Head off. Pics

[bigK1]

I been working on doing the head gasket on the 90 Tsi AWD that I bought off and on for like a month now. (working in my spare time) I finally got the head off. Tell me what you think
Cylinders 1 & 2

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Cylinders 3 & 4

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Engine shots

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Head

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Cylinders 3 & 4

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Looks pretty nasty to me.

-Kaleb

 

[jpolizo]

That's not nearly as bad as mine was. I swore off Shell gas for life after pulling my head and looking around.

 

[RoasT BeeF]

Looks like it could use a good cleaning. I would take that head down to the machine shop and have it hot tanked and carbon cleaned off the valves. New valve seals would be a good idea as well if the car has high milege. Pull the old head gasket off and clean the block, cylinder walls and pistons the best you can with brake cleaner. You have to change the oil anyway.

I see you are from Colorado, where about?

 

[bigK1]

Yeah. I'm taking it to the machine shop hopefully tomorrw. I think I'm gonna need some new valves. Some of the edges of the face look a little bent.

Also, do these pistons have marks in them stock for valve clearance? There are marks in all the pistons, almost look like their from the valves hitting. But I'm not sure on that.

 

[eclpsegsx12]

they all have the little ridges on it factory..your fine

 

[RoasT BeeF]

Yup those are for valve clearance. Where are you in CO?

 

[bigK1]

Im in Longmont

 

[jrivard00]

Originally posted by RoasT BeeF
Looks like it could use a good cleaning. I would take that head down to the machine shop and have it hot tanked and carbon cleaned off the valves. New valve seals would be a good idea as well if the car has high milege. Pull the old head gasket off and clean the block, cylinder walls and pistons the best you can with brake cleaner. You have to change the oil anyway.

I see you are from Colorado, where about?

You can't hot tank an aluminum cylinder head because it will eat the aluminum. They can steam clean it or cold dip it but looking at you photos it is just the valve faces that look bad. You can take each valve out yourself and using a soft wire wheel clean the faces off. Then when you put the valves back in just relap them a little.

 

[RoasT BeeF]

Originally posted by jrivard00
You can't hot tank an aluminum cylinder head because it will eat the aluminum. They can steam clean it or cold dip it but looking at you photos it is just the valve faces that look bad. You can take each valve out yourself and using a soft wire wheel clean the faces off. Then when you put the valves back in just relap them a little.

Oh yeah you are right. My bad. I was just remembering when I had my head dipped and I confused that with hot tanked.

 

[GTM]

Originally posted by bigK1
Yeah. I'm taking it to the machine shop hopefully tomorrw. I think I'm gonna need some new valves. Some of the edges of the face look a little bent.
...

You should clean as much of the combustion chamber as you can before taking it to the machine shop. You didn't say why you took it apart but from the rust I would guess it had at least a blown headgasket.

Stuff rags or paper towels in the oil drain back holes when cleaning the top of the block and pistons. Make sure they replace the valve seals when they do the valve grind for it's not worth taking the chance that they are not sealing. Have them replace valves as necessary for you don't want to have them throw away perfectly good valves.

Cheers,
GTM

 

[bigK1]

I took it apart because I had no compression in cylinders 1, 2 or 3 and only like 30 psi in 4. When I took the head off, only the center 2 head bolts were tight. All the others, I broke loose with one hand on a 3/8 drive ratchet.

BTW--Can anyone recommend a good machine shop in CO. Preferably in the Boulder, Longmont area.
ROAST BEEF, you know of a good one?

 

[Defiant]

Originally posted by GTM
You should clean as much of the combustion chamber as you can before taking it to the machine shop. You didn't say why you took it apart but from the rust I would guess it had at least a blown headgasket.

From the rust on #4's crud, and the cleanliness of 2 & 3, I'd say a blown head gasket to start with, then parked with water in the cylinders. 2 & 3 were steam-cleaned by the leak, just like water injection does.

From what I can see in your pics, those pistons have kissed valves before, but not enough to damage them.

 

[GTM]

Originally posted by Defiant
From the rust on #4's crud,
...
From what I can see in your pics, those pistons have kissed valves before, but not enough to damage them.

Actually 1&4 look like they have recently kissed valves for the extreme intakes have left a shiny mark which doesn't exist on the others. All the intakes have rust and the exhaust shows some also. One of the pistons #3?? has taken a pretty good hit in the past which looks like it extended all the way to the cylinder. I think this is hurt pretty good and will require piston removal for closer inspection and not just a slam dunk valve job. The fact it's been apart before he should have the head checked for previous machining before any work is authorized for it may be out of spec and can't be cut again especially since he's running a turbo. I don't think this is going to be your basic $300 valve job for it's seen a lot of neglect and everything is going to need detailed inspection.

Cheers,
GTM

 

[BUCK]

I took it apart because I had no compression in cylinders 1, 2 or 3 and only like 30 psi in 4. When I took the head off, only the center 2 head bolts were tight. All the others, I broke loose with one hand on a 3/8 drive ratchet.

Looks pretty darn good to me... Sounds like a bad Torque job - that MAY have been the only major prob with the compression - But if you have time I'd drop rod bearings, rings & all new front case seals in it - New Water Pump - delete the Balance Shafts, etc... Gotta check the Oil pump clearances anyway... good chance to clean the sump pickup.

 

[RoasT BeeF]

Sorry I dont know any good machine shops in denver. I have only used ones in Greeley.

How many miles are on the car? My pistons have collided with valves 3 times now and his dont look any worse than mine so he should be ok. I dont see any need to replace rings and rod bearings either unless it has high milage or he just wants to do it because its a good idea.

 

[bigK1]

The engine has 125000 miles as far as I know. The guy I bought it from, bought it from a friend of his. He said the friend was driving it, it overheated, they shut it off, and never did anything since. I has been sitting for at least 6 months.

 

[RoasT BeeF]

Yikes better have that head re-surfaced and checked for flatness as well. You need to fix the overheating problem before running the car again. Replace thermostat, radiator cap, and waterpump. Once you get it running check the temp guage and fans to make sure they are operating correctly. I say rings and rod bearings would be a good idea with 125k. Nothing wrong with a little rebuild.

 

[GTM]

Originally posted by bigK1
The engine has 125000 miles as far as I know. The guy I bought it from, bought it from a friend of his. He said the friend was driving it, it overheated, they shut it off, and never did anything since. I has been sitting for at least 6 months.

Can you get any better pictures of that #3, both with it at the top and bottom which are not out of focus?? I processed the pict, lightened and zoomed in which shows a distinct dent which went to the piston edge and the mirror in the bore which meets the piston. If that is not true on any cylrs then he might be ok bit there is so much burned oil before the headgasket let go that I think he got a ring problem. He could try checking for slop by using his fingers and pushing the pistons side to side and end to end.

Based on what I saw he should have a professional take a close look or get some good picts which will change my mind.

Cheers,
GTM

 

[jrivard00]

If you are thinking about changing out the rings you may want to check the taper on the cylinder since you have 125k miles on it. It may be out of spec a little too much that the rings won't properily seat afterwards. If your valves love tapped the piston tops then you might want to also stress to the machine shop to check the springs out to eliminate chance of valve float.