c70 T5 Head Gasket Replacement

**ncarnall** · Tuesday 2nd September 2008, 16:57

I recently bought a C70 T5 and all was fine for a week, then all of a sudden without any warning it boiled over. I had only driven about 5 miles, so I let it cool for 20 mins or so and drove home gently.
I then flushed the rad etc but it boiled soon after starting it. So next day I fitted new thermostat and cap and refilled with water. It hasn't boiled over since but the water keeps dropping to below min, I've been topping it up everyday so that it doesn't boil again. I can't see any leakage, the system pressurises as normal and retains some pressure until it's cold. Question is; is it the head gasket or not, and if so how difficult is it to change? I've done a 4 cyl 8 valve b200 before (a very long time ago) and how long does it take?

Cheers
Neil

**Alan M** · Tuesday 2nd September 2008, 22:07

If you're competent enough you should be able to do the job in about 6 hours at the most. I changed cam followers in around 3 hours or so and the head was only a few more bolts to undo. I wish I'd have done my valves at the same time just for good measure. Thats a job for the future though. If you remove all the aux belt, cambelt, air box, all your piping over the engine on one day you can see how far you have got then you could always crack on or wait till the next day to carry on. Its best to replace every oil seal you come accross though. The rocker cover is the upper bearing cover so remember that and be careful when undoing it. There are loads of bolts holding it down. I'd get new genuine head bolts for when you refit the head aswell. You should be able to undo your turbo from the downpipe use loads of wd40 on the nuts. It will take you a while to go round the back of the head and undo anything attached to it. Haynes manuals are not too bad so its worth investing in one to help.

**Rufe** · Tuesday 2nd September 2008, 22:48

Its not as big as a job as you may expect to be honest, not if you have some sort of experience with doing this sort of job, theres nothing there that will catch you out generally, though the book time for this job is not far off 9 hours so it will be pretty time consuming.

heres the list of parts needed, or at least recomended to change if doing the head gasket -

Head Gasket
Head Bolts
Front and Rear Cam Seals
Spark plug tube Seals
Inlet and exhaust manifold gaskets
Liquid Gasket
Turbo Oil return pipe gasket and seal
Turbo pressure pipe sealing washers
Oil Filter & Drain Plug Washer
if 99> then a new VVT Solenoid gasket too.
(also, if belts are due soon then this is also a good time to do them really)

If you want a price for that lot, or any selection from there, let me know, but get me the year of the car, or the reg would be better. I can provide you with full instructions for this job if you require them, including relevent torque settings, whether or not you buy the parts from me, just let me know.

Hope this helps

Simon

**Rufe** · Wednesday 3rd September 2008, 07:39

to be honest reading the post again today i am doubtful its the head gasket, it could be something as simple as an air lock in the cooling system.

**ncarnall** · Wednesday 3rd September 2008, 16:57

Thanks for the pointers, I hope your right Rufe!
How should I go about clearing an air lock from the system.
I did fill it up then start engine and re topped it up while warm.

Cheers in advance

**ncarnall** · Wednesday 3rd September 2008, 21:20

Well it's not the head gasket and it ain't an air lock. I've just driven about 15 miles and popped into halfords for some radweld (to fix rad on my old Espace before I ebay it) and when I walked out I spotted some water dripping under car. It seems to be coming from bottom of expansion tank area, I'm now home after a top up at garage on way so when it cools enough I'll go take a look! I can't believe I haven't noticed it before as I've looked under car while it's been ticking over on drive and it was dry everywhere!

Neil

**BlackC70** · Friday 5th September 2008, 00:46

water under the car could also be expelled from the aircon system, it's not a guaranteed hose problem - esp if it's only doing it occasionally...

aircon drainage is perfectly normal too...

**cookie** · Friday 5th September 2008, 13:45

Have you checked around bottom of header tank, as mine leaked, lower spiggot where hose fits becomes brittle and water escapes through it when hot - thermostat open, so when trying to find leak on drive it was fine, but level dropped during driving, when I uncliped and pulled header tank up, spiggot snapped off inside hose, and on inspection you could see that coolant had been weeping through, as where it snapped was all dirty. I did upload pics onto here pre crash.

**Subdued R** · Friday 5th September 2008, 15:54

It be be worth seeing how hard the top hose is when is running. I had a V70 2.5 low pressure turbo and the guy I bought the car off had advised that the head gasket had been replaced. But when out on roadtest the temp gauge went through the dash. I switched it all off and the top hose was like my arm. Then I noticed water coming from beneath the car and found that it had a cracked block. Check it out if you can as mine was cracked behind the oil seperator and the inlet manifold which meant you could hardly see it.

**pangster** · Friday 5th September 2008, 15:57

Originally Posted by ncarnall

Well it's not the head gasket and it ain't an air lock. I've just driven about 15 miles and popped into halfords for some radweld (to fix rad on my old Espace before I ebay it) and when I walked out I spotted some water dripping under car. It seems to be coming from bottom of expansion tank area, I'm now home after a top up at garage on way so when it cools enough I'll go take a look! I can't believe I haven't noticed it before as I've looked under car while it's been ticking over on drive and it was dry everywhere!

Neil

lol! - i didn't see this before.. but i was going to recommend checking this as its quite a common fault on these cars.. (hairline cracks on the bottom of the expansion tank)

iirc the header tank is only £20 or so and make sure you get the new design cap for it as well..

HTH

**ncarnall** · Friday 5th September 2008, 17:12

Thanks all, new tank ordered for tomorrow morning. Looking at the tank it has what looks like a small hairline crack where bottom hose connects. I'll let you know how I get on!

Cheers
Neil