16v head gasket Q

[vwdaun at yahoo.com (Daun Yeagley)]

Replies within....

--- "Mark F." <mk1mark@gmail.com> wrote:

> Check to see if the head is warped.  You probably don't
> have a
> straight edge that's straight enough (is it too much to
> ask for a gay
> guy to own a "straight" tool? :D),

*Groan*

Brad's dad might, he's built several engines and has all
KINDS of tools.

 so an automotive
> machine shop can
> check it for you (and I doubt they'd charge you).  If you
> have an
> accurate straight edge, lay it across the head (in
> different ways) and
> try inserting feeler gauges to determine if your head is
> out or not.
> If some hacker PO/mechanic used a power tool to
> clean/prep the head at
> one time he may have rounded/damaged the surface of the
> head, so be
> sure to check the head right to the edges.

AFAIK, the head probably hadn't been off the engine until I
got it.  In thinking back, I can't honestly remember if we
(Jason C, Anson and Ben Harder) replaced the head gasket or
not when prepping to install the engine in the Scirocco. 
It came from a Passat with 130k on it.

If you need to get it
> resurfaced
> make sure the shop has a modern "cutter" style resurfacer
> (vs. a stone
> tool).  Checking for "squareness" (which this list has in
> over-abundance :D) is also a good idea - and a good thing
> to do after
> you get it back from the shop.  If the head's been done
> before it may
> have been poorly resurfaced, so you want to make sure the
> shop
> compensated for any out-of-squareness from previous
> work...
> 
> HTH,

It does Mark, thanks for the tips & pointers.  I've not
gotten to the head yet (intake manifolds were as far as I
got last night before being sucked into helping in fuel
tank removal on a Piper Cherokee) but I should get there
within the next few days.  Since the more I think about it
the less positive I am about what was done, the "right"
thing to do is pull the head and go over it.

I wonder what this is going to cost me....


Daun Yeagley - Wilmington Ohio
'80 Scirocco                 '81 Scirocco S 16v to be?
'86 Scirocco 8v              '88 Scirocco 16v 
'88 Scirocco Slegato (Gino!) '96 Passat GLX Wagon
'56 Cessna 172
The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts - Ehrlich's Law.

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