Forum:
Hi
I Blew the Head Gasket on my charade the other morning and
as the car is not worth a great deal I would like to do the work myself but am having trouble getting a breakdown of the engine and the torque settings.
Does anybody know where I can obtain either a manual or diagram and also has anybody suffered the same problem and if so what was the damage caused. was it confined to the gasket or did it damage much else.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Shaun.
CL61 Head gasket
You sure it's the gasket?
I've had it 3 times now.
Slow water loss from somewhere else, leads to overheating without showing on the guage, and hey presto, the head cracks.
As for torque settings:
manufacturers give settings so that you don't OVER tighten, as well as under.
If you use the right spanner (not socket with breaker bar + a bit of scaffold tube) you should do it right.
An old Velocette dealer once told me to "pull on the spanner until your ears burn. It'll be right then."
Good luck - hope it is your gasket - there are more of them around than spare heads.
Now on my 3rd Charade Turbo Diesel
Water loss
I have almost 20 years experience of these CL61 engines but have just recently started experiencing water loss. I had the head crack tested - just in case - but this appeared to be negative.
The water doesn't appear to be going into the oil so that means it must be vapourising - the fumes do look a little off colour and a bit off smell. This must be an intermittent thing however otherwise all the water in the radiator would all get used. The thing is that I appear only to be using a header tank full per 100 or so miles.
Did you ever find out how the water was being lost in your car? I have changed the head gasket and it doesn't appear to be leaking through that - there is no pressurisation of the water system from the cylinders and the temperature is really stable regardless of what the engine is doing.
Any help gratefully appreciated.
Rod...
Rod...
Water loss
On both my cars I think the water loss was elsewhere. On one I'm uncertain as yet, but the other finally showed itself as steam escaping from holes in the stubs of the heater matrix, where they project into the engine bay.
By that time, enough water had been lost that there was none in the head, and the thin 'skull' of the head was uncooled, and gave up under the pressure.
Both my ruined heads have very tiny cracks betweeen the valve seats in each combustion chamber. With the first, the water loss just accelerated to the point where I was filling up several times a day.
I intend to have a go at welding one of them - they are ruined already, so it can't get any worse.
If that fails, I'll have to have it done professionally, including new valve seats, but that's well into write-off terretory.
Now on my 3rd Charade Turbo Diesel