Replacing the Head Gasket

[iguanahotsauce]

I have a 1g TSi that is having some major issues and I think I have narrowed it down to the head gasket and the piston rings. This is my first time doing engine work like this in a car, I would take it to a shop but I don't have the money to pay someone to do it and time isn't exactly a major factor as it is just sitting in my garage. Before I started to tear it apart it would start but it idled really rough until it heated up and once you tried to drive it there was hardly any power behind it. I checked the spark and it is getting spark at all four cylinders, they are firing in the correct order, and they are getting fuel. So far I have everything out that I need to work on the engine and I have removed the valve cover. I am following the instructions in the haynes manual and the chiltons manual. I am stuck at trying to get the bolts off of the downpipe so I can remove the exhaust manifold, they just wont budge. I have hit them with PB blast a few different times and still can't get them to move at all. Any advice from my fellow DSMers out there would be greatly appreciated. Also if anyone is having a similar issue with their 1g not having any power please let me know what you ended up doing to fix it.

 

[BoostedinSoFla]

Did you do a compression test before you started tearing it apart?

An impact wrench works wonders on rusty bolts, just soak in PB blaster for at least overnight. Or you can try heating them up if you have a torch available.

 

[952g63t]

Could be many things. What is the car history? Try heating up the bolts if you can, if that doesn't work you may have to to cut/drill them out. That reminds me, I need to slather on some anti-sieze tonight

 

[iguanahotsauce]

Did you do a compression test before you started tearing it apart?

An impact wrench works wonders on rusty bolts, just soak in PB blaster for at least overnight. Or you can try heating them up if you have a torch available.

I did do a compression test before I started tearing apart and the compression was very low across the board. I then realized after I started taking it apart that I did the compression test incorrectly, I forgot to hold down the gas pedal when I did the compression test. I don't know if the results I got would be usable or not since I forgot to hold down the gas pedal. About the bolts I don't have an impact wrench or a torch. I am pretty limited on tools as I don't really work on cars much

 

[92AWDHX40]

Timing Belt Checklist - Pre-Install


heres is a good link

 

[iguanahotsauce]

So I guess my question is should I proceed in changing the head gasket or should I put everything back together and do another compression test? The two things that led me to believe it was the head gasket because of the low compression across the board, which I know now that I did the compression test incorrectly now, and because there is a major air leak and I narrowed it down to somewhere inside the engine. It sounds like the air is rushing into the exhaust manifold which makes me think the head gasket is blown.

 

[BogusSVO]

How low was the compression? Holding the TB open will increase the test numbers. Also the engine should be as warm as you are able to work on it also.

If you herd air in the exhaust mani, then you have other issues, a blown HG would not cause that, but a burnt/bad valve would.

 

[GSXtra]

If there is air coming out of the exhaust manifold when you do a leak down test then you ###### have valve issues. Either way you should ###### yank the head off and see what's going on. I don't believe the gas pedal will do a whole lot on the compression test. I did one once with out the gas pedal being pushed and the #s came out the same. Good luck with what you decide to do

 

[iguanahotsauce]

How low was the compression? Holding the TB open will increase the test numbers. Also the engine should be as warm as you are able to work on it also.

If you herd air in the exhaust mani, then you have other issues, a blown HG would not cause that, but a burnt/bad valve would.

The compression I got from the test was 110-140-120-115

 

[iguanahotsauce]

I think I am just going to go ahead with getting down to the head. I started with the tutorial on vfaq about removing the timing belt. I tried removing the engine mount but I am stuck. I removed all the bolts connecting the engine mount to the engine but I am confused on which bolt to remove to actual take the engine mount out. From the picture on VFAQ it shows the bolt is on the left but when I was looking for it it looked more like the top of a rivet, it didn't have a bolt head on it. There is a nut on the right side but it wont budge. I hit it with some PB blast and I'm going to see if it will move tomorrow

 

[92AWDHX40]

Hard to know you mean without a picture.

 

[93AWDDSM]

are you talking about this engine mount?

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*see blue box, disregard rest of the picture.

 

[iguanahotsauce]

are you talking about this engine mount?

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*see blue box, disregard rest of the picture.

Yeah that engine mount. I'll take a picture of the bolt I'm talking about and post it

 

[92AWDHX40]

There is a nut on the back of the mount then use a hammer to push it out once you have put a block under the oil pan to hold the engine up.

 

[iguanahotsauce]

There is a nut on the back of the mount then use a hammer to push it out once you have put a block under the oil pan to hold the engine up.

I have a jack with a block of wood holding up the engine under the oil pan. I can't get that nut to budge and I don't have access to a impact wrench or a torch

 

[93AWDDSM]

I have a jack with a block of wood holding up the engine under the oil pan. I can't get that nut to budge and I don't have access to a impact wrench or a torch

Try a half inch ratchet and socket and find something like a pipe for leverage if you can't budge it.