How can you tell a head gasket is blown?

[bighands 0]

Just stripped head off, but the head gasket looks fine?

Do they actually blow between the holes or do they just sort of leak?!?!

 

cheers!

[bighands 0]

ok, replaced it but i cant do the timing!!!!!!!!

 

How do i set it? is the line onthe flywheel, TDC, and the mark on the crank pully set for TDC 2? Do i line these up and tension it?

I dont really wanna put the valves thro the pistons!!

its a 1.8 16V

[smarkham 0]

hate to say it mate but you should have marked it all up before you took the chains off may be worth speaking to vince at stealth see if he can help

[thorpey 0]

yes always mark it up before hand its a simple, time saving idea,remember next time haha

[bighands 0]

tad late now eh!

 

:(

 

Surely its not rocket science, just line up the marks!?!?

 

TDC on flywheel + TDC on the cam?

[Scruffythefirst 0]

TDC on flywheel + TDC on the cam?

 

 

In theory. You need to check what position the dizzy should be in and make sure the cam is in the right phase to the crank, depending on how your sensors etc work.

[bighands 0]

nothings easy!

Just gunna put it all back together, and see if it starts!!!

 

The little line on the cam shaft sprocket needs to be level with the edge of the head, and the flywheel needs to be on the straight line not the other mark near, it thats sort of set back a bit more and looks like a circle from what i can see of it?

 

Sound about right??

 

Cheers

[h100vw 0]

Get yourself to Halfords in the morning and get a Golf manual.

Check it is the workshop one not the service and repair.

 

Basically..........

 

The 2 cam sprockets each have a circle in them these should point right at each other. I think the Cam cover has an arrow on it which should point to the mark on the cam pulley.

With the bottom pulley cover on the notch on the bottom pulley should line up with the arrow on the cover.

The rotor arm should point to the plug lead for number cylinder, closest to the cam belt.

 

Have you bought new head bolts?

Gavin

[bighands 0]

I have a haynes manual, and sort of helps, but its the crank im sort of worried about getting wrong, i think i have it right, but everythings a bit vague in the manuals and info i have, and its gunna be fatal if its wrong!!

 

I have the head put together, and yea got new bolts, but gasket didnt seem to have any holes or cracks in it, so wondering if this is the cause of my oil water mix :( Also i didnt remove the cams or the sprockets, left the head in tact bar removing the stuff i had to.

 

Im sorry i STILL havent fitted the relay you sent gav, mainly beacuse i have only had my car about 3-4 days of the past 3 weeks, its not been a good month for me and it :( plan was to tidy up few loose ends with it tomorrow 1 of which was the relay, but planned on having it put back together tonight, but hopefully when timing issue is sorted, it will only take a hour or to to re-assemble so will get it sorted, sorry

 

:)

[h100vw 0]

Don't sweat about the relay. Use the mark on the pulley end. I have never used the flywheel ones and, touch wood, haven't broke one yet.

 

Can you do some close ups of the gasket?

Gavin

[bighands 0]

Um well in about a week :lol: Left my camera at my bros and cant get it till sis comes back DOH!

But it doesnt seem to have any where where it could of been mixing, and remember seeing one off a old renault i had, and there was a hole between the oil and water, mechanic did say it was quite badly blown, but not sure really what i should be seeing, just looks like a squashed version of the new one i put in! the garage that diagnosed the head gasket said there was high levels of hydro carbons in the water, so must be from the cylinder to water way? and oil 2!! Got one of those horrid feelings that more is wrong than i think!

 

So regards to the notch on the pully, the arrow is on the lower timing belt cover u mean? havent seen this one yet :)

[h100vw 0]

Have a look under the wheel arch with the wheel off for the arrow and teh notch on the engine side of the pulley

[bighands 0]

Nice cheers mate,

Will have an explore in the bonnet again tomorrow morning bright and early!

 

If its not the head gasket, theres gunna be a corrado bonfire tomorrow night.

[Rossco 0]

You checked your oil cooler before you ripped it all apart mate???

[bighands 0]

Yea!! replaced it anyway as it was in peices!

 

Right, its all back together and running, but its still not right!

 

The water seems to be boiling, with the top rad hose off, and it not running, its just bubbling LOADS, as tho somethings not working or water isnt getting round? thought water pumps kinda went bang not stopped working all together?

 

**EDIT**

 

I mean in the expansion tank, with the lid off, it just bubbles, sure this is wrong?!!?

[W3RKD 0]

sounds like you have a air lock to me

[bighands 0]

And how might i dispose of that little problem?!?

 

Also how can i clear all the oil from the water system before i add the coolent? Havent put it in yet as bit of a waste to flush it all out again if its still bust?

 

Oh and what temp should the oil be? im getting 105?!?!

 

Cheers!

[smarkham 0]

I normally get an oil temp of 98 to 106 ish. as for getting the oil out you will need to fill the sytem up and empty it a few times

[Supercharged 2]

Flush the cooling system with fairy liquid and hot water if posible, then hose cold water through it before filling back up with G12+

[bighands 0]

Nice! think i have done it!!

Doesnt seem to be anymore oil in the water, but its hard to tell with the stuff thats floating about in it still, but no where near as much as there was, but im bit worried that the temp guage seems to be reading about 6-7* more than it used to before the whole mess? used to stay at almost exactly 90, but reading 97-98ish?

WHY!?!

 

Cheers

ANDY

[smarkham 0]

probably due to the fact the car was moving before it will get hotter stood still

[bighands 0]

nar, took it on a long drive, bad idea after playing home mechanics i know but had no choice! gets to about 100 standing, even more worrying!!

Ah, but i did swap the dash for a passat one and the drive after fitting it, the head gasket went, so maybe the passat dash is the fault here, i didnt really get a chance to see what temp it got to, beacuse of the major leak it had developed, or are they all the same?

 

Also roughly what temp does the second stage of the fan kick in, cos only the first one seems to start and havent heard it step up a gear?

 

Soon i will be question free i promise!

 

:)

[Supercharged 2]

I think the standard fan switch is 95/102 for stage 1/2