Xantia V6 es9j4 cam block resealing

[xantia_v6]

I have not seen it described here before so a little description of what I did this weekend.

Over the last couple of months my Xantia started leaving oil spots on the driveway again. Engine oil this time, and not coming from the sump gasket, which I resealed last year.

A couple of weeks ago it started occasionally to release clouds of gray smoke from under the bonnet, on one occasion in alarming quantities, fortunately it did not catch fire.

So I decided to reseal the cam blocks... armed only with a new manifold gasket and a couple of tubes of Loctite 5910.

The job when done on its own is a 4 spanner job, as you have to remove the inlet manifold, the auxiliary belt, the top engine mount, the timing belt, the cam pulleys, the cam pulley bosses, the inner timing belt covers, the cam covers, the cam blocks and the cams. If it was done at the same time as changing the timing belt and spark plugs, it would add only a couple of hours to the job, but the whole job took me all weekend (daylight hours).

The most interesting find after removing the inlet manifold was that 2 of the 3 rear spark plug cavities were completely full of black oil ( the spark plugs completely submerged), and it was spilling from there around the back of the head, probably onto the rear exhaust manifold.

The only special tools needed are 5x 8mm timing pins for resetting the timing (also a SEEM gauge if you have the original type of timing belt tensioner) and a socket to fit the bolts that hold the camshaft pulley bosses onto the camshaft. These bolts have heads with 6 external splines (like negative torx) and are about 12mm diameter (I don't know the proper name for these). Fortunately I have a socket set with 6 point flank-drive sockets, and although not quite the correct shape, the 1/2" AF socket is a snug fit and seems to take adequate torque to align the cams without marking the socket or bolt head (both are quite hard).

I did the cams one at a time starting from the back. The front ones are actually a little trickier, because there are more hoses and cables in the way.

The cam block to head joint is sealed at the factory with a bead of black silicone sealant (probably Loctite 5910) set in a small groove in the head that runs around the edge of the cam block. The old silicone needs to be carefully scraped out, trying not to drop it into the engine. It is probably a good idea to remove any "silicone worms" left over from the factory sealing job, particularly those on the inside. The bottom of the cam block is a bit easier to scrape, as it is a flat surface. The new bead of sealant should just be enough to slightly overfill the groove in the head, we don't want to get too much silicone inside the engine.

The cam block to cover seal at the factory is a pre-formed silicone strip, to replace this requires a somewhat thicker layer of silicone than on the previous joint.

It looks as if it would be possible to reseal just the top joints without removing the timing gear, but that won't help if the lower joint is leaking (which I think was the case on my engine).

[jgra1]

good work Xantia V6..

that's some job..

Heard of a lot of V6's suffering plug well flooding like this.. I think my front 3 do it..
I have had luck on the 6 spline bolts before, with a good fitting socket..
I have forgotten thier name .. are they 'star drive' ?

John

[CitroJim]

That's a very good job Mike, excellent

I hope I don't have to do it any time soon

[Chris570]

female torx or sometimes called e-torx same as some TU head bolts (not sure about XU/ES9/DW)

[lexi]

Nice work V6. Sounds a total pig and is another job I don't see me doing............I feel much better now having made that decision

[luqies]

Is this job something a newbie can do?

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[Stickyfinger]

Have you discovered WHY it started leaking ?
Gj as well.

I can confirm it is ALARMING just how much oil can get onto the exhaust manifolds just from the rocker boxes and the danger of fire from such leaks.

[Mandrake]

Touch wood, no cam box oil leaks on my new Xantia V6 yet - at all!

When I took the inlet manifold and rear spark plug cassette out to change the spark plug leads and spark plugs last year there was no sign of any oil leaks around either front or rear cambox covers - unlike the Silver problem child that had a considerable leak on the rear bank that did indeed drip slightly onto the exhaust...

That didn't stop me from causing my own problems by spilling coolant into the rear right spark plug well when I changed the coolant expansion chamber though. That took a bit of work to mop up before I could remove and replace the spark plug...the well was full to the brim with coolant.

[Stickyfinger]

Just a tip I "discovered" when scraping off the sealant.......Use a strong hover (I have a "Wet Vac" from Aldi as a garage hover) and suck as you go with a small nozzle fitted, it worked a treat.

[luqies]

I didn't discover why it's leaking yet. Would I need a torque wrench to tighten everything up again?

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