Head re-torque.

[Dave 2 93s]

Greetings All

Quick question. One of my oil cooler pipes has decided to leak. So while I’ve got it apart. Sump off, strainer out waiting some 20 mesh,renovation kit on order. Water, oil, intercooler and vacuum pipes off waiting replacement. And cam cover off.

I’ve read about retightening the head on 95sM98-M01 withB205 & B235 engines .
I’m thinking while the cam cover is off, it would be a good time to do this.

The procedure reads
“ Undo bolt number 1 and tighten it. Repeat this in turn
for the other bolts and in fitting order as per the illustration.
Tightening torque 40Nm (30 Ibf ft).
Tighten the bolts again in step I in fitting order as per
the illustration.Tighten the bolts one more time in
step II.
Tightening torque step I, 60 Nm (44 Ibf ft)
Tightening torque step11, 90°”

I’m reading this as (in the correct sequence), First bolt loosen and torque to 40Nm, then 2^nd 3^rd and so on. Till all bolts are 40Nm then follow again to all at 60Nm. Then again to stage 3, 90 degree torque.
Am I understanding this correctly?

[MI-Roger]

Almost, but not quite. That process is correct if your are installing an all new gasket. If you are installing new bolts only (my recommendation since the original bolts are stretch bolts and should not be re-used or re-tightened), then install one bolt at a time starting with #1, torque to the 44 ft-lb limit, add 90 degrees of additional torque, then move on to bolt #2. The gasket is already compressed so no need to stop at 30 ft-lbs, and having all ten bolts at only 30 ft-lbs with a compressed gasket might expose you to other problems

[Dave 2 93s]

Thank you for your reply.

The pre-compression of the gasket would never have occurredto me, but makes total sense. Although I’veknown about replacing the bolts for roughly a thousand years, I’ll admit for avery few dark moments I did consider just retightening the existing ones. Aftera quick call to my local parts shop that had some in stock and sold me them for£17 ($26), sees that new ones will be fitted when I get to the putting it allback together again part.

Thank you once again

Dave