cylinder head and gasket Topic is solved

brownrock · Post by **brownrock** » 31 Mar 2017, 15:58

My head gasket recently ‘finished’ blowing after a two year hiatus (thanks to Rislone). I have yet to assess the extent of the damage. Best case scenario - it’s just the gasket, medium case - the head has warped, worst case - the block has a crack and it’s game over for this engine.
My Volvo mechanic (been with him for 15 years) is averse to replacing head gaskets and even more to head rebuilding (which is why he used Rislone). So that leaves me pretty much ‘on my own’.
I’ve read a lot of posts over the last few years (especially here) and it seems to me that replacing the head gasket myself is a do-able thing. I have the time and I’m mechanically inclined (I’ve successfully torn down and rebuilt motorcycle engines).
My game plan is to do some testing first (compression, maybe leakdown, possibly UV, maybe even test for exhaust gases in the coolant) then take the head off do a visual inspection and if things look fixable send the head to Clearwater to have it rebuilt regardless (the car has upwards of 225,000 KMS), then reinstall the head with a new gasket set (providing the block is sound / good / ok).
Does anyone here have a problem with anything I’ve said so far? Such as obvious pitfalls I’m not seeing.
From the reading I’ve done, looks to me like the really challenging part of this whole operation is getting the timing marks / camshafts into the exact / right position on reinstall. Sounds tricky but doable. Also torquing the bolts correctly.
So my question to any of you willing to give me the ‘time of day’ is: Do I have it right (more or less) or are there other equally big challenges awaiting me that I’m not aware of?
I realize I’ve skipped over an incredible amount of detail but I wanted to keep this post to something a little shorter than ‘War and Peace’.
Thanks to any and all of you willing to give advice in this matter as well as to all of you whose many contributions on this forum I have found invaluable over the years.

Inline5fan · Post by **Inline5fan** » 03 Apr 2017, 13:44

Can I assume this is for your V90? I have a 1997 960 wagon and went through the whole head gasket replacement shortly after purchasing my wagon from some not overly honest sellers. Lesson learned....

The previous owner had added a "block sealant" to the coolant, which didn't really do much of anything. So I was left with the decision to either do the job, or junk the car, and the car was a little too nice to think about junking.

My car was still running reasonably well, even with the blown head gasket. She ran well on the highway, but did have a noticeable miss when she came back to idle. She did not ever over heat while I had her, and I drove her a good bit on the bad gasket.

So, I dug in, did my research on the web. watched a few videos, bought the special tools off Ebay ($70.00 shipped), bought the parts ($150 for everything needed including water pump and timing belt) also bought the angle gauge for re torquing the head bolts....that was like $9.00 on Amazon.
And I went to town. It was not a terrible job...just time consuming....lots of steps. Oh, and one head bolt broke...more fun. Bought the $7.99 left handed drill bit set from Harbor Freight and after a liberal soaking of penetrating oil...the broken bolt backed out with the left handed bit.

Bolt under the intake manifold is a treat. I did the crankcase breather service at the same time. No better time to do it than when the intake is off. I did not send my head out to a machine shop. I just eyed her up with a straight edge and hoped for the best. I really wasn't keen on putting another $300.00 into the repair. You may not want to chance it...as you won't want to do the job a second time.

I have put 9,000 miles on the car since doing the gasket....and couldn't be happier. She is a nice running car...decent gas mileage for her size and pretty quick too.

Only piece of advice I would offer is buy the tool set. It will be the best $70 you can spend.

Otherwise I don't see any real pitfalls in your plan....let me know if you have other questions.

Cheers,

Ted H
1997 965
1982 Audi 4000 4E
1986 Audi Coupe GT
1990 Audi V8 quattro

brownrock · Post by **brownrock** » 05 Apr 2017, 16:34

Ted, Thanks so much for taking the time to respond and share your experience. Very much appreciated. You didn't mention the setting of the camshafts so I'm assuming that it's as straightforward as it seems ie.get the timing marks right, use the locking tool and follow the instructions carefully. You did mention a broken head bolt. Not the first person or first time I read this which causes me a little anxiety although you seem to have 'faired' better than some who had to drill them out. Do you think lots of penetrating oil before starting would have helped or is breaking just something they do?

Inline5fan · Post by **Inline5fan** » 04 May 2017, 08:26

Sorry for being away for awhile. You may have already started your repair by now. My apologies for not replying sooner.
Yes, aligning the timing marks and then installing the tools will take the guess work out later. I did not have the factory service manual, so I was relying on what I found in the internet, and a close friend who was able to visualize how the specialized tools would mount to the cams. Once that was done, nothing moved and things went back together very smoothly.

The broken bolt was a bit of a set back. I would definitely soak with penetrating oil before starting, and allow the penetrating oil to soak over nite.
I would be sure to follow the directions regarding loosening the head bolts in sequence. I think we missed the bolt on our first pass, and then by the time we realized it, we had put all the clamping pressure on the single bolt. Started to back it out and snap. So, just be sure you loosen them up in sequence and don't overlook one like we did.

Best of luck with the repair. Hope it goes well. Let me/us know how you made out.

Again, sorry for the late reply.

Cheers,

Ted H.
1997 965
1982 Audi 4000 4E
1986 Audi Coupe GT
1990 Audi V8 quattro

brownrock · Post by **brownrock** » 04 May 2017, 12:20

Hi Ted, NO NEED to apologize. I'm grateful that you even take the time to read and answer my posts. No, I haven't started yet. I don't NEED the car so I'd rather take my time and do it right (or at least the best I can). Right now just got the car back from my mechanic who is unfortunately of no particular help. I'm conducting a series of simple tests before I start taking the head off. The car starts fine. Minimal to no white smoke in the exhaust. Oil level appears stable and seemingly no coolant present (have yet to do a few tests). No visible oil in the coolant. Definitely exhaust gas leaking from engine into coolant but only after engine is warm (no bubbles in the expansion tank when engine is cold). Also kind of a hollow / tunnel sort of noise in the exhaust when I start the engine (goes away after a couple of minutes) - leaking intake or exhaust manifold gaskets? Some of the cam cover bolts are loose and there's oil on cam cover around cylinders #3 and 4 and that vacuum pipe (where the bolts are loose). Squeaking and like noise in the water pump area. Ran across a post where a fellow had squeaking and found that the timing belt pulley was seized / frozen and needed to be replaced pronto. I'm hopeful that new parts (water pump, belts, pulleys, tensioner) plus head gasket will address the problem. Stuck a camera down into the cylinders and nothing seems much different from one cylinder to another. I'm not versed at reading spark plugs (a skill I need to work on) but there again nothing about the plugs stands out. Been reading everything I can get my hands on plus watching Robert DIY vids on YouTube in prep for job. Will definitely soak the head bolts. MUCH APPRECIATED your observation about why one bolt might have broken. The more I read the more it seems that removing the bolts is the first possible source of problems later on (incl warping head) and torquing them the second SO I will be extra careful in those areas.

Inline5fan · Post by **Inline5fan** » 04 May 2017, 13:10

It took me a little while to come around to the fact that the head gasket was indeed the problem with mine too. I just dreaded the idea of going through all the work, and wanted to be positive before I took the plunge.

I had the exhaust smell in the coolant, I had no mixture of coolant and oil. I had the misfire that was throwing the check engine light, had both specific misfire and random misfire codes. My car would start and run fine...would notice the misfire at low rpms, but it would all but disappear near highway speeds.

I did not do a leak down test, but I am sure that would have given me the verification that the head gasket was the culprit. There is also some test kit you can get that will tell you that there are exhaust gases getting into the coolant (again I did not bother with this either.) I just eventually came to the foregone conclusion that the gasket was indeed bad. I had the added benefit of immediately noting when I removed the top coolant hose you could easily see the residue from the block sealant that the previous owners had added. So, with that confirmation...it was time to break out the credit card and the tools.

I also had the telltale white smoke from the exhaust, and I was definitely drawing in enough coolant and burning it that the drop in the level of coolant expansion bottle was noticeable.

But definitely keep up the efforts to confirm for sure that the gasket is bad. It doesn't sound as though yours is too far gone and you may be able to get away with not sending the head out to be checked and machined. I rolled the dice and it turned out fine for me.

Weird that those cam cover(top half the head) bolts are loose? Doesn't make a lot of sense unless someone loosened them up and did not re-torque them.

My head gasket was leaking on cylinder four. It was hard to see the shininess of the cylinder wall with the head In place. You could definitely tell by looking at the tops of the piston (as that was really clean, as the coolant burning off steam cleans the piston head). If you reach out to me via PM I can send you a picture of my block with the head removed and you can see what I mean.

If you decide to tackle the job, you may want to assess all the crank case vent pieces too. As you will have everything apart, and there is no easier time to do this service. My breather box was in good shape, so I just cleaned it out. I did replace both top and bottom breather box hoses and the flame trap on the bottom of the intake/MAF boot.

Let me know if you have more questions, and I will do my best to be more timely in my replies.

Best of luck with the job!

Ted H.
1997 965
1982 Audi 4000 4E
1986 Audi Coupe GT
1990 Audi V8 quattro

brownrock · Post by **brownrock** » 04 May 2017, 19:13

Hi Ted, Thanks so much for all the great and valuable info especially the comment about the clean piston. I suspect my gasket has blown on either 3 or 4 or both and as it turns out #4 looks different, maybe cleaner than the others. We seem to have the same symptoms in other respects too. As for the loose bolts… This is an engine I swapped about 6 years ago. I have no idea what the previous owner did to it. It’s kind of a moot point now. What would be great would be if the head wasn’t warped otherwise I’ll spend the money and get one from Clearwater. I particularly appreciate your comments about the crank case vent / breather pieces. Like you I think that since I’m here I might as well go the extra mile and replace any and all parts that wear out so as to not have to go back in a few months (especially that I have no idea of the mileage on this engine). I am PM ing you for the pics.