chuck 0 Posted May 8, 2003 Well, its not really a rebuild. Head gasket has sprung a leak, leaving tiny offreings on the drive every morning. Had a look, its well oily around back left corner. Anyway, I might aswell replace anything thats easy while I go to the effort of removing the head. So far: Head gasket Rocker cover gasket and cam shaft oil seals cam drive chain, inlet, exhaust manifold and exhaust gaskets valve stem oil seals. Also considering skimming the head, and reseating the valves. (wots involved here - only heard about this lot) tappets Any parts around the injectors that are worth doing? Does anyone know af anything else thats worth doing, or can anyone tell me that anything above is just plain silly. Its not blowing smoke, just leaking oil. Thanks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Bacon 5 Posted May 9, 2003 Are you sure the head gasket is leaking and not the rocker gasket? The little half-moon seal on the end (under cambelt cowling) often leaks. If you do need to do the gasket, it's a peice of cake and can be done in an afternoon. I would use a late MK3 2.0 16V gasket as it's steel and won't ever burst/leak again! Changing out all 8 injector seals, along with the brass seats and their seals + plastic injector guides is always a good idea on a valver. I would also get 8 new exhaust studs and nuts, 10 x Head bolts (mandatory), full rocker gasket set, 16 x lifters and a chain. If you're feeling confident, you can grind in the valves and change the stem seals whilst you're there but if there's loads of lateral play in the valves, you'll need to have the whole thing refurbed. Don't bother with skimming, 16V heads are hardened and shouldn't warp and skimming mucks up the CR and cam timing anyway. Just check for less than 0.5mm run-out and you'll be fine, just rub it down with some medium emery cloth. I would check the simple things first before getting into any of that! Kev 94 VR6 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuck 0 Posted May 9, 2003 Thanks Kev, Pretty sure its the head gasket. Looking up its oily right up to the join below the exhaust manifold, then above that its dry. Though I think the cam oil seal has gone too- timing belt side of engine is oily too. Not leaking too much though, haven't had to top it up since November! Didn't know about the MK3 gasket. Mines a 1.8, that definately OK? I'm planning at some stage to put a 2.0 block in. Will that work with that too? Why did VW use neoprene gaskets if the steels last forever?? Sorry if this sounds dense, but are 'lifters' the tappets? How do you grind the valves? Someone on here suggested skimming to increase the low down of a valver. Def. a bad idea then?? Sorry for all the questions, but i've never done this before, but I can use a spanner, and with Haynes and this forum, I feel confident..... :? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Bacon 5 Posted May 9, 2003 No worries re the questions, that's what we're here for :lol: VW as with other manufacturers identify weaknesses and modify the parts as applicable. It was quite common for a 16V to lunch it's gasket, hence the newer design. I came across the steel gasket idea via Stealth when I had my 16V Golf Turbo. Yes it will fit your 1800 block as it's the same bolt pattern, all you need to do is file one of the locating lugs in the gasket and it'll slot on perfectly. You'll see what I'm talking about when you buy the part and offer it up to the block. If you haven't topped it up since November, it's just a mild 'sweat' rather than a full on leak. If the engine is healthy other than that, I'd be inclined to leaving it personally but it's never nice seeing oil leaks though. Yeah, lifters are also known as tappets :mad: Grinding valves is a simple case of using some gritted paste to 'lap' the valve lips and seats together to restore the gas tight seal. You can buy a valve grinding kit from any motor factors or Halfords. It's just a stick with a rubber bung on each end! You plunger it onto a valve with some paste and act like you're trying to light a fire with a stick! Skimming, providing they don't remove too much metal, is OK if to restore the mating surfaces. If you remove too much metal, you raise the compression ratio but the cam timing remains the same and the engine will run badly. Ideally you should use a vernier cam wheel to restore the cam timing, and then it's OK. The increase in CR plus the vernier should improve bottom end but as with high CRs, you increase the risk of pinking but Optimax should help you there. All you need the Haynes for is the head bolt torquing sequence! The rest is self explanatory but do ask if you get stuck. Good luck! Kev 94 VR6 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuck 0 Posted May 11, 2003 It may have been a mild sweat when I bought it, but it looks like a gruelling workout sweat now. only when oil is under pressure though. Have now bought near everything listed above (it all mounts up!!), including the steel head gasket. (10 head bolts are expensive!!!) But on ETKA the VW guy couldn't say for sure what intector bits I was talking about. It shows in this order working out, seal insert for injector insert for injector (another one) round seal injector round seal What is good to replace? working by what is mentioned above its everything except the injector. Just want to check that before I use my plastic friend again! Also, the exhaust studs and bolts. Can these break? I'm only asking, cuz I don't want anything to be missing, and break (like this weekend - sheared a bolt when replacing wishbones - couple days to get another one!). Also any special tools needed? Socket extension, unusual size sockets, tool for removing valves? etc...? Looking forward to another weekend of fun (there ain't a sarcastic emoticon is there?) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Bacon 5 Posted May 12, 2003 Yep those parts are correct. They'll be a large black seal, a brass insert, an orange/brown plastic tube, a lower injector O ring (black) and an upper injector O ring (Green). EKTA is very vague but when getting the parts, check they match my descriptions before handing over the plastic! Replace all of them, 4 of each! Yeah the exhaust studs can break and the nuts are a softer metal anyway (copper I think), so should only be used once really. What usually happens is the stud and nut come out of the head together, rather than the nut just spinning off the stud, so use plenty of 'Plus-Gas' to presoak the nuts. Removing the head uses standard tools but the head bolts will need a large spline tool, 12mm I think, but you can buy a set of them. The lower inlet manifold is secure with 6mm hex bolts. You'll need a large torque wrench too. For removing valves, you'll need a special tool. It looks like a big G clamp and has a special slot in one end for inserting/removing valve stem collets. Halfords sell all these tools, so no worries. Or you can rent them from a tool hire shop. When the head is off, put some tape over the bores and coolant/oil ways to prevent crap getting in there as you'll need to lightly sand the block surface with some emery cloth. Use some solvent/carb cleaner to remove all traces of oil and other shite before putting the new head gasket on. Have fun! Kev 94 VR6 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
menace2society 0 Posted May 13, 2003 hi guys my 1.8 16v also has a leak in the same place as chucks (left corner) well oil could be this be the root of he high idling problem :?: i'm having after about 110 degrees mfa engine temp it starts idling at about 1500rpm??? thanks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuck 0 Posted May 13, 2003 menace, Try this, just a thought as mine can often idle over 1000rpm. Its the accelerator cable stacking and not letting the throttle lever settle back on the ISV switch. When it idles at 1500rpm, rev it and put your toe under the accelerator and lift it until it falls back to 1000. I'll soon put a wee bit of elastic around mine. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuck 0 Posted May 14, 2003 Problem so far, and I haven't even started yet! GSF gave me a head gasket for a G60, not for a late MKIII Golf as I asked! Looks like its metal though. Can't squeeze it like the rocker cover one. Can I use this gasket??? They also gave me a timing chain for a VR6 and not a cam drive chain!! Grrr. Gotta go back again! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuck 0 Posted May 16, 2003 Ok, everything bought. Head now stripped, all I need to do is loosen the 10 head bolts, and take off exhaust. How do you take exhaust off? Can't get at the 6 bolts that hold the downpipe to the manifold. HELP!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Bacon 5 Posted May 16, 2003 Leave the exhaust in place and push it back out of the way attached to the front pipes. The head will lift up and then forward, so you've no need to seperate the front pipes from the manifold. The needs to be lifted about 5mm to clear the locating pins in the block. You may need some assistance here as the head can stick down good and hard but DO NOT hit it with a hammer or lever a screwdriver between the block and head!! Oh and the head is heavy when leaning under the bonnet, back ache time! I would have got the head gasket from the dealer personally as they are superior to pattern ones. All other gaskets are OK as patterns though. Kev 94 VR6 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuck 0 Posted May 18, 2003 Wow, what a weekend. Hope I don't have one of those in the near future. Got all but one bolt off the manifold. The only one I couldn't get a socket on, so i used a ring spanner - which rounded it! So I tried my nut splitter (ouch ) on it. Broke it, the nut splitter that is. Tried hammering it, glaring at it and even pointed at it, but it just wouldn't come off. So I admitted defeat. :( Started putting it all back together - new tappets chain gaskets on the way. All together and it was dead. Battery seemed OK. Took it all apart again just to check everything was OK. Untorqued the cam bearing cap bolts a bit (15 Nm is below the min scale on my torque wrench). Moved a bit freeer then. Back together and it might have turned a bit easier but was dead. Anyway to cut what is becomming a long story short, I spent all of today eliminating several possibilities (top off engine again), and it turned out to be a dodgy hall connector on the dizzy!!!! Cable tie later (and me mates battery as mine was now dead) and it fired. Have to say though that the tappets were VERY noisy for about 5-10 mins. Now silent :D . Thanks to all that helped both on and off this site :thumbleft: Head gasket now leaks worse than ever, so maybe when I get someone to take that exhaust nut off, I'll............. I've got the bug bad don't I?? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuck 0 Posted May 31, 2003 Phew, Head now rebuilt sucessfully. What fun. Well at least it isn't leaking oil now. Methinks next job is a 2.0l turbo or a G60 conversion :D . Confidence growing by the day... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
karmannG60 0 Posted May 31, 2003 Good job :D !! And thanks for making a diary of it, allways good to know what kind of problems you might meet on the way! -chris Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
W3RKD 0 Posted May 31, 2003 buy tims engine for the ultimate g60 conv for your c allways have a go at fitting the rallye drivetrain if you are feeling really brave!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
menace2society 0 Posted June 1, 2003 well done mate great read! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
