Head gasket replacement
 

I have a 85 740 GLE that runs great but looks like a little leakage coming from the head right below number 2 glow plug. 168K miles and looks like the original head gasket (two little notches). From my reading on here I gather I won't be able to order one until I find out the piston height? Is there a gasket set available for the entire project? If I get the flywheel set on the mark and number one at top dead center, mark the belts and pulleys will I be able to unbolt/bolt everything(fuel pump) back on and get it to run? I have not been able to find anyone that will work on this beast and I don't want it dead in the garage for a long period of time. Thanks for your advise.

How about the hose clamps and hoses coming out of the cylinder head in that area? Are the clamps tight, hoses in good shape? K-jet.org has a good listing of the special tools required for what you are considering, its not advisable to attempt serious engine work without them. Baum tools and Samstag Sales are sources I have used.

I have a little yellow staining running out between the second and third glow plug right where the hump is. Coolant is a little stained and I don't have to add any after a hundred miles. I'll start getting the tools put together and keep reading.

Thanks

About finding a shop to do the work... have you checked the VW community? As you may know, the D24 was a Volkswagen product, and is identical to the 4-cyl VW diesel used in Rabbits, etc.

So a shop set up to work on VW diesel's may be more disposed to work on yours than a Volvo shop.

Worth checking, if you would rather have a shop do it.

I was lucky and found an older Volvo indie shop that was willing to take on an injector reseal project on my '82 245 Diesel wagon...

Just a thought....

-Tom in SoCal.

Your odds wold be very bad, but if you have great deal of skill and experience that would help some.

The vacuum pump seems to be in the way of most work, injector and fuel pump work. Is there any tricks to removing and reinstalling it? Not very many post on here related to it.

Thanks

Its held onto the head by two fasteners and is under spring tension, loosening the top and bottom fasteners at equal rates will keep the vacuum pump from getting jammed or damaged, the lower fastener is difficult to see, also the plunger is a slide fit and can fall out. You can have it off in a few minutes.

Sounds like it is the gasket if it's coming out of the bulge between head and block, but there are hoses that can leak in that area so as others said, double-check all the connections. Another patch to get you by for a while could be to switch to a lower-pressure rad cap -- I run the 75kpa cap, no issues and if you just have a little seepage from that spot, could help as a way to get by.

Technically that is the procedure, but if you already have a 2-notch gasket, that's what you should use and measurement is not necessary. The gaskets come in different thicknesses, the more notches the thicker, and the reason for checking piston protrusion is to see how thin of a gasket you can get away with -- you want the thinnest one the engine can take based on the out-of-deck measurement. However, D24T engines use either the 2-notch or the 3-notch from stock, so if you already have a 2-notch gasket, you know that you can use one of those and it's the one you'll want.

Theoretically if you wanted to really push the envelope you could measure it to see if it could take a one-notch gasket, which would provide some extra squeeze, but if you're happy with the way it runs I'd stick with what you have. The one-notch gaskets also have much more limited availability and are harder to find.

You'll also need a new set of head bolts, or better yet, studs.

The headgasket is always sold separately since there are different thickness varieties available, so you buy that on its own. Some places do sell a head set (exhaust, intake, valve cover gaskets) without the headgasket for the rest of the job, but you want to avoid those because they all come with the 4-piece cork/rubber valve cover gasket set. Better to buy everything a la carte and get the updated one-piece rubber valve cover gasket, which doesn't leak like the cork ones do, and is reusable.

Not a great idea; as others indicated, near guarantee that even on the off-chance that you get lucky enough for it to be able to start and run, it won't run well. Everything has to be right-on perfect, it's not just a matter of the belts being on the right tooth, there's fine adjustment that is accomplished both on the cam and the IP using special timing tools. The likelihood of it ending up dead on without going through the timing procedure after having the head off is close to zero.

Quite a few folks on here have the complete set of factory tools that makes this job quite easy, though, and are willing to rent or loan them out. I have a set that I've loaned to folks for free before, on the condition that you pay the shipping both ways, and I take a massive deposit (~$2000+) that's fully refunded when they're safely returned to me, to cover their value and the amount of time it would take to track down replacements if they didn't come back.

At least folks where you are are honest. ;) The more serious trouble comes when you find someone who *is* willing to work on it and they only figure out after they've got your engine taken apart in their shop that they don't have the knowledge or equipment to get the job done.

It's not a bad job to tackle yourself, though, if you have the space and basic background to do it, and the necessary special tools and instructions, and are not under time pressure and can do the work carefully. Good opportunity to give it a fresh timing belt and other routine service (e.g. valve adjustment, cooling system updating, etc) too while you have it apart, if you don't know the last time those things were done.... :)

So sorry the search function here did not turn this up for you:(:
http://d24t.com/showpost.php?p=8492&postcount=13

Thanks everyone for your help. Getting the tools together and I will check the settings and try a couple of valve adjustments first to get the hang of it.