RE: cigarette seals

["Crawford, Pat" <crawfordpat@domain.elided>]

Toi all,
What are cigarette seals, I vaguely remember that they go on a 6 cyl and
that I should replace them when I change out my hydraulic tensioner . Does
this make sense?
Thnaks,
Pat Crawford
Dallas

-----Original Message-----
From: Neil Cotie (EED) [mailto:Neil.Cotie@domain.elided]
Sent: Monday, May 06, 2002 6:17 AM
To: 'alfa@domain.elided'
Subject: cigarette seals


Hi,

Richard Bies was responding to another post which I missed, about cigarette
seal installation, I guess. Just a couple comments from my experience:
- I have the factory tool for cigarette seal insertion on 4 cylinders.  It's
basically a plate with two pipes fixed perpendicularly to it, with a
separate rod/piston to insert into a pipe to push the seal out of the pipe
and into the motor.  The plate bolts down to the block, using the same bolts
which are used to fasten the sump.  The two pipes are aligned to the holes
in the block for the cigarette seals.  
- The tool works quite well in practise but it's essential to align the pipe
very accurately with the adjoining hole in the block.  This has to be done
for both pipes, one at a time, before inserting the respective seal.
- Freezing the cigarette seals in a plastic bag in the freezer, then
inserting them into the tool and the block QUICKLY, definitely helps the
entire process.

I asked about cigarette seals recently at an Alfa dealer here in Aachen, and
was quite surprised by their answer.  After doing the usual
cross-cross-cross-referencing, the conclusion was that the factory does not
supply cigarette seals any more.  The factory has cross-referenced the
cigarette seal part number to a part for a newer generation (FIAT-based)
block, which is....  (insert deep breath here)... RTV silicone... in a
special dispenser.

No idea if ARDONA has issued any bulletins about this but this seems to be
the conclusion here.

Cheers,
Neil
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