Peugeot/Citroen TU Head Gasket Replacement 

Thanks for the comment, Someone said to me recently about the 1.4 TU was that its that simple a head gasket job it may aswell be done when changing the timing belt haha. Is your berlingo a 1.4?

I fully concur!

Happy days, well done for doing it where you did. good to hear it is running again

I wouldnt mind! At the end of the Day its your transportation 🐦

Long journeys and good coolant avoids a headgasket change. Short journeys do destroy them

@@nihonkokusai Also let engine warm up before driving...

Afou eimaste eladistan

440.000 km? Damn

peugeot 106 1.1 owner with impressive 440,000km in a small engine, what oil gets in the engine?

Hi, the 1.4 8v seems to be the most common capacity to require a head gasket. The 1.6 16v engines and the 1.1 8v less so. However its not too big a job, once the timing belt is off your almost there. It might sound like a big job but compared to what can go wrong on modern cars such as DPF's, timing chains, egr valves that can cost £1000s to put right. A TU head gasket is fairly cheap and easy to carry out. Best of luck with the repair.

@@peugeotCitroen2CV thank you so much for your reply and encouragement i appreciate it, I'm gathering informations about this and will later give it a shot. 😁

@@difsid569 No problem, glad to help.

Thanks very much, glad you liked the video and camera work. Best of luck if you go to attempt this job!

Thanks for the comment, good to hear from Portugal, greetings from Ireland​.

Thanks for that, Great advice, the problem i had here was i forgot about lubricating the bores and only remembered after i had the head torqued down. Thankfully no bolts made it down the spark plug holes but its always a risk i suppose.

@@peugeotCitroen2CV hello. If i replaced thermostat gasket, radiator, checked for leaks and found none, but every week i top up a small cup of coolant, does it mean i need to replace head gasket? No bubbles in the tank

Thanks for the comment and the very best of luck with the repair, let me know how it goes.

@@peugeotCitroen2CV finally finished, took me a few very cold weekends - working in temeratures below 5°C and less out in the open in February is no fun. There is very little practical difference working on a Peugeot 206 compared to this Citroen, as it was a petrol version as here. Mine had AC which was a slight embuggerance getting the exhaust manifold and head out due to the rigid cooling pipework going to the matrix. You have to support the sump as the RH (i.e. drivers side) engine mount has to be removed to access the timing belt cover but removal of the mount is straightforward. My fingers were too cold and access too tight to find the clutch flywheel locking hole so didn't bother, just locked the camshaft. Getting all the gunk out of the head bolt holes was time consuming without compressed air but - gotta be done, as was a head skim - for £30 I'd have been daft not to! I oiled the new head bolt threads lightly but they still snatched quite violently doing them up, especially as you approached 240°, but the required angle was achieved fairly accurately if I do say so myself. Maybe a dab of molybdenum grease on the bolt threads might have eased the snatching? Replaced the rad with a new one, and the thermostat and flushed it three times, once with chemicals and twice with water before final top up with coolant. Things I did wrong: Didn't take enough photo's before undoing stuff, cost me a lot of time on reassembly. Things I did right: bought a ratcheting hose clip removal tool, saved a lot of grazed knuckles and reduced the swearing considerably. Didn't bother replacing rocker gasket, inlet seals or exhaust manifold gasket - just hoped for the best and got away with it. Well... for now lol!

@@roberthorwat6747 Great write up, thanks for sharing. The term 'slight embuggerance' love it haha

Thanks for the comment

I would be partial to a bit of jazz but normally keep it muted and let the viewers open another tab and supply their own soundtrack haha

Thanks for the comment. The 1.5d, very economical wee engines, hope the head gasket on it is still good. I remember my mum had a 1.5d 106, had to get the head gasket done once but was a great car after that.

@@peugeotCitroen2CV you guessed that my head gasket is starting to fail! impressed! Yes, it is old (17 years, 220k)and it suffered a bit of overheating when the thermostat failed... Maybe I'll try "blue devil" to solve the problem. If it doesn't work, I'll have to change the head gaskets.

Carlos Bah Ah I just remember from when these cars were more common on the road the head gasket could let go, more common on the earlier 1.4d. having said that with the mileage it has clocked up the car could be forgiven for needing a head gasket. Not sure how good them magic bottles of fluid are there would be worries they can clog up coolant passages and they are only a quick fix and can cause issues when you actually want to do the head gasket properly. Not too sure they would be worth reading into first.

Thanks for the comment

Thanks, it took a bit of time to edit together but glad to hear it helps

Great to hear it helped, thanks for the comment.

Thanks

Thanks for the comment, greetings from ireland What is the french automotive scene like? Here cars like the Saxo/106 have become a rare sight, are they any more common in france?

Thank you

Thanks for the comment

Hi there, worthwhile and useful advice. Thankfully the head was getting skimmed anyhow which would have ensured it was flat.

Thanks for the comment

Thank you very much for the comment

Thanks for the comment

Thank you! Cheers!

Thanks for the comment

Hi there I never did a head gasket on a 406 but my old blue executive one that featured in a lot of the earlier videos did start mixing oil into the coolant. I suspect it was the oil cooler but i put it off the road at the time and parked it into the shed. At some time i would love to get it running again and a head gasket would make sense. Not something I've ever done but it is a tad more involved than on the likes of the saxo engine. Getting the manifold bolts at the back are quite tight on the 406, rocking the engine forwards might give a bit more room. I have removed these 2.0 engines before and it probably would be the way i would tackle the job with access to the 2 post lift. Then it gives a chance to fully inspect the engine and rest of the car and tidy various bit up. Without a lift it should be doable, a haynes manual will be you friend. Also have a look at peugeot servicebox pay for an hours subscription (about £8 if i recall) and download whatever guides pertaining to the head removal/timing belt etc that might get you though the job. £1600 is probably about what a mechanic will have to charge to cover their time and expenses, like everyone else their operating costs will have gone up and they need to charge more to stay afloat. Although price around, might be an option to source a good engine and just do an engine swap. There is a good selection of cars that used the 2.0 engine.

Does it have the coil pack that goes over the 4 plugs or is it 4 individual ht leads to the plugs?

thanks for the comment

Thanks, the o rings generally should not leak unless the engine has been turned over with the head off, that will disturb the liners and then the o rings will need to be replaced which is quite a bit more engine surgery than just changing the head gasket.

Hi there, thanks for the comment Someone once said to me about the 1.4 TU “just change the head gasket when doing the timing belt” Seems a bit extreme but it is quite a common issue but the head gasket is very easy to change when the belt is off its only a few extra bolts.

One of the easiest there are to learn on, not a bad engine although you do have to be vigilent with the 1.4 head gasket failure seems to be an inevitability on them at some point, thankfully its easy to sort.

Thanks :)

Its well worth giving it a go, one of the easier engines to change a head gasket on.

@@peugeotCitroen2CV well it has been done now, it hasn't started yet, since im waiting on a new radiator. but thanks to your guide, I made it through!

@@mutevibesgaming8616 Fantastic, fingers crossed for the first startup. Post a video when its running.

@@peugeotCitroen2CV just started it yesterday and did a bigger test drive today, I'll post a video of it soon. Thanks again!

@@peugeotCitroen2CV videos are online! I'll make them private on monday again bc of privacy reasons

Ah fair point haha, good job i got the head skimmed then.

Wrong

@@peugeotCitroen2CV you did it the right way so say peugeot.

@@mclarenjohnf1 I do remember following a haynes manual, the car worked after this repair although it has since been scrapped the autobox became quite undriveable. It was replaced with a Honda Jazz, the saxo was getting a bit old making some parts harder to find.

Depending on driving conditions. On only highways I have seen 130k mls and city only 60k

Hi, yes as far as i know its possible although personally i prefer to remove it to gain improved access.

Thats for the crankcase breather system, its best if that is left as the factory had it

Hi there, thanks for the comment. Tools, sorry i dont really focus on them in the videos i know some tutorials can but they then get a bit long winded naming every tool that will be featured in the rest of the video. However i can also appreciate if you have not worked on cars before and intend to buy tools to tackle a job like this. Have a watch through the video if there is any tools you need to ask about i can let you know what i am using and if i would recommend them In general though - Jack and axle stands (halfords), i would use the 2 post lift now but this job at the time was done before it was bought. - oil drain pan for oil or coolant, also get a 25l drum to pour the contents into so it can be brought to your local amenity site - sockets; 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 inch drive. Each size range comes in handy for different regions of the car. 1/4 mostly for smaller parts, 1/2 for bigger thngs like driveshaft nuts, head bolts etc. 3/8 is a good inbetween size. 1/2 drive with a 1/2 breaker bar was used to remove the head bolts as they are very tight. As for brands i like teng tools as my grandpa had a set he bought in the 80s, still there on the farm. Sealey, Draper, Clarke, Wera, are all good, even socket sets from Lidl are good. Halfords is handy because they have a lifetime warranty, although i have had to use it a few times. If your feeling flush snap-on is the top of the range but very very pricey. - Torque wrench, i have a teng tools 1/2 torque wrench which was used to set the torque for the head bolts. I should have also bought an angle indicator gague but used a piece of paper with the angles marked. A bit sketchy but it worked. - spanners. 8-19mm from any of the brands already mentioned. Ratcheting spanners are very handy. - pliers: irwin groovelock waterpump pliers for the hose clamps are very useful - trim removal took for plastic rivets and clips, this is the first link i spotted, plenty available online: www.amazon.com.au/Plastic-Fastener-Remover-Clip-Removal/dp/B0734VKNYK - screwdrivers: a set from lidl would be grand, i have a teng tools set plus any ive just bought over the years. Small cheap flathead screwdrivers that can be bought in boxes of 100 for about £10 are very handy for releasing connectors or clips. - the impact wrench; in the past i started off with a clarke mains operated one, pneumatic is an expensive option when starting off as you will need a compressor and airline. Mains operated ones are not bad, just a bit heavy and can be too powerful. The Milwaukee 18v cordless ones are the best you can buy but may not be needed if starting off. Lidl have had cordless impact wrenches in from time to time at £80 which would be quite good. a fluid extractor was used, i think it was a sealey one that my cousin owned. Lidl sell 12v oil suction pumps which work just as well for cleaning out things such as the holes where the head bolts go, also handy when draining out things like the oil filter housing on some cars. The funnel to fill the coolant was a lisle 24680, coolant fill kit. However as its something for the american market i did have to use a couple of old PSA coolant reservoir caps and drill them to work with this kit. Thankfully the same cap that does a Peugeot 406 also worked on most 90's and 2000s Peugeot and Citroen cars. A head torch is also worth mentioning, far handier than any hand held unit as the light is always where you need it. Thats a bit long winded but hopefully covers what tools are used here.

To be honest i just brought the head to an engine builder/machinists to check if it needed skimmed, he did the skim and charged £40, i did not get much information as to how much had been removed. Being a 5dr and Automatic performance was not a huge concern with this one.

+NZKY - If the intention is to increase compression make sure you get a "standard" head gasket (thinner). By memory I think this series of engines have 3 thickness available. They can be identified by the notches on the side. Although don't overdue otherwise you might end up with a broken engine or the obligation to use 98 gas instead of the cheaper 95. :-)

Hi there thanks for the comment. Regarding the head gasket, no you dont use any sealant for the head gasket. Make sure both the head and the block are spotlessly clean. Preferably the head will be skimmed. The head gasket does all of the sealing on its own. Not sure of any cars where you use sealant along with the head gasket.

I think this is absolutely normal, especially in the winter times. My AX was doing the same thing at the winter time and much longer and louder . Now it almost dont happend. I dont think it affect the engine anyway.

Hi that was the car recalibrating its idle speed, this is controlled by the idle control valve. They can give some problems with age although they should be fairly easy to change. You have mentioned your car is a 1993 car, is that one with a carburettor? This Saxo has fuel injection and would have used this valve. It may be possible that if the 106 you mention has a carburettor it may have an automatic choke which is causing this issue. One key bit of advice i will give is if the problem is intermittent and not manifesting when you are at the garage the next time it does do it, get your phone out and record a video of it happening and bring that to the garage.

@@peugeotCitroen2CV Hi, the car is fuel injected (one of the early 106s). I'll try to record it thanks for the advise!

Im not sure i bought the car and although i gave it a quick check forgot completely to look in the radiator. It didn't seem to have overheated and the man who skimmed the head said that the failure occurred where the oil goes to the head, i think thats more common on these TU engines than a failure of the gasket between the cylinders.

@@peugeotCitroen2CV I'm in exactly the same situation, bought without checking. Now very grateful for your video. Now all I need is your skill and equipment. Thanks.

Hi there, they are quite light wee fasteners, i cant actually remember what the torque spec was for them, most likely well below 10Nm which was lower than my torque wrench at the time could have done. A haynes manual or if you ask on owners clubs should be able to say.

@@peugeotCitroen2CV thanks for the reply.. I eventualy did it manualy , by hunch.. First time it leaked a bit, but after small correction, everything is ok now..

Its not a bad engine, although going to the auctions frequently i do notice a lot of 1.4 8v with chocolate coolant. The o ring separating the oil passage to the head and coolant water jacket goes and causes oil in the water. A new head gasket and a skim usually resolves it. The 1.4 16v engine doesnt seem to suffer it as badly, nor is it as big a problem on the 1.1 8v Good old K series, there is a neighbour has an old R8 414 and im quite sure its been sitting there because of the head gasket. Id love to buy it and fit the uprated head gasket and dowel pins. I dont think they were as bad as people imagined.

Still a TU3 as far as i can tell, looks similar to my sisters 2005 206, apart from a coil pack. Having said that this saxo was a bit of an oddity at times getting spare parts for it being the 1.4 auto may have led to citroen throwing whatever parts they had lying about.

They seemed to use whatever parts they had about on these engines. Not sure what reason there would be a coil plug or individual leads.

No i do not have a list of required tools, not something i tend to do as the tools appear when they are used throughout the video. However i would recommend a comprehensive socket set, the Halfords 200 piece socket set is hard to go wrong, a torque wrench, Irwin water pump pliers, a general set of pliers (side cutters and ordinary pliers) a screwdriver set. Also worth considering an impact wrench for working around cars, the Milwaukee 18v ones are brilliant but may be a tad pricey. For around £50 a mains operated one will work quite well. A lisle 24680 spill free funnel is handy for bleeding coolant systems. Finally a jack and axle stands.

Thanks for the comment

Its not too bad considering its age to have a head gasket to do, but yes it would write many of them off, i was considering scrapping the Saxo initially but then decided to fix it.

I've just saved a citroen c2 1.1 05 from the scrap yard nothing wrong with it apart from the common oil leak on the left corner on head gasket above alternator. Would you think tightening the 3 head bolts on the left side where oil leak would work ?

Hi there, unfortunately i do not have the haynes manual to hand but that is what i would use. Also try the owners clubs there is always someone with that information memorised. Although i would say be careful with water pump bolts, they are usually in the sub 10Nm category which means a 1/4 torque wrench. I much prefer to tighten bolts this small by hand as i have snapped bolts in the past due to the torque wrench being out of calibration.

A deformed valve/rocker cover? Its only a bit of pressed steel so if it has been deformed (i assume by some form of physical damage) replacements are still fairly easy to obtain.

Hi there It has been a fair while since i did this job, i think i might have drained the oil the car got a full coolant flush due to the oil going into the coolant. Just cant remember 100% what i did but draining the oil would be good practice.

Thanks for that, couldnt quite give it a name at the time haha

Toto video by mělo pomoci, pokud je to jen pás, který musíte změnit. Mám také další video pokrývající pouze cambelt na pozdějším voze Citroen C3 s tímto motorem 1,4 8v TU: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lt0Y-G1jHls.html

Inside out haha. If it gets stained, flip it back the right way round, a run through the washing machine good as new.

Definatley the radiator and not the oil cap? What sort of car is this on, what type of engine. Generally oil in the cooling system is not good, very occasionally it can be the oil cooler which has failed some 2.0 HDi engines will do that, otherwise its time to look about removing the head, having it skimmed and a new head gasket fitted.

I see this in the oil cap. My peugeot is 406 1999 Saloon 1.8 66 KW 90 PK motor XU7JB

Ah thats quite a bit different the engine oil cap. How much mayonaise is there, does the car sit unused for periods of time, also what is the climate like in your country? Give the oil cap a wipe clean, possibly also give the engine an oil change, consider using a flush also and keep an eye on the oil cap to see if the mayonaise stays away. Also how is the rest of the car, is the temperature gague staying in the normal range, is the coolant clean, is the coolant or oil levels noticably changing.

I drive 130 km almost everyday. Long time ago one of my 50 fuse got broken and ventilator stop working but I already fixed that. If the car is in idle the temp goes really high. Of course ventilator works now and 2 sensors has been changed. temperature in the Netherlands is between 17 and 20 degrees. Oil levels has been changed and it is now in the second stripe. I needed to seal oil tank because it was leaking. I've never get broken on the highway. All what I fixed all my car has been learned from you and I've been doing everything myself.

The fuse blew for the radiator fan, if the fan is fixed can you definatley hear it operating. Without the fan it should be fine apart from when the car as you say is idling in traffic or a car park. Although it may be worthwhile flushing the coolant, changing the thermostat and bleeding it to ensure the cooling system is working at full efficency.

Someone noticed haha It was something i did by accident one day then figured out that it keeps the good side clean haha, been doing it quite a bit now when working on cars.

Funny i never even thought about that, i assume one would need to be fairly sensitive to the seams for it to affect comfort. An interesting way of looking at it.

The coolant should be flushed every 5 years (that is usually what the better coolants are rated to last for) after that the chemical blend in the coolant responsible for preventing corrosion inside the engine becomes less effective. First step would be to flush the coolant throughly and refill the system with a strong mix of new coolant and water. That should resolve the issue

@@peugeotCitroen2CV oh wow I wasn't expecting an answer... Thank you kind sir. But even after the coolant flush it still would be a good idea to replace radiator, water pump, heater core; because im pretty sure its the original ones and the previous owner didn't bother much

@@urboideiba4514 Haha this isnt that big of a channel that i cant reply to comments. Um regarding the radiator, give it a visual check and try flowing water through the top and out the bottom to see if it has clogged up. It might still be usable, although i think they can be bought new for under £100. Water pump is worth doing with a cambelt replacement, heater core (heater matrix) generally will not need changed unless it is leaking, quite a difficult part to get to as it usually requires the dash to be removed. No a normal flush should generally suffice, if you want to go a step above crush a diswasher tablet up and run it through the system for a few days then give the car another flush.

@@peugeotCitroen2CV Haha thank you for all the advice its rare to find something usefull out here

The level should drop if the radiator pipe has been used to drain the coolant.

@@peugeotCitroen2CV Thanks )) i worked.. Have another issue now.. assembled everything back on.. wich the marks in place..but wil not start now..The timing is wrong...don't now why...the marks are correct and everything...

@@maxims.762 Its spinning over freely? Have you checked to ensure that there is fuel getting to the injector rail, has the plug for the injectors been plugged in (forgot that multiple times myself) Can you remove the coil pack and spark plugs to check that they are sparking?

@@peugeotCitroen2CV Yes, checked it all.. Fuel is ok, spark is ok, all the plugs pluged in... But, i think that i found it... Nothing else was lose exept the head and the belt.. I collegue told me that today... When u changed/ take of the head, and the head gets skimmed, that u always have to check the valve clearance afterwards...The only thing i din't think of))) stupid of me ))... So i think next weekend i will check and adjust the clearance and hopefully the little bug will start afterwards ))) sound familiar to you maybe from experience? ))

Nuno Azevedo This was because when cleaning the surface of the block and the piston tops i used degreaser and quite a lot went around the sides when it was sprayed, thus washing any oil film that there may have been on the cylinder bores. The oil in the spark plugs was added to replace this, in other words to stop the engine from "starting up dry" the oil was quickly burnt off but it should have prevented damage to the bores.

thank´s for your help!

Unfortunately no, i only do a bit of car work in my spare time outside my day job

I know they can give trouble with head gaskets, a few relatives have 1.1 TU engines and never had any HG issues. Fingers crossed it lasts more than 2 years haha.

I ragged hard on a 1.1 for 24k, it got hot ONCE for no reason whilst driving normally, never happened again, and no HG issues! also, there are some good cooling system degreaser additives out there. :)

+John McDonald - Many of this engines head bolts are not properly torqued. That's the main reason why the head gaskets fail. I got a 106 1.1 in poor condition I knew the head gasket was gone. what I didn't knew then is that the head bolts where literally loose. Specially on the exhaust side, some took 2 full turns until some resistance could be felt. Main reason why I always suggest checking bolts torque before any valve adjustment. That save a lot of head gaskets. ;-) Edit: for this engines I've seen technical manuals suggesting torque/rotation combinations like 20Nm+260° or 40Nm/+360°... HUGE difference and surely responsible for many gaskets issues.

Its one of the easier engines to strip down to do a head gasket, a mate actually said recently that when doing the cambelt on a 1.4 TU you may aswell do the head gasket at the same time for its such an easy thing to change when the engine is stripped that far and it seems so common on the 1.4.

16Nm, however i would recommend buying a Haynes manual for a 106 or Saxo if you want all the torque specs.

2 nuts of valve cover -> 8 Nm

According to the manual it is saying 16Nm for the cylinder head cover (ie rocker cover) nuts, the timing belt cover nuts are quoted at 8Nm.

Yeah haha, an attempt to keep the outside of it clean😂

😂😂😂😂, interesting though, cos my headgasket looks like it's on the way out, and garages want 700 to do a new one. The coolant is full of oil, but it's not milky where I put the oil in. Doesn't miss fire, no smoke, and doesn't overheat. Mot is out in January and I only paid 400 for it, and it's 07 plate imactulate inside and out. First c2 I've owned and don't k ow whether it's worth fixing as value is only 1500 on insurance

@@Blinkydabill Unfortunately its how the head gasket fails on these the seal between the oil gallery and the coolant rather than into the cylinders. £700 is a fair whack to spend on a C2 nowadays. Its worth giving it a go yourself, get a new belt kit and have the head skimmed it will leave it a good car, you should be able to get the parts and head skimmed for under £300

Do it myself😂😂😂😜👍 not a chance mate, I can change lights and tyres and that's my limit👍😂

I'll just wait till it goes bang, 400 quid, what did I expect. If it lasts to its mot then I'll be laughing. Will a head gasket fail an mot? ( that's how thick I am😂)

Ah thanks for that !

Hi there, take a quick look at the video around the 2:40 mark. It may be observed around this time that the battery is disconnected. Hope that helps.

Bleeding the coolant system is an important step.

Guus Bouwmans Not always, but its handy turn it back the right way round and its still in good nick

I dont understand

Haha a cameo by old bob

Ángel 306 Great to hear from a keyboard mechanic The valves were checked over by the business that dealt with the head skimming. As for the pistons tell me as a professional yourself what checks? In a long time this engine did not fail