Interesting to hear of the bolt hole cleaning.

I remember replacing the head on my Rabbit 1.6 NA (1.5? can't remember....)

After I did the job, it worked fine. Car had a new rad, water pump
etc. etc.  I sold it to a friends kid, but since I'd never replaced a
diesel head before, the price was *very* fair.

The kid, car and I went to a VW dealership to have my work checked
out. (he knew the mechanic). The mechanic asked if I had cleanded the
bolt holes. "uh, no". I didn't even think that IF there was a little
oil or whatever in a hole that the head bolt would create a LOT of
pressure. Add heat to that, and whamo. Possibly a crack.

Neil.

On 9/17/07, Mark Drillock <mdrillock@cox.net> wrote:
> You should join the diesel Vanagon list for this project.
>
> http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Diesel-Vanagon/
>
> You need at a minimum about $100 in parts and tools to just change the
> head gasket. Don't remove the manifolds or injectors, leave that stuff
> on the head or you will need more parts and tools and open more cans of
> worms.
>
> It is very common for the head to be bad on these motors. You could
> easily spend much more than $100 to do this repair "right". Since you
> don't know the worth of the bottom end either, I would try to just
> change the gasket as simply and cheaply as practical.
>
> You can do this without the special timing tools if you line up all the
> timing marks at the start, paint new marks at the 3 pulleys, and fight
> the timing belt properly. Tough to do the first time. The injection pump
> gear is under tension and will rotate out of position when the belt is
> off. You must get it back into exact position as well as the cam and
> crank gears, all in perfect time with respect to the belt. Help from the
> diesel Vanagon list will be worthwhile.
>
> Cleaning out the headbolt holes in the block very well before putting in
> the new gasket is CRITICAL.
>
> I would expect to obtain these parts:
>
> set of 10 new headbolts  $30
> headgasket     $30
> tool for headbolts $20
> valve cover gasket set $5
> oil change  $10
> coolant  $10
>
> Headbolts and tool could be either of 2 types so you need to remove the
> valve cover and look. Shop around and save a few bucks from these numbers.
>
>
> Mark
>
>
> Florian Speier wrote:
>
> > I have to do a cylinder head gasket job on a friends 82 diesel westy. Does
> > anyone have a better writeup than the bentley, especially, do i need these
> > specific tools for the drive belt?
> > The engine is currently bubbling out coolant between head and block....
> > argh.  I know that on an engine with already 165k on it, this might be a
> > temporary fix, but I am unsure of the costs and time involved in a
> > 1.9conversion, so I guess its gonna be just fixing it for now.
> >
> > Any advice is greatly appreciated!
> >
> > thanks a lot
> > flo
> >
>

--
Neil Nicholson. 1981 Air Cooled Westfalia -
"Jaco"  (Bustorius)

http://web.mac.com/tubaneil

Please send fav Vanagon/Westfalia links to me at:
musomuso1963@hotmail.com