I am close to confirming that my #3 cylinder has died. I am still
holding out hope that it is a broken valve only. It sounds worse.

I need to repair/replace this engine or ideally put the 97 Jetta 2.0 ABA
that I bought last year. I had previously decided to wait until our
planned move to Ohio to start the conversion myself. Now I need to find
a shop for this work since I am out of town all week for the job and I
will be in south Texas every few weekends to help out my elderly father.

Ideally I would like to find a shop in the Houston area but I am willing
to tow it to a shop with experience to get it done right. Please contact
me soon if you can refer me to someone.

I contacted the one shop I know of in Houston (on Richmond) and was told
I should find a used 1.9 (they don't trust any rebuilds and don't tear
into waterboxers) they will charge me $700.00 to remove and reinstall
the used engine. The owner will call me back about swapping the ABA. No
call back. Just as well. Even in my inexperience it took me less than 6
hours total to r&r this engine last August.

I may wind up shipping the van to Ohio as is and start the conversion.
It would be disappointing to miss our last trip to Aldamas Mexico for a
while.

Thanks for indulging my long post.
Owen