questions on head gasket replacement

[txrocco at sbcglobal.net (ATS - Patrick Bureau)]

1. if you had coolant or expect to have coolant in your oil, drop the oil in
a bucket that you can let sit for a few minutes if you have coolant in your
oil it will float to the top
1a. if you expect oil in your coolant (more common with head gasket issues)
you will find foamy oily film in your coolant bottle.

2. water at the tail pipe is not uncommon, condensation will create itself
as the muffler cools down from the road as you park it, and this residual
will create droplets to spit out on the end of the pipe.
2a. if you where indeed burning coolant, your tailpipe would be smoking
white (ever watch nascar when they blow a head gasket and the white smoke
comes pouring out the rear ...that's what I am talking about!)

3. compression low 137 high 148, differential of 9 points.  Bentley states
for JH 1.8 head MAx differetial is 44 between cylinders
3a. compression range is 131-174 on new engine, with a wear limit of 109. so
this low 137 indicates that you are slowly looking at a future piston ring
job

4. a car running hot one year over the previous year does not point directly
at the head gasket.
4a. your running 70/30 mix, VW reccommendeds 50/50 mix in your coolant.
4b. have you changed your thermostat, temperature switch, fan relay switch?
4c. have you considered perhaps you simply need a new water pump? a new
radiator (in my case of overheating this was the culprit)

5. (dont jump to this right away.but)Make sure both sides of the surfaces
are cleaned (head and block) any small residual gunk will be a place for
seapage.
5a. to check if a head is warped, lay a steel square ruler across the lay of
the head, and measure in various locations the gap with a gap feeler guage.
and run the process according to Bentley and make sure your gaps' are
according to tolerance as well.


all in all I beleive you should investigate the simple solutions first
(radiator, water pump thermostat and temp switch) before splitting your
engine apart.
the engine runs, 110-115'f? well I have one that runs 120'f steady for past
year now... you know what was the problem? not the system, but a flaky
ground on my engine bay and guage... rewired it, and lost 10'f on the guage
the next time I ran the car....

don't assume its your head gasket.


ATS - Patrick Bureau - txrocco@sbcglobal.net
Http://www.longcoeur.com/scirocco/
============================================
'85 2.0L Prowler Orange Kamei X1 Rocco
'85 1.8L Titian Red Rocco (daily driver)
'98 4.0L Jeep Cherokee
'91 7.3L F250 diesel Super cab,8 Ft box.
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