Club 80-90 Forums

My current headgasket has two dots, does this mean it has been resurfaced before or could this be factory-spec?

I've ordered the new one also with two dots.

I've got a 1.6d with a very short 4 speed box. 1st almost useless, 2nd too short for a normal roundabout and 4th too short for the motorway.

I ended up putting 4.7% bigger tires on, that solved all my issues.

I now have a blown head(gasket) so it might have overloaded the engine a bit.

Thanks Mioba! I've decided i'm going to try it, will be ordering the parts in the coming days. Really hope the head is fine...

Unfortunately no BW for me as I live abroad.

More questions might be coming after I've started

Thanks. None of the vw-specialists in the Netherlands can do it in time so I might actually want to do it myself. I did check the Bentley and most seems quite straightforward. Next to a new cambelt and pulley, anything specific I should know? And what specialty tools do I need? The pulley tensioning...

Relatively handy but no experience with the insides of engines.

I do have the Bentley as PDF somewhere, I'll check tomorrow. I feel I can probably do most of the stuff but I am a bit scared of everything to do with the injection pump.

Thanks. It's a CS, i figure the same applies then.

It was a new cap, but i've heard before they're often a bit "pooh" quality

So the last few years we've had a multitude of coolant leaks: Waterpump, multiple hoses, cracked header tank etc. Also had to top up the level in the header tank many times, while the overflow tank stays at a steady level. The new header tank we put in is now completely spherical after the system ha...

My 1.6d had a single belt when i bought it, but i switched back to double belts. The single belt made less contact with the water pump so it squeaked all the time.

I've used fire retardant engine room liner from the nautical world. Works nicely.

I asked my girlfriend, who's really handy with fabric and redid our upholstery. She says she would just embroider a flower over it, but you could also embroider it closed with color-matched thread.

Replacing the fan is quite doable if you take it slowly and photograph every step.

I replaced just the fan, works fine now.

My advice would be to change the rubber heater hoses back there if they seem old.

I believe I can acces my wiper motor from the glove box with the dash still in.

Sounds like you're doing the right things, so probably something is broken. The heater matrix is supposed to bleed itself automatically. I've had it out and didn't have to bleed afterwards. I'm assuming your interior fan is working. Perhaps a silly test, but maybe you can try to pop off the hose at ...

Doesn't this mean that currently the turbo won't get any cooling when the heating in the van is off? Or did they make a bypass?

BarnyE wrote: ↑21 Apr 2026, 17:18 A gentle heatgun over the plastics can bring them back to life.


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I'll try that, thanks!

With my 50hp diesel I often end up going 20 mph in 2nd on steep inclines. It's part of the deal I guess. Although you should have a bit more power available than me.