engine problem?

[Conker]

If its on its second gasket I would get the head cheacked out to see if it needs a skim - won't be expensive. A straight edge isn't accurate enough to show if theres a problem or not.


My guess as to why its gone in two years is that a cheap gasket was used last time.

[DarnPB]

As above. If the surface is not perfectly flat, then with the constant pressures within the cylinders and the varying temperatures, it will not take very long at all to find a weak spot in a cheaper head gasket.   Original VW is called for here.

Nice diagnoses BTW if you did it yourself!

[julie]

the reason gasket was done 2 years ago as i put a ported and polished head on,i think the gasket was a cheap one as it came of ebay for £30 for a full set. where would you recommend to buy gasket set from? how much should they cost? how can i tell if the head has been previously skimmed? how many times can it be skimmed before it becomes usless?

[DarnPB]

I would get the gasket set from VW. For a little more money than Halfords or GSF, you then know you have the right one at a good quality.
As for knowing how much has been taken off your head, I would take the head into VW and ask them to measure it for you. The chances are it has never been skimmed, but you will not need much removed to make it flat. Its purely a re-surface. But then again, you don't know if a previous owner has had it skimmed for extra compression.

[sidecarphil]

get a VW one mate

think there was a desusion on this a week or so ago

as per the skim there is a minimum head thickness (deck hight) i think but i don't know what it is for the 16v

[julie]

this might be a silly question but how do i find where my nearest vw parts place is? or do they have a number/web site? thanks

[DarnPB]

Yellow pages under Cars and car dealers. VW will have a big ad in there. Or try looking under motor factors.
Or the internet, punch in www.vw.co.uk (www.volkswagon.co.uk) and there will have a list of VW dealers near you.

[julie]

thanks

[DarnPB]

http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/find-a-retailer?pc=Essex&x=30&y=4

[mattkh]

I have taken some pics

Hi
Please put up the pictures. Ta.