if you are sure its not the tb, then it could be leaking straight from the intake mani. the gasket could be giving. there are a few valves running off the mani, but they would be pretty obvious. do u have a aftermarket boost gauge?

its on the head. look towards the top left side of ## valve cover. its that round thing stickin out.

the connecting ends of this piece snapped off (thermostat)... i was wondering how important it is? i think i read somewhere that i could just seal it off since its just for emissions. what do i do with the vacuum lines that was once connected to it? would the car still run okay? thanks

i just did my timing and am having the exact same symptoms. i ran the car around the block like that to see if it'll run. do you think i have any bent rods?

if your just planning on gettin the car back up to spec (200hpish) then you'll be fine. its not like they build it to only handle stock load... and i actually like the extra compression. and i'd rather get a new n/a block than a used t/ block. if u still have many of the old parts on ## blown...

im kinda confused... but yeah, that whole tube can be removed, but you shouldn't completely seal off the valve at the valve cover. put a mini filter in there or something of that nature.

yeah, its a TDC as shown, so when i go to redue it, should i match it up so that the to marks added to the rim of the cam line up?

if he had a turbo head like yours, there's no reason why you couldnt. should be exactly the same. only thing i could think of is to maybe port and get lighter valvetrain.

When i was about to take off my timing belt, i noticed that the old timing marks he made didnt seem to match up. i wasnt sure if the last owner accounted for it. it seems like the cam mark for the exhaust cam is a little off, like it isnt pointing straight up. should i just straighted that off...

1990 tsi awd for 500 with a burnt valve. fun!