[Engine] 2.0 HDI Head Gasket swap - Engine in situ

[Dan Clark]

For a month or so I have been having a problem with the car losing coolant. The cooling system was becoming pressurised on runs and blowing the coolant out of the expansion tank. After prodding around I figured out that the main suspect was the head gasket. There was a continuous stream of tiny bubbles entering the top of the tank.
 All the info I could get about removing the head said that it was an engine out job, or you need to drop the subframe. Well, I decided this weekend to have a go at it.

The first thing I will say is that it is not easy! A LOT has to come off the engine and out of the car, and space is tight. The main issues I found were removing the manifolds. How I did this was to unbolt the exhaust manifold and the bolts holding the turbo to the engine, and then pull the whole assembly back as far as I could. There wasn't enough room to pull the manifold off the studs, but it gave me enough room to access the intake manifold bolts and pull it off. I then locked 2 bolts together on each of the exhaust manifold studs and turned them all off.

Access to the back of the engine is limited, but it is possible to get to everything you need too.

I managed to snap the top off a head bolt when trying to remove it, so spent an hour with a dremmel and stone grinding the shank off.

When putting it back together you have to fit the intake manifold properly before trying to fit the exhaust manifold, otherwise there is no access to the lower nuts.

In all it took me about 9 hours, 6 knuckles, 32,816 profanities, and about £70. After a 20 mile there are no leaks, and the cooling system is no longer pressurising.