Engine and Transmission Assembly Removal for Head Gasket Replacement

[licenseTOill]

Just about finished with disassembly.

I don't have any issues with the quality/design of the parts in this car. I've been impressed so far with the quality of all the parts I've inspected. The tensioner plunger seems interesting and superior to me. It appears to use the engine's oil pump to supply oil and build pressure for the chain tension rather than a self-contained, pressurized unit, such as I have seen in other engine manufacturer designs. I haven't read the service manual in regard to setting the timing tensioner for reinstallation yet.

I certainly would consider replacement of any parts here that Suzuki recommends. (I know there are several that they do not suggest be reinstalled after disassembly in the service manual. I haven't looked into what all those parts are yet but I will when I am ready to reassemble.) The only items I think anyone would question would be the chain guide/slides. It doesn't appear that replacing them is necessary for me, at this time. I have 100k on them and, based on the current wear, I would think I can get well over 100k additional miles out of them and more likely, 200k. See photos below.

Removed intake manifold. Just the 5 bolts/nuts in the photo and some plastic clips to remove the wiring harness. I had previously removed the hoses.

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Timing Tensioner parts

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Timing tensioner guide wear
I believe the "useful life wear indicator" is the bottom of the groove on the guide. My speculation is that the guide should be replaced once the chain wears away the plastic material so much that the center groove no longer exists.

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Timing tensioner guide wear

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Chain slide wear

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Chain slide wear

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Chain slide/guide inspection page. Not much useful information on this inspection page from the service manual.

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Parts list from worldoemparts.com

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Removed components from the block. Just the cams and head bolts left now.

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[Woodie]

What's that box on the intake cam sprocket? Centrifugal advance inside there, or a harmonic balancer of some kind?

[Ronzuki]

I'd imagine it has something to do with the VVT.

[licenseTOill]

Correct its is for the V.V.T. - It is the CMP
The Camshaft Position (CMP) actuator system enables the Powertrain Control Module (PCM) to change the intake camshaft timing while the engine is running.

I got it all apart and cleaned up. My head is .009 out of flat and the block is .003 or .004. The limit on both is .001. It looks like there are several pretty clear paths from the combustion chamber to the coolant jackets unless I am interpreting the signs incorrectly. I see 4 locations on each of the two center cylinders and 3 locations on each of the two outer cylinders. I had previously confirmed combustion gas was present in the coolant system via a dye test.

Removed Cams, bearing caps, and tappets

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Diassembled Head

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There is a head bolt located under one of the cam bearings. The head bolts are 12 point 12mm.

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The condition of the block after head removal. Not cleaned up at all.

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Closeup of combustion gas leak.

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Block cleaned up.

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Uncleaned head.

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My next step is to talk to a machine shop and see what I can do about the block being out of spec. I'm also going to pick up a proper machinist's straight edge and check again but I'm pretty sure the one I was using was accurate to .001.

[Ronzuki]

So was there any type of thread locker on the head bolts? I've wondered for a very long time why it is there's never any mention of a routine service requiring re-torqueing of head bolts on modern day cars. Hell the K doesn't even have a CVT fluid replacement interval, and I'm convinced it should. It used to be a routine thing back in the day on new engines, and certainly anytime we pulled the heads off. I suppose it's merely a simple way to sell more new cars. Not that the need is not there to re-torque to prevent what you've experienced. Honestly, who's going to go through the trouble you are, or worse, pay someone else to attempt it and inject 15 other problems during the process. Modern day designs... who the hell puts a head bolt under a cam bearing? That's a new one for me and given that, I'll be curious to read about the torqueing process during your re-assembly. Do you have to replace the head bolts per FSM?

Looks as though you're going to need to completely remove the engine from the cradle and separate the trans/tcase to get the head and block decked. FWD side-ways engines are a PITA when you need to do this type of work.

Sorry to say, but I'm really enjoying following your work here.

[LPSISRL]

I didn't get the impression you are a pro mechanic so I'm in awe of your guts and technical ability. Even if you are, I'm still in awe. What did you use to clean the head? The piston tops look like they smiling at you. Thanks for taking the time to take the pics and share this.

[licenseTOill]

Good question on the head bolts. I don't absolutely know the reasoning for not re-torquing them but I can tell you what I think the answer is. A lot of head bolts now are the "torque to yield" type. That means that the bolt is torqued beyond the state of elasticity and therefore undergoes plastic deformation, causing it to become permanently elongated.

On the Stress/Strain graph below, you can see where the yield point is. The more torque that is applied, the more you start to approach the yield point. From 0 to the yield point, the bolt is elastic which means it will spring back to or retain its original shape. Torquing past the yield point gets into the plastic region which means the bolt will deform permanently and cannot spring back to or retain its original shape.

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Per the FSM, the bolts only need to be replaced if they do not pass a deformation inspection. I will check mine but I think I'll replace them anyway because the bolts I have obviously did not hold the head down and let it warp .009. I'm guessing they are deformed. There is also no thread lock on them. The FSM calls for oil to be applied to the threads before torquing them. The head bolt torque spec is: 20Nm -> 40Nm -> +60 degrees -> + 80 degrees. The single smaller head bolt is 18.5 lb-ft. I've never torqued a bolt using degrees so ill have to look into how to do that correctly.

Here is the head bolt inspection sheet.

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[licenseTOill]

I didn't get the impression you are a pro mechanic so I'm in awe of your guts and technical ability. Even if you are, I'm still in awe. What did you use to clean the head? The piston tops look like they smiling at you. Thanks for taking the time to take the pics and share this.

Thanks! I am not a pro mechanic, I've just been working on cars for about 10 years and I've had some engineering training that helps. I've also had my 3000GT for 6 or 7 years now and have converted it from automatic to manual and added turbos to my non-turbo engine. Then I spun a bearing and I dropped in a factory turbo engine. There is a lot of aftermarket support for that car and huge online presence and support still. I just do a lot of research and decide to try doing it myself; That's how I started anyway. Now, I can fairly confidently dig into anything and just need to look up the factory torque and maintenance specs. A lot of my learning has also been trial and error as well.

As far as cleaning the head, you don't want to use anything extremely abrasive that will leave deep marks in the head or block because it will cause the head gasket trouble creating a seal. I just used a razor blade to first scrape everything off and then I used a 3M metal finishing pad wetted with some Brake Kleen to finish rubbing everything down. Multi-layer steel (MLS) gaskets will clean up A LOT easier than a composite gasket will clean off. Fortunately, the Kizashi uses an MLS gasket.

[Ronzuki]

Yeah, I'd def replace the head bolts especially since your head gasket failed, and, they are those torque-to-yield types as you suspect. All along, been wondering the root cause of your failure. Oil the threads before installing aye?...could be as simple as that...they possibly weren't properly oiled at the factory which would have thrown off the torque spec during assembly. Stuff like that happens. Early, early Japanese built SX4s had some incorrectly dimensioned main crank bearings installed mistakenly at the factory which caused failures down the road.

[licenseTOill]

I'll run a tap down the threads of all the head bolt holes before I put it back together. Just make sure the threads are super clean. It's hard to say what caused the failure but my stance on it is that it was a factory defect of some sort. It caused my coolant hose to burst because of the pressure that was building up in the coolant system via the combustion gas leak(s). Then my coolant leaked out and my engine overheated due to the broken coolant hose.