Head gasket, opinion please

C

clyde

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2000
Location
confluence, Snake/Clearwater
TDI
1998 Jetta, 1959 DeSoto with leopard-skin seat covers
Bolted the head to an AHU. Torqued to 30, then 44 lb-ft. Did not do the two final steps of 90° each.

At that point I saw that I had not installed the lifting adapter that fits on the passenger end of the head. Tried to finagle it between the sheet metal belt cover and the head. Would have had to bend the cover OR remove the pump—more work!

Could not lift the motor without that lifting adapter. Bit the bullet, removed the head, installed the lifting adapter, then replaced the head gasket.

Question: As the two final torque steps of 90° each had not been done, was it necessary to install a new head gasket?
 
K

KLXD

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 22, 2009
Location
Lompoc, CA
TDI
'98, '2 Jettas
You know what they say about opinions but mine is no.

Unless there were any signs of adhesion between the gasket and head or block.
 
Mongler98

Mongler98

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Location
COLORADO (SE of Denver)
TDI
98 Jetta TDI AHU 1.9L (944 TDI swap in progress) I moved so now i got nothing but an AHU in a garage on a pallet.
the 1st steps of putting torque to the bolts is to make sure its seated evenly before it gets the big push to squish the gasket.
your fine, just make sure that you replace the gasket like KLXD is any bit of it was deformed, bolts should be fine (they are a 1 time use as well and what i was assuming you were asking more than the head gasket. One thing i would do though is go get the copper head gasket spray and give it a good coat just to be on the safe side unless the gasket is flat with no ridges left, in that case, get a new gasket.
 
Steve Addy

Steve Addy

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Location
Iowa
TDI
97 Mk3
clyde said:
Bolted the head to an AHU. Torqued to 30, then 44 lb-ft. Did not do the two final steps of 90° each.

At that point I saw that I had not installed the lifting adapter that fits on the passenger end of the head. Tried to finagle it between the sheet metal belt cover and the head. Would have had to bend the cover OR remove the pump—more work!

Could not lift the motor without that lifting adapter. Bit the bullet, removed the head, installed the lifting adapter, then replaced the head gasket.

Question: As the two final torque steps of 90° each had not been done, was it necessary to install a new head gasket?
Click to expand...
I'd agree with KLXD about this. I would add though that there's a sequence to removing the head bolts in any circumstance, outer to inner.

I'm assuming here that you're doing this work with engine in the car and that it's just a head R&R for gasket (or some head work)? Otherwise I'd wonder why that inner TB cover was still installed, but it makes sense not to remove it if engine is still in the car, there's no reason to take it off completely and it requires more work.

In the end I think you'll be ok, at 44 ft lbs I doubt that there was any serious gasket compression.

Steve
 
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