From: bill.martin@dsto.defence.gov.au Newsgroups: rec.autos.makers.vw.watercooled Subject: Re: '82 A1 diesel: head or gasket? & other questionsI may be a bit late with this advice and as I have never worked on a diesel VW I would double check anything I say, however I did spend 10 years repairing all sorts of diesels from 10HP pump engines to 10,000HP Ship engines, for what it is worth here is what I would do:
From: kriella@cc.umanitoba.ca (Steve Kriellaars) Newsgroups: rec.autos.vw Subject: Re: [W]A1 1.6L diesel head gskt Date: 15 Jul 1995 06:04:23 GMTIn <1995Jul13.220418.8691@emba.uvm.edu> apotter@moose.uvm.edu (Alexandra S. Potter) writes:
I have an '84 diesel rabbit that is leaking oil into it's coolant. I went out to buy a head gasket of the proper thickness - the one that's in it has three holes punched out of the flap. What I discovered is that the gaskets w/ holes are for the diesel A2 golf & jetta. My car should have a gasket w/ notches in the flap, not holes. It wouldn't be so bad, xcept the gaskets w/ holes don't seem to be available in the same thickness as the ones w/ notches. Close I'm told, but not quite. I am 99.5% sure that this A1 rabbit has a real A1 motor. I really want to put the 3 notch gasket on it. The difference should be slight enough that the valves shouldn't bother, but the compression will probably change slightly...If you want the correct gasket for your engine you can figure it out this way:
Piston Height(mm) Gasket Thickness(mm) Notches Part # .43 - .63 1.3 2 068 103 383 .62 - .82 1.4 3 068 103 383C .82 - .92 1.5 4 068 103 383G .92 - 1.02 1.6 5 068 103 383H
Steve
P.S. Better check to see if you have the special 12mm star head bolts before you order the tool as someone might have changed them to the older 11mm hex heads when that last head gasket was put in.
------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve Kriellaars email kriella@cc.umanitoba.ca www http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~kriella data_acquisition_designer/C++_programmer/coffee_drinker -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article 75721 of rec.autos.vw: Path: rochester!cornellcs!travelers.mail.cornell.edu!newsstand.cit.cornell.edu!news.graphics.cornell.edu!news.tc.cornell.edu!newsserver.sdsc.edu!news.cerf.net!usc!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!news.epix.net!usenet From: buck@epix.net Newsgroups: rec.autos.vw Subject: Re: Diesel Rabbit Cylinder Heads Date: 6 Oct 1995 02:43:58 GMT Organization: Your Organization Lines: 19 Message-ID: <45255e$17u@guava.epix.net> References:Reply-To: buck@epix.net NNTP-Posting-Host: wlboppp43.epix.net X-Newsreader: WinVN 0.92.2 In article , don.detroye@mei.com (Don DeTroye) says: > >I have a 1984 Rabbit Diesel and I am getting traces of oil in my coolant >collection resevior on the firewall. Also the coolant system is leaking >out prestone out of the pressure cap on the resevoir intermittently. I >don't know if this is a head gasket problem or a cracked head problem. >Seems to do this when it gets below 50 degrees outside. The head has 215k >miles on it bu it was pressure tested at 178k miles. Has anyone had a >similar problem? > >Don.Detroye@mail.mei.com Might only be a head gasket,,you must remove the head to see..Look for cracks (small cracks between the valve seats are ok). There is a slight chance of a internal crack..Use a good gasket,,and new head bolts..Don't forget about the timing belt!! Buck Article 75754 of rec.autos.vw: Path: rochester!udel!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!nntp.crl.com!decwrl!purdue!haven.umd.edu!cville-srv.wam.umd.edu!usenet From: jpiper@wam.umd.edu (James E. Piper) Newsgroups: rec.autos.vw Subject: Re: rabbit diesel??? Date: Fri, 06 Oct 95 14:13:56 GMT Organization: WITS/University of Maryland Lines: 47 Message-ID: <453dj0$8kb@cville-srv.wam.umd.edu> References: <452cj0$5d3@cocoa.brown.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: servbldg167.umd.edu X-Newsreader: News Xpress Version 1.0 Beta #3 In article <452cj0$5d3@cocoa.brown.edu>, fst@cs.brown.edu (Fabian Tillier) wrote: >Hi. I have a friend who blew his head gasket on his 81 diesel rabbit. He >offered to sell me the car for $200 or so. it has something like 120k miles on >it. I was wondering if a blown head gasket is a big deal or not, besides the >replacement. Does it damage the engine, and will the engine need more than just >a new head gasket? I asked him if it had overheated, and he said no. Also, it >has those silly seatbelts that mount to the door and doesn't have a lap belt. >How hard is it to change thos to passive 3 point belts? Other aspects of the >car: it has a little rust near the front door pillar, mostly on the fender, and >the driver's door's hinges are a little weak. Is this a big problem? >Thanks! > >-Fabian > A blown head gasket may or may not be a serious problem. You won't know until you get the head off. The most common cause (so says the dealer) is overheating. Overheating can cause the head to warp. If your head is warped, it is best to replace it with a reconditioned or new head ($300 - $500 in parts). I also have an '81 diesel rabbit pickup, but with 300,000+ miles. I have had to replace the head gasket three times. First time the dealer did it ($400) and it lasted just beyond the warranty period. The next two times I did it, costing a total of $25 for the gasket, $40 for the tools to lock the cam and injection pump, and $25 for new timing belts. It takes me roughly 8 hours total time. Each time I did the work, I had the head checked and it was not warped. I suspect that they simply fail as a result of use and the high pressure in diesel engines. If you are looking to do the work yourself, the Bently manual is great and The Parts Place in Michigan (810) 373-2300 has the specialty tools you will need. Almost forgot, I also had to buy the tool for installing the spring clamps between the header and exhaust pipe, another $60 or so. Back to your question, at 120,000 miles, the car and engine are young. If it has been taken care of and the body is in good shape, it sounds like a good deal. -------------- Article 75946 of rec.autos.vw: Path: rochester!cornellcs!travelers.mail.cornell.edu!news.kei.com!newshost.marcam.com!uunet!in1.uu.net!news.erinet.com!ragnarok.oar.net!malgudi.oar.net!hyperion.wright.edu!alpha.wright.edu!news From: DWIGHT DEAN Newsgroups: rec.autos.vw Subject: Re: Diesel Rabbit Cylinder Heads Date: 9 Oct 1995 16:51:19 GMT Organization: Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio 45435 Lines: 35 Message-ID: <45bju7$g6h@alpha.wright.edu> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: paladin.wright.edu Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 1.1N (X11; I; SunOS 5.4 sun4d) To: don.detroye@mei.com X-URL: news:don.detroye-0410951231490001@dondiisi.diageng.mei.com don.detroye@mei.com (Don DeTroye) wrote: >I have a 1984 Rabbit Diesel and I am getting traces of oil in my coolant >collection resevior on the firewall. Also the coolant system is leaking >out prestone out of the pressure cap on the resevoir intermittently. I >don't know if this is a head gasket problem or a cracked head problem. >Seems to do this when it gets below 50 degrees outside. The head has 215k >miles on it bu it was pressure tested at 178k miles. Has anyone had a >similar problem? > >Don.Detroye@mail.mei.com My brother once drove around all summer in a '81 Rabbit diesel with a bad radiator temperature relay, which turns the fan on and off. The car had 160K miles on it and the head had been checked and redone only 3K miles before the engine died on him. He had overheated the engine and had warped the head by 0.0011 inches(max. tolerance 0.0003 inches). It still ran fine until the weather turned cooler in September. Then you had to really crank the motor over for the engine to start. It would run unevenly for a few minutes and finally run smoothly with normal power. He had a lot of compression entering the cooling system and reservoir tank causing water to go out the cap. Your car may be doing something similar. You had to remove the head and have it checked for warping. Most diesel heads(ALL BRAZILIAN HEADS) that I have seen have slight cracks between the valves. I have heard that some AUDI's were bad about cracked heads but most VW head problems seem to be from the head being warped. The head gaskets themselves are leaky(mainly oil from around the return passages) but the diesels need a head gasket sealant of some sort. I once brought a parts car with only 95K miles on it that blew the head gasket after 3K miles. The gasket wasn't OEM and the people had not worried about using the sealer. I pulled the last head bolt out and the head fell off!!! So buy a OEM Gasket from a VW parts place. The Diesel Bentley manual talks about using a sealant called Hylomar on water-cooled diesel VW vans head gaskets. MOST later model Rabbits had a different head bolt than earlier models. The new head bolts CAN NOT BE REUSED, so take the old bolts to the store to make sure that you buy the right bolts. ----------- Article 23531 of rec.autos.makers.vw.watercooled: Path: rochester!cornellcs!uw-beaver!nntp.cs.ubc.ca!unixg.ubc.ca!news.bc.net!torn!ccshst05.uoguelph.ca!ozymandias.cs.uoguelph.ca!not-for-mail From: drew@ozymandias.cs.uoguelph.ca (Drew MacPherson) Newsgroups: rec.autos.makers.vw.watercooled Subject: Re: Warped diesel head Date: 10 Jun 1996 14:25:17 GMT Organization: CCS, University of Guelph Lines: 35 Message-ID: <4phb8d$ppi@ccshst05.uoguelph.ca> References: <4pde3v$jj9@news-2.csn.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: ozymandias.cs.uoguelph.ca X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 BETA-950824-color PL0] Terrance Lee (tyee@csn.net) wrote: : Yesterday I pulled the head off of my 1982 1588cc (non-turbo) diesel : Rabbit LS and found it was warped--there's a 0.004 to 0.005 inch (0.102 : to 0.127 mm) gap between a straightedge and the face in the middle. : Haynes says to junk the head if it's more than a 0.004" gap, but a local : engine machine shop says it's no big deal to shave it flat and put a : thicker head gasket in the engine (the original head gasket was 1.4 mm : thick, and replacement sizes exist in 1.5 and 1.6 mm values). : : I've never messed with heads before and was wondering if any of you : esteemed mechanics out there had any opinions as to the best course to : take, so I can keep this car going for another 244k. Please mention any : special peculiarities of this engine that I need to be aware of. : : Thanks in advance. : : Sean Geiger : sean@aeroastro.com There's one BIG problem with shaving a VW diesel head... The pre-combustion chamber inserts have this annoying habit of popping out and bunging up the planer... :) Seriously, though, VW diesel heads are a throw-away when they're warped... The pre-combustion chamber inserts, which are a light press-fit in the head, cannot be shaved... I'd stay away from it BIG TIME... Get a good head from a wrecker or a rebuilt from VW... ...Drew -- | Drew MacPherson | drew@oz.cs.uoguelph.ca | | Network Analyst | http://oz.cs.uoguelph.ca/~drew | | University of Guelph | caretaker of the Massey Harris page: | | Guelph, ON, Canada | http://m-h.cs.uoguelph.ca/ | ----------- re: 82 diesel head gasket Robert Crawford (robertc@snowcrest.net) Mon, 7 Oct 1996 20:35:18 -0500 Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ] Next message: Onebigduke@aol.com: "I need help with an overheating 2.0" Previous message: Normand Gagnon: "Software to follow car maintenance" >I am working on it now, I am takeing the head off and I have notoiced that >there two holes in the head (near the hole off to the side, next to where >the notches are)that are not in the head gasket (the bently book does not >show holes there ether). >Should I punch holes in the gasket to match the holes in the head? Well, I got it together and it ran. I didn't punch the holes out because I wasn't sure at the time that I was putting it together. If I ever have to replace the head gasket again I will punch the holes out. Leaving them pluged looks like it makes a hot spot between #2&3. One interesting thing is that after replaceing the head gasket and timing belt is that it now seems to be a lot quieter (it's still a diesel, but a quieter one). Of tools that I didn't plan on and had to go and get, I had to get a 6mm alen on a 3/8 socket in order to remove the V pulley on the crankshaft. I also found that the easest way to get to the V pulley was to remove the muffler so now I need to get a muffler gasket. Yes, even with a torn muffler gasket it is still quieter than it was. Also, I am now able to add water the way the book says to, it dosen't splash (read, geyser) back at me out of the pressure tank. > Robert Crawford "This year will go down in history. For the first time a civilized nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!" Adolf Hitler...1935