Head Gasket Replacement

[rixy 0]

Hi, i recently bought my raddo vr6 off a guy from wales, howver, he obv did not realise that the aux water pump had gone, nad has in turn caused a slight leak in the head gasket! I was wondering if anyone knew of somewhere good to get this fixed, also, as its done 115k miles, i'd rather like getting the timing chains and clutch done too? Does anyone know of somewhere that can undertake this sort of job, and what sort of prices im looking at, cheers

[stevemac 0]

I doubt that aux waterpump failure would cause the headgasket to leak.

 

Whereabouts in the country are you ?

[rixy 0]

norfolk is where i am m8, its started leakin bad now, im losing water somewhere, dont quite know where! have to re-fill the water resevoir about ever 15miles! When you stop, and turn engine off, you can hear it hissing and leakin from the back of the engine, under throttle controll! Its actually leaking all the way around the left hand side of the engine! Spok to a good vw garage around here, but there is 3weeks wait b4 i can book it in, and he cant giv me full price, till he has got the head off and seen if valves need re'seating, or what state the head is in!

[dr_mat 0]

It's the infamous top hose that goes to the heater matrix that goes first, down by the joint to the head. And it's in exactly the place you mention, too...

[rixy 0]

oh, how can i check if this is the kiddy? And is it costly to replace?

[dr_mat 0]

Remove the plastic cable guide at the rear of the engine and you should *see* the break in the hose. Certainly if you get the car up to temp and it starts pissing water out it'll be bleeding obvious. It usually splits in the top of the hose. It's about £45 from the dealers.

Then the *next* thing you check is your gearbox-side engine mount. This hose usually splits because of a combination of age, temperature cycling, and excessive engine movement due to weak engine mount. And the gearbox one is usually the first to let go, as it's oil-filled rather than solid.

[Jay_vr6 0]

just to jump in, My coolant has just exploded from a large hose at the top back of the engine (just to the right of the middle) and i'm wondering what part it is that i need to get to replace it.

I had just come from the garage where they were trying to fix my over heating problem, it seems to be the radiator, he checked to see if the head gasket was giving any grief by some probe he put on the coolant filler and that was fine. Drove it home steady and it blew as i parked the car.

The hose is destroyed and i gather that if i get a replacement i'll at least be able to run it back to the garage with out using a tow truck ???

[dr_mat 0]

You need to get the replacement hose ... It's destroyed so badly that you can't even see what shape it is??

[Kevin Bacon 5]

It's the heat exchanger top hose..... about £40 from the dealer.

[rixy 0]

DR MAT, You are a STAR, i looked there last night, and sure enough, there is a tiny tiny hole in the top of the hose you described, only a little one, but when the system is pressurized,it pisses outta there, just been to vw and ordered new one, be in in 2 days, not bad eh!

 

For anyone who may need it, the numbers listed on the hose are as follows

 

1H0121157, this i believe is the said part number, and should make ordering a new one a little easier!

 

Thanks mat for your help, cheers again

[rixy 0]

here is a pic of the hose

 

hope it helps

 

[dr_mat 0]

Yep, that's the bunny. Mine went too, and the RAC man managed to cut the hose slightly shorter and that sufficed for a month or so till I could get the replacement sorted.

[yellowdfp 0]

Hi.

 

Thanks for this info. On Christmas Day (towards the end of the day, nearing home thankfully), my VR6 started producing a nasty smell (G11 fluid?) and huge clouds of smoke/steam from under the bonnet. Quite disturbing! It seemed to be coming from the back of the engine but I could not see where. The water level was very low, and as helpfully highlighted here, I eventually found a tiny tear in the upper heater matrix-to-cylinder head water pipe (pictured), just above the cylinder head connection. This will have been spewing water all over the hot exhaust manifolds below.

 

The part needed is indeed 1H0 121 157 H and thankully this can still be obtained from VW for just under £50 (as well as from other places (e.g. EuroCarParts) so I guess must be a common pipe needing replaced?). Took a while to get the old hose off due to very tight spaces to get tool in to release the hose clips and pipe needing cut off at cylinder head union, but now the new one is fitted and the problem is solved - phew :).

 

Looking inside the old hose, it looks llike the rubber has over the years erroded away inside around the leakage point - I suppose this section gets much hotter than the rest, being directly above the exhausts.

 

David.

[aide 0]

so I guess must be a common pipe needing replaced?

 

yep, had to replace mine recently too.