Head Gasket 1.8 16v

[belfastfumanchu 0]

Im losing some coolant - (falls between max and min every 100-150miles) it appears to be coming out the back of the engine and evaporating - it's not getting into the oil) - I also having to top up my oil occasionaly too (can see it leaking a little bit near the plugs).

 

I've been told that the head gaskett is most likely on its way out and to just keep an eye on it for the time being as it's not that bad yet.

 

My questions are -

Do you have to get the head skimmed when changing the head gasket (engine hasnt overheated or anything)

Do you have to get the compression tested

How many hours do you think it would take for a skilled mechanic to complete

Is there anything else you'd think is worth getting done while the heads off ? (I've been told getting the rings changed would be a good idea)

 

Thanks for any info

[Toad 0]

Im losing some coolant - (falls between max and min every 100-150miles) it appears to be coming out the back of the engine and evaporating - it's not getting into the oil) - I also having to top up my oil occasionaly too (can see it leaking a little bit near the plugs).

 

I've been told that the head gaskett is most likely on its way out and to just keep an eye on it for the time being as it's not that bad yet.

 

My questions are -

Do you have to get the head skimmed when changing the head gasket (engine hasnt overheated or anything)

Do you have to get the compression tested

How many hours do you think it would take for a skilled mechanic to complete

Is there anything else you'd think is worth getting done while the heads off ? (I've been told getting the rings changed would be a good idea)

 

Thanks for any info

 

If you're taking the head off, then you'd just as well get it rebuilt with the valves ground in and new guides. Get it skimmed at the same time, might not be totally necessary, but it's peace of mind, also fit new tappets and timing chain.

 

Getting it compression tested may point to the fault or indicate knackered rings. 16v and G60 blocks pistons and rings are pretty good, and you'll probably find that they are fine. although if you want new rings, you'd just as well get a complete bottom end rebuild and oil pump.

 

I'd not bother with the bottom end unless the bores are worn. The head work should cost around £300, and almost £100 for the tappets (GSF oem INA ones).

 

Autodata put the head gasket job at 5 hours I think, but allow a complete day at least, so probably £250 labour. Chuck a few quid on the total for timing belt and tensioner pulley.

[Riley 0]

Do you have to get the head skimmed when changing the head gasket (engine hasnt overheated or anything)

You don'thave to.But its good practice and best done imo,also a great time to reseat the valves and change the valve stem oil seals.

 

Do you have to get the compression tested

Compression test will only show up a leakage from the cylinder bore to wherever its leaking to.Most garages will do a quick one for 5/10 quid,its just good to know that the engine has good compression.

 

How many hours do you think it would take for a skilled mechanic to complete

Just changing the head gasket should take around a day to do...But! There are plenty of potential problems as far as exhaust studs snapping etc and you have to take this into account.

 

Is there anything else you'd think is worth getting done while the heads off ? (I've been told getting the rings changed would be a good idea)

Reseat valves/replace stem seals/new cambelt and tensioner/new exhaust manifold studs in the head/new inlet/exhaust gaskets etc.

Changing the rings will be significantly more expensive unless you can do it yourself.Id get a compression test done before any work...and if its using no oil then id leave it.

 

Thanks for any info

 

Neil.

[Riley 0]

Bloody hell...Toad and Riley...Mind readers :lol:

[Toad 0]

Bloody hell...Toad and Riley...Mind readers :lol:

 

Lol

 

I was thinking that!

[corrado_16v 0]

Ive just done mine it toke me 2 days to take the head off strip it down and rebuild it and get it all up and runing agen its not that hard as long as u got the right tools the exhust is a bit of a pain in the ass.

[belfastfumanchu 0]

Did you not bother getting the head skimmed "Corrado_16v"

[belfastfumanchu 0]

Riley & Toad thanks for that information - wish I understood engines better though :? .

 

Can you explain why I would need to change the cam belt and pully whilst getting all the other work done you both mentioned? I had them changed about 10,000 miles ago so they should still be fine. What exactly would the point be behind changing them again so soon.

 

Also if I were reseating the valves would this be likely to improve performance ? If so by how much roughly.

[Toad 0]

Riley & Toad thanks for that information - wish I understood engines better though :? .

 

Can you explain why I would need to change the cam belt and pully whilst getting all the other work done you both mentioned? I had them changed about 10,000 miles ago so they should still be fine. What exactly would the point be behind changing them again so soon.

 

Also if I were reseating the valves would this be likely to improve performance ? If so by how much roughly.

 

Usually the belt and tensioner are changed at the same time, as the engine is in bits, if you don't want to change them as they are fairly new, then that's fair enough.

 

Technically reseating valves should help performance, but you couldn't estimate how much by. there are too many variables.

[davidwort 0]

Before spending a fortune on a head rebuild I'd say try to trace this water leak first, at this age the 16v engine has a number of trouble spots and water leaking out of the HG isn't usually one of them.

Clean around all of the hose joints and looks for any crystallised deposits over the next few days as escaping anti-freeze will leave them.

I'd be looking at the plastic head flanges on the front and side of the block, these often crack and leak and could well do with replacing, there are so many joints in the cooling system try and trace them all through, all around the water pump and oil cooler, heater matrix supply hoses and by-pass valves, header tank and rad.

I've known people take the head off to find out later it was a duff valve in the expansion tank cap that was leaking!

As for oil consumption, valve guides get tired and oil will be sucked down the inlet valve guides and burnt off, anything up to 1L/1000miles(VW specify) on an engine that still passes emissions and runs fine.

New valve stem seals wont fix this, nor does it really need fixing until it gets really bad.

16v cam cover gaskets are a bugger for leaking at the corners too and sometimes squeeze out of position.

A head can be checked for how flat it is without skimming for no reason, and there's not really enough metal to do it on the 16v head anyway, certainly not twice.

A compression check will only check the compression rings on the bores, not the oil scraper rings.

[belfastfumanchu 0]

Thought I'd post this pic to show where the leak is apparantly coming from (I say apparantly - it's really the only place I can see thats wet)

In this pic it's just after I was driving so it doesn't look wet in this picture as it was evaporating off, but you can still see it is damp.

 

This is from standing over the engine and taking a photo of the back and to the nearside of the engine. Is this a likely place to leak from if it was the head gasket?

 

"Davidwort" i'll give her a cleaning up and watch for any leaks near pipes like you say over the next lot of days just to see if there's anything else that I've missed.