AAZ HEAD QUESTION

[YOUBUGME2]

  Just got my first water cooled vw.  89 jetta nice looking car, but a bit of a basketcase.  Came with 3 engines.  Two 1.9 aaz na engines, and the 1.6 that came out of it.  The 1.6 has low compression, both of the 1.9 engines have bad heads but low miles.  The guy I got it from sent the head off to get checked by the company where purchased the new aaz egine.  They said that the timing belt was put on to tight on both engines and that destroyed the cam journal right by the timing cam gear.  Also destroyed the lifters craziest thing I've ever seen. 
  Is this even possible? or is the company just giving him the run around.  I just dont wanna buy a new head and have the same problem again.  Any ideas on this one.

[burn_your_money]

Usually the pump bushings and the IM shaft bearings go from an overtightened belt. Do you have any pictures?

[YOUBUGME2]

 Here ya go these are older pictures that were taken before I got the car.  It was still in our shop at the time.  Its hard to see I know the camera at work is crap.  You can see where the lifters were pitted some had spyder cracks in them on the top.  the one that is missing is in peices on the blue metal backround.
 The cam is trash, and the head on this one they said was trash as well.  The other head that came on the reman engine was bad, looked like someone put sandpaper between the cam and the journal and just cranked it lol.  I wont to make sure that the company was correct and it was a timing belt install error.  I just dont wont to buy a need head just for this to happen all over again.  thanks
  Jonathan   

[burn_your_money]

Over tightening the timing belt won't cause those problems. I would suspect someone ran it without oil, it was using gasser oil

[rallydiesel]

I would second the low or very poor oil as the cause. Or some kind of obstruction of the oil supply hole.

[Patrick]

I would second the low or very poor oil as the cause. Or some kind of obstruction of the oil supply hole.

I'm with him. Saw this once a LOT of years ago on a gasser. Oil hole was blocked, Company that did the hear sold my brother the wrong head gasket and he didn't catch it when he put the engine back together (77 rabbit back about 1985).

[YOUBUGME2]

 Hmm wonder if I should call that company back and try to get them to give me a new head...

[burn_your_money]

Unless they put the oil in the engine I'd say it'd be a waste of time.

[YOUBUGME2]

 Yeah sorta figured even if it could be pinpointed to them they would get out of it since it changed owners.  So is there any recomended things to do before I just throw a head on there.  check passages is there a way to check oil pump ect.  I cant affored a head right now but could prep it for the other stuff.  What kind of oil should be ran in this engine.  Also I see there are diff head sets listed for the aaz engine and possibaly head gaskets what year should I look up parts for.

  Thanks sorry for the load of ?s the only vws I know are air cooled ones.  Oh the engine only had 7000 miles on it.  So even with bad oil is this poss.

[burn_your_money]

You can remove the oil pump and take it apart and check the lash and clearance to figure out if it is still good. This will not test the pressure regulator though. You'd need to do that with the engine running.
Any AAZ head will bolt onto another, same with headgaskets. There are 3 different thicknesses of head gaskets. You need to measure your piston protrusion to find the right one. The difference in the heads is some had thicker valve stems then others so if you are rebuilding then that would be an issue.

As for oil, run Rotella. Walmart sells it.

[YOUBUGME2]

Sounds like I just got to get to work thanks for all the advice and help.
   Jonathan

[jtanguay]

slap a prothe head on it and away you go. 

[YOUBUGME2]

slap a prothe head on it

 Whats that??

[burn_your_money]

It's garbage. Opps, I mean cheap chinese parts. It does work though. Just do a lot of searching for "prothe" before you do decide to purchase something major like that from him. He has a lot of unsatisfied customers. He does have a lot of satisfied ones as well though.

There are ample used AAZ heads around. I'm sure if you put up a WTB thread you could get a good OEM one for a good price.

[jtanguay]

It's garbage. Opps, I mean cheap chinese parts. It does work though. Just do a lot of searching for "prothe" before you do decide to purchase something major like that from him. He has a lot of unsatisfied customers. He does have a lot of satisfied ones as well though.

There are ample used AAZ heads around. I'm sure if you put up a WTB thread you could get a good OEM one for a good price.

there are enough people running his heads without complaints to say that the heads aren't that bad at all.  a $200 used AAZ head is a gamble, and will usually require about $200+ of machine work to bring it up to spec.  I got a super good deal on my head rebuild except the lifters.  $200 for the finish (like glass) new guides, seals, pressure tested, hot tanking, cam polish, and i think they even line bored it for me.  the lifters cost me $20 each though, and i dont doubt for a second that they are prothe quality.  the only reason i had them replaced was because of the spider hairline cracks running from the centers.  the valves were re-used because they were in good shape.  i feel good knowing that it is a true german oem head (the engine came from europe) but i think a prothe head would probably do just as good.


it just doesn't make sense to throw good money at an old beater to me. it took me a while to learn that, but now i know... www.dieselvw.com are where the heads are. and other parts.