Hdi cylinder head removal

[Stu63]

On an 03 2.o hdi....how hard....is there a how to, I Googled it too but cant find what I'm looking for

[Stu63]

Anyone.....i cant find anything on how to do it, whether here (which im surprised at) or Google

[madmadmax]

a haynes manual tells me how to do it

[Stu63]

I know it will but dont have one and just thought there might have a how to here or somewhere on Google

[Doggy]

The problem is that very few of us have ever had to do this, mechanically they're pretty bullet proof.

With all the new bolts etc, might you be better looklng at an engine swap?

[madmadmax]

could you not get a haynes manual from ebay or sum thing its about the only thing that's going to tell you


you can use warlords hdi link in his sig on pug 306.net for all the torque settings but no step by step instructions

[jasper5]

On an 03 2.o hdi....how hard....is there a how to, I Googled it too but cant find what I'm looking for

My question is why do you need to remove the cylinder head?

In my 42 years working as a mechanic I've never had to remove a cylinder head on a 406 HDi, but have removed and fitted so many cylinder heads on various cars over the years I couldn't possibly remember how many.

Mainly it's a case of common sense, having the right tools and knowing how to remove certain items such as the manifolds, which I understand can be difficult on the HDi, some people saying remove the engine, but it depends on the amount of room you have at the back of the engine compartment.....lack of room could be overcome by removing the top engine mounting (which has to be removed anyway) and the lower engine mounting giving more room to lean the engine forward to access the manifolds.....it might be possible to remove the cylinder head with the manifolds connected, I don't know....myself I would always try to remove them.

Is yours the 110 or 90? The 110 has turbo intercooler piping to remove.

Alright, here is a basic guide....

Disconnect the battery....instructions for the correct sequence somewhere on the forum (search).

Firstly you have to remove or undo anything bolted to the head.
Take off the driver's inner wheel arch cover and remove the aux belt.
Slacken the bolt holding the crank pulley on, could be very tight, there is a how-to in the timing belt how-to in the KB.
Remove the timing belt covers and ECU box moving ECU out the way after removing the crank pulley along with the top engine mounting.....support the engine with a jack under the sump...carefully.
Refit the crank pulley and bolt and turn the crank until the timing holes line up, again, info in the timing belt how-to, but crank locking hole behind the starter motor and cam hole at 8 o clock in the cylinder head....fit locking pins in the crank and head holes and undo the crank pulley bolt and remove the pulley....the bolt won't be tight so use a hammer against the bar and socket used for undoing it originally.
Mark where the teeth of the cam and crank pulley fit in relation to the head and crank with tippex or paint and remove the timing belt, tensioner and idler pulley....you will be replacing these.

Remove wires and pipes going to the injectors, you shouldn't get them mixed up but label them.
Remove air filter box and piping.
Remove vacuum pump at right hand side of head, looking from front of car.
Remove wires at right hand side of head, looking from front of car.

Now is a good time to remove the manifolds, maybe with the turbo, maybe not, you will need to have a good look at how the manifolds are fastened to the head, you may need to remove manifold nuts then remove the studs from the head to give enough room to be able to remove the manifolds.

Remove the cam box (rocker cover).
Remove the camshaft holding bolts and mounting caps....label them and keep them in the order they came off.
Remove the camshaft.
Remove the cam followers keeping them in the order they came off, number and label them.

Take off the water pump and drain the cooling system.

Undo the head bolts and remove the head.

Always have the head machined!!

I strongly advise that you take note of the instructions in the KB for replacing the timing belt and that you take photographs at various stages to help with the position of various items/bolts etc.

If I've missed anything please note this is a top of my head instruction/how-to and may not be entirely 100% accurate.

From my work on 406's and HDi engines, the manifolds are the biggest problem....you will probably need to undo the exhaust at the manifold.

If my limited knowledge of removing the manifolds is lacking then hopefully someone may be able to jump in and guide you.

As I said earlier, if you are tight for room getting the manifolds off you could remove the lower steady bar to allow greater movement of the engine.