Laughingboy 0 Posted March 22, 2011 Changing the head gasket today on the VR6 and found a pretty prolific oil leak down the gearbox side of the engine. Seems to be coming from the timing chain covers. After removing the head I noticed that the housing for the lower chain is sitting a fraction lower then the block, around 0.5mm. worried this is causing the leak. was thinking of trying to move up the case but ran out of light. can I remove this with dropping the box? only other option was to either use a section of the old gasket? or may gasket card or instant gasket? What do you guys think? If so what options do I have? Also, on stripping the engine its bloody full of instant gasket! the rocker cover, upper timing chain cover, the gasket was even missing on the intake manifold and was sealed using... you guessed it, Instant gasket!! Shouldn't have any issues with the rocker cover as the rubber looks fine. but is the upper timing chain supposed to have a gasket? Was going to make one using paper but wanted to make sure it was needed. Was also thinking of using a paper gasket for the intake as its only the join between lower and upper. I know I should go and buy a gasket but its a fair trek to VW and I've got paper to hand. would this be ok? Cheers for any advice Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
beastie4126 0 Posted March 22, 2011 You should have head gasket sandwiched between the upper and lower chain covers with the engine side faces sealed with your friend instant gasket (or the VW equivalent). Lower chain cover is a box of job unfortunately. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Laughingboy 0 Posted March 22, 2011 Thats the problem, the lower cover is sitting lower then the block by around 0.5mm so I don't think its sealing down hard enough. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Bacon 5 Posted March 23, 2011 (edited) Yes that's normal, they never sit dead flush with the block. The chain covers are machined surfaces and therefore are supposed to use sealant as Beastie says, or instant gasket, your favourite :lol: The proper white VAG stuff is the shizz.....but sit down when they tell you the price of it! A layer either side of the gasket takes up the 0.5mm difference and don't forget the cover also has 2 bolts underneath pulling it down, so it does actually seal if done properly. And please don't even think about using cornflake packets to make an intake gasket :lol: Yeah fine on areas that aren't subjected to vacuum but anything intake related should use the proper parts. Edited March 23, 2011 by Kevin Bacon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Laughingboy 0 Posted March 23, 2011 Cheers Kev, The head gasket looks to have been replaced not too long ago but just with a poor quality one. Would you believe they smeared the orange gunk on everything except where it was actually needed! As for the cornflakes... or kelloggs bodge paper as it shall now be know. Was going to use proper gasket paper, didn't think the intake would be under that much strain but better safe then sorry so looks like I'm going to have to go shopping.... maybe some nice orange instant gasket would do the job... ;) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Bacon 5 Posted March 23, 2011 Yeah I can quite believe it actually! Maybe Shredded wheat packets might be stronger? Just make sure you use 3 layers, or Botham will be after you :lol: Seriously though, the proper VW gaskets are nice coated metal ones now, which you can reuse, and they're not that expensive :D Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
