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re-tensioning the head

adam 32

By adam 32,
in Western Australia

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adam 32 Grand Master

adam 32

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no no

ive torqued it down in the 5 stages already with a torque wrench

but your supposed to re-torque it after a while cos aluminium expands + contracts so much. i want to know how to do this... cos a gasket is sealed by crushing it you can exactly go through the 5 stages again.... so im assuming you just make sure its on the final torque setting. but am not sure

puckish Rising Star

puckish

Posted
Posted

Adam

Some head gaskets don't need to be retorqued. They are marked as such on the packet.

To re torque it pop the rocker covers and retension to the correct settings in the correct order. DO NOT BREAK THE SEAL by cracking the tension off. I have had troubles doing this in the past.

Some mechanics say don't retorque and I have never got the same answer from two mechs. Your choice but my method doesn't hurt but does take up time......

adam 32 Grand Master

adam 32

Posted
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but the 5 stages are...

22

72

slacken off

22

75

so do i just torque the bolts to 75. or do i knock it back first, then retighten to 22 and then 75?

its just im getting some air leaking into the coolant so rather than having to do the head gasket AGAIN im hoping they just need to be re-torqued

R34 Mentor

R34

Posted
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I've allways backed off the bolt just enough so it moves (sometimes cracking noise) then retension at the full torque.

The backing off just gets by the bolt "binding" giving a false reading.

You can try just tensioning and if the bolt moves before the torque wrench goes off that's OK. If it doesn't and you then try the above mentioned method you'll notice the bolt will turn past where it was originally.

Air leaking into the coolant? That's not a good sign.

It's either compression through the gasket or hopefully a loose connection between the rad and overflow bottle which sucks back air when the motor is cooling down. Could be a duff radiator cap too.

Cheers

adam 32 Grand Master

adam 32

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or bcos ive had the head off and the entire cooling system apart and it wouldnt bleed out in 15mins...

ive replaced the overflow return hose and the radiator cap last week. im hoping its still air in the system. if its a gasket leak im hoping a re-tension will sort it out...

fingers crossd

gtrken Grand Master

gtrken

Posted
Posted
Originally posted by adam 32

well its gettin worse

still bubbling through the coolant, and ive got no ****in idea whats goin on. invited over a mate whos a mechanic @ toyota and he has no idea

Adam , what do you mean by bubbling through the coolant.

Is it when the cap is off and running, or is it bubbling into the overflow bottle after you have stopped ?

The retension is in case the gasket has crushed some more and everything has settled. Backing the bolt off slightly and retorquing in one smooth movement is not going to hurt the gasket. If it does , it was rooted anyway.

Cheers

Ken

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