Cylinder head — check (Opel Zafira A)

The need to check the cylinder head should be determined during the inspection of the technical condition of the engine (see "Engine - technical condition check").

Sequence of execution

1. Prepare the car for work (see "Preparing the car for maintenance and repair").

2. Remove the cylinder head (see "Cylinder Head - Gasket Replacement").

3. On 1.4 and 1.6 DOHC engines, for convenience, remove the receiver (see "Receiver and intake manifold of 1.4 and 1.6 DOHC engines - replacement of gaskets").

4. We clean the cylinder head from dirt and carbon deposits, wash it from oil deposits, and remove carbon deposits from the walls of the combustion chambers with a metal brush.

5. Carefully inspect the cylinder head for cracks. The valves and their seats should not have cracks or signs of burning.

6. Check the flatness of the head. The work is carried out in two stages. For this, a special template is required, but if you do not have one, then you can check the lower mating plane of the head with sufficient accuracy using a wide metalworking ruler. Apply the ruler with its edge diagonally to the plane of the head. Make sure that there is no gap between the edge of the ruler and the plane of the head. The gap can be observed both in the middle part of the plane and along its edges. We measure the gap along both diagonals using a set of flat feeler gauges.

The maximum allowable gap is 0.05 mm.

Recommendation: If the gap is greater than the permissible value, the head must be milled at the mating surface or replaced.

7. Check the tightness of the valves. To do this, fill the combustion chambers of the cylinder head with kerosene and wait a few minutes. If the kerosene level in any chamber decreases, then one or more valves are not tight.