So, due to my misfire I took the intake hose off to disconnect the lambda hose and saw the cream in there. Checked the cap and dipstick. Pretty clear what the problem is. the head has a small amount of corrosion letting water into the cylinders. Do I have it welded and skimmed? I have heard other people saying cross flow is better. Do I swap the head and if so is it straightforward? What do I need etc. thanks in advance
If not, what make would anyone recommend for head set and gaskets? Presumably the bolts are stretch bolts?
Ok thanks I know I have had issues with BGA gaskets so I was thinking gates or victor reinz, why do you say that about the head?
It needs carefully cleaning with a die grinder/carbide burr to get to clean metal then weld at full 200-250 Amps…done many like that for engineering company and they last !! That head is easily repaired…
Are you a welder by trade ?? That head is very easily fixeable, I will look for pictures on some really bad ones I have done, mainly on Opel which never ran on coolant or a poor mix !
How easy was it to find another of those Opel heads? Versus ease of finding another Agg, or equivalent? What would it cost, for the OP to find an ally welder, who's willing to do it, osy him, then pay for the head to be machined and pressure tested?
If the welder welds it with enough penetration then it just needs skimming, nothing else ! His one is not cracked so he can pocket the money ! Don’t know how much is a skim in uk anymore but I used to do them for 100 quid at an engineering shop in north London…
We repair all sorts of machinery in Romania, people are not used to throw things away ! You will be surprised how many cracked blocks I weld of farm machinery when people forget to drain the coolant out of them in the winter…
Well, the head was pressure tested and came back good. the company I’m using is called Autoservice and spares. Based in exeter, Devon. They have an amazing reputation, they have done the weld repair and will be skimmed and ready for Monday/Tuesday. It only went down on Thursday. The prices seemed very good. I was told an estimated figure for pressure test, repair and skim to be around £100 + vat. They have been operating for years so that only confirms the quality of work. 15+ years ago when I was in the motor trade, I worked for a Peugeot main dealer and they did all of our work. To be main dealer approved makes me feel confident I’ll be getting a good result. I don’t weld myself, and I definitely wouldn’t attempt something like this. Over to the experts. There are a few agg heads on eBay but I’d prefer to keep the original if possible.
Can anyone tell me, do I need a thicker head gasket now? When I worked for Peugeot we always had thicker ones but I can’t find anything on the normal part sites?
In theory yes, but I've never fitted one. The shape of the combustion chamber let's you get away with it
ask the machine shop how much they skimmed off - probably only a few thousand of inch. you should be ok, the danger is the valves hitting the piston tops- you can test fit the gasket/head on the block(use old bolts finger tight to hold head on loosely) making sure static timing is correct (best practice but as your head is non interference? not strictly necessary for the purpose of this test) with spark plugs out turn engine by hand very gently and listen/feel for any sign of valves/piston clash. if all good -install head with new bolts if you were really concerned you can measure the height from top to bottom edges of c head with rocker cover off and compare against the minimum height- sorry dont have this/ others may do. Some folk do stack several metal gaskets to lower compression if modding engines but I doubt you need to in this case. regards 'mayo'- an oil cooler that looks ok but failing internally can also cause this.
