on tention it and turn over by hand twice to ensure the belt runs true with a 90 degree deflection on the longest run down the front of the engine

7th October 2013, 19:19

Ps tensioner is done up to 23nm

7th October 2013, 19:24

no only at the top,then i removed it to turn the engine to the make sure it was right.

8th October 2013, 08:57

locked the engine in place and now timing aligner on cam cog doesnt line up. Is there any way out of this or should I take the headb ack off and re align it, arghhh ? Cheers

8th October 2013, 11:21

You can use a 6mm ( think) drill bit through the fly to line it up, its pretty difficult to get to, but better to be safe than sorry.

also, make sure you remove the drill bit afterwards, i've seen them left in before

8th October 2013, 19:52

Hi just like to thank everyone their help , the car is running much better now. Thanks again Rob

.