well after ten months of lurking and adding my two cents without the
rights of fire, i’ve begun my holiday project.
originally conceived as checking the valve shims on my '90 xj40
(86,000 miles), my project is now a head gasket replacement. at this
point, (i've stopped because i'm pooped out), i've drained the
radiator, separated both the intake and exhaust manifolds, removed the
timing chain tensioner, and have measured all 24 valve clearances, and
have removed the distributor. the oil filler tube does not require
removal, one can merely remove the upper bolt securing it and move it
out of the way.
attempting to remove the oil filler tube will take alot of time for
the do it yourself guy. ofcourse, i didn't waste an hour learning
that or anything...
most of the 24 clearances were in the .012' - .013" range, though i
have encountered 3 exhaust clearances in the .018" to .021" range. i
suspect these shims will look like our famous doughnuts or
lifesavers... because i am basically a bozo, i forgot to buy that
torque wrench today, and was unable to break the torque on the head
bolts with my 3/8" drive rachet (duh, big surprise). so after a few
choice explicatives, i figure it was enough for one day. i will
continue tomorrow night (armed with a new torque wrench), motivated by
the thought of a quiet engine, complete with new shims.
you may recall my earlier concern upon learning that the main pulley
tdc mark may not yield the true tdc. using andy's suggestion of a wood
dowel it turns out i'm lucky and the mark does in fact yield tdc on my
car. oh, by the way, a dowel diameter of .25" will work much better
than a 3/8" diameter dowel. 'course i didn't make that mistake, no not
me.
i have also received a complete set of cooling hoses, which i will
install tomorrow or tuesday.
removing some of the hardware at this point was occasionally
challenging, but i know installing some of the fasteners is gonna be a
b__ch...
i checked my cam alignment tool. it works.
happy holidays to all.
dennis hurvitz
Some thoughts Dennis.
Clean EGR pipe while you have the thing apart. It’s a bitch when the inlet
manifold is attached so it will save some leter work. I had to completely
dismantle the inlet connection to clean it out (1/4" of coke etc).
Also change filter before putting inlet manifold back on. (I assume you’ll be
changing oil at same time). It’s a pure joy compared with normal.
I didn’t think oil filler tube was any big deal. I’ve had mine out and back
with no drama. The dipstick (engine and gearbox) tubes are held on with single
screw - that took me a LONG time to get back in with the lack of access and
“springy” metal.
Cam bearing carriers bolts can be tough to undo. I had to replace one. When you
replace cams (much later) make sure that you inch bearing caps evenly gentle
down into place. That is try to keep them roughly level. If you are careless
and pull down one end you can damage carriers (or worse).
I might have mentioned previously that head gasket set comes with 12 valve stem
seals. OE engine has only 6 (exhaust). The others are for the inlet so don’t
think you got 6 extra.
If it’s any consolation - I had to lie down after doing head bolts up.–
Andy Hutchinson
1990 XJ40 134.5K
Victor Naumann wrote:
I think you mean 24 not 12 don’t you ?
24 it is! I had my socks on when I wrote this. Whatever, you end up with more new
ones than old ones which is prone to confuse. (Like that big “O” ring that hides
inside the airflow meter connection).
Did you torque to 45 ft lbs and then add 90 degrees?
Yes - 53Nm if I remember right. It’s the last 10 degrees that get you. I think thats
where they got the name Torque till Yield.
Seriously though this is THE MOST IMPORTANT bit and the reason that HEAD BOLTS MUST
NOT BE REUSED. (The olds ones are excellent for deck building though!).
Vic, Anything else Dennis should consider replacing, cleaning or otherwise diddling
with as he gets the head off? I see that Jaguar manual suggests replacing springs
which seems a bit rash. Is this REALLY advisable. Is a spring compression test
prudent?–
Andy Hutchinson
1990 XJ40 134.5K
In which case:
For sale One set of Nearly new 4.0L Head bolts...
Even at $70 I’d agree with you to replace them. Head gaskets on any engine need all the help
they can get!
Vic, does service information say how you should mark bolts to show second use. No doubt this
might be of use in the future for somebody.
Victor Naumann wrote:> Andy Hutchinson wrote:
Seriously though this is THE MOST IMPORTANT bit and the reason that HEAD BOLTS MUST
NOT BE REUSED. (The olds ones are excellent for deck building though!).
That is what I thought and what used to be Jaguar policy. However, last
week we received a bulletin stating that you can reuse head bolts one
time , and to mark them if you do. If it was my car, I would spend the
extra 70.00 and use new bolts.
Regards, Vic
Andy Hutchinson
1990 XJ40 134.5K
–
Andy Hutchinson
1990 XJ40 134.5K