Club 80-90 Forums

Hi all,

I need to change the head gasket on my diesel 1.6 turbo jx engine as I can see oil in the coolant and coolant in the oil. Are there any detailed how-to's out there? This is a job way out of my league and I am relactant to do unless I have step-by-step instructions.

Any suggestions will be highly appreciated:)

thank you!

lefteris

You have PM.

Sure it's not the oil cooler? Very prone to failiure and generally the head gasket doesn't cause fluids to mix...

max and caddy wrote:Sure it's not the oil cooler? Very prone to failiure and generally the head gasket doesn't cause fluids to mix...

No I am not sure:) How do I check the oil cooler? The engine is a black box for me:) I thought that there was no oil cooler, because I have seen upgrades for such things.

take oil filter off and cooler above it. fix a pipe onto one of the coolant hose connections and block other connection. immerse in bucket of water and force air into hose and watch for bubbles.

blacky wrote:take oil filter off and cooler above it. fix a pipe onto one of the coolant hose connections and block other connection. immerse in bucket of water and force air into hose and watch for bubbles.

Thank you for the nice tip! with a bit of google research I found which part is the cooler and I am going to check it first thing in the morning!

One more question, if I change the head gasket, I need to drain the coolant, unbolt the head, check which gasket I need (1-2-3 notch) and then order it. Is it ok if the van stays a month without the coolant? I am concerned about corrosion in the system if there is no fluids.

We had our head gasket redone recently, and one of the things I was told is that very few of them are 1 notch. So if you just picked up head gaskets in 2 and 3 notch then you could use the 2 notch if you found a 1 notch when you opened it up. That way you could get the parts in stock up front and wouldn't need to leave the engine sat for a month. Just a thought.

The bit of gasket you should see sticking out behind the pump has the notches or holes on it. It's like that so you can see it before removal of the head. When you do it, don't have the head skimmed! VW were very clear about that in their workshop bumph.

ajsimmo wrote:The bit of gasket you should see sticking out behind the pump has the notches or holes on it. It's like that so you can see it before removal of the head. When you do it, don't have the head skimmed! VW were very clear about that in their workshop bumph.

top tip! thank you very much:)

ajsimmo wrote:The bit of gasket you should see sticking out behind the pump has the notches or holes on it. It's like that so you can see it before removal of the head. When you do it, don't have the head skimmed! VW were very clear about that in their workshop bumph.

As said VW say dont have the head skim.But engine reconditioners do skim the heads if you say VW dont reccomend it reconditioners say its not a problem.I have had a head skim done to about four 1.6 td and 1.9n VW cylinder heads and have had no issues.The only thing i will say is the reconditioners supply a 3 hole or notched gasket for safety with regards for valve and piston interference once the head is refitted dosnt give the right compression .The ideal method should be to measure the amount of piston projection at TDC and use the measurement to find the correct gasket 1 or 2 or 3 hole or notch to get the correct compression without valve and piston intereference.

I replaced a cracked head on mine, I checked the replacement with a straight edge and feeler gauges, it was slightly warped.
Had my local diesel specialist take a skim off the head and pressure test it at the same time.
Now covered 1000km so it's time for the final 90 degree torque of the head bolts.

So in my opinion a slight skim is ok as long as your piston protrusion is checked and relevant gasket used as in the previous post.

If you do have it pressure tested as well as skimmed.