Frankenwagen build thread AKA TD Corrado

[RadoTD]

So... um... FML. Started filling it up with water to check for leaks and... voila. A leak. Looks like it's coming from the flange on the front of my head.. no problem, I expected one of those flanges would leak for sure.

Wait a second... that's not leaking from the flange! It's flooding out right at my head gasket! I pulled the head flange off to be 100% sure, and yep, water is literally pouring out of my head gasket. Upon closer inspection, it looks like the HG has a hole drilled for a water port that my head doesn't have and the drilled hole actually goes outside the head casting.

*Insert a few words here that are not appreciated on this forum... *

[truckinwagen]

is your motor mech or hydro lifters?

if it is a mech head, and you have a hydro headgasket there is a hole that hits the waterjacket and is open outside the head(its the second oil drain passage on the gasket)

-Owen

[RadoTD]

Hydro lifters. To my knowledge, it's a bone stock, never been pulled apart '94 AAZ.

What you described sounds exactly like what's happening though. What gasket would you run with a mech head? Is there a MLS option for that?

[truckinwagen]

no stock MLS for a mech motor.
you can block the water passages that meet the second oil drain on the hydro gasket and use it on a mech motor though.

unfortunately you need to pull the head, and lay the gasket against it and the block to see what the issue is.
you should also do this with the new gasket to make sure you dont run into this issue again(I actually do this with all headgaskets, as I have run into the wrong one being given to me by parts suppliers often)

are you sure that the gasket is the right one for your motor?

-Owen

[RadoTD]

Yeah, I'll definitely do that with the new head gasket I get. I'm wondering if the parts store I got the HG from has a 1.6 listed for my car instead of a 1.9?

My head looks exactly like this one.. http://www.passat-parts.com/AAZCompleteHead.htm but my gasket seems to have holes for 3 oil drains(?) instead of just two.. do any of the 1.6 engines have 3 oil drains?

And I can't find the packaging for my HG anywhere, must've thrown it out. My receipt doesn't show the manufacturer's part number either, just the part # for my parts store

[truckinwagen]

nope, not that I know of.

the 1.6 hydro and 1.9 have nearly identical gaskets, the only difference(other than material) is the steam holes between the cylinders.

it may be that they gave you a gasser gasket, many gassers use a MLS gasket.
perhaps they gave you an ABA gasket?

[RadoTD]

Heh... so I put the gasket on upside down 

New gasket is back on though, everything's back together except for the timing belt which I'll finish up tonight after dinner

[truckinwagen]

good to hear you got it sorted, its always little details like that that take the longest on these projects

-Owen

[8v-of-fury]

Do the gaskets not have a "this side up" warning to go by matt? Lol

Glas it was something as simple as that what's an ETA on a running video?? Lol

[R.O.R-2.0]

most, if not all VW head gaskets are marked with OBEN (top) on the tab that has the notches in it..

every one ive ever seen atleast.. even the crappy cheapo gaskets.

[RadoTD]

Uhh, trivia question for you guys.

Everything's hooked up, ready to turn the key. When I do, a nice loud click from the starter solenoid, but no chugging starter.

I've got power from the battery to the solenoid and if I jump with a wire from the solenoid positive to the trigger wire, it still just clicks, doesn't turn over.

What could this be? Is a faulty solenoid or starter the only possibility? Any way of telling which of the two it is?

[rallydiesel]

Yeah, you can jump a wire directly to the starter motor and see if it spins. You can see the short wire that goes from the solenoid to the starter motor and that's where you put the jumper wire to. Just make sure the car is in neutral and parking brake is on!

[truckinwagen]

could be alot of things, best way to figure it out is to take it off the car and bench test it.

if it spins freely on the bench then the bushing in the trans is buggered, if it just clicks its probably the solenoid.

if it is the solenoid, you can pull it apart and see what is wrong pretty easily(looks bad when they are bad)

that said, it could be a bad motor too...

the other way to test for a bad solenoid is to energize it and test for continuity across the power lugs(or if it is still installed and wired up, test for power on the starter side of the solenoid)

-Owen

[jseeley]

edit- I read your post too fast; you'll need to start checking with a multimeter, could be either.

[RadoTD]

Yeah, you can jump a wire directly to the starter motor and see if it spins. You can see the short wire that goes from the solenoid to the starter motor and that's where you put the jumper wire to. Just make sure the car is in neutral and parking brake is on!

The bottom of the 3 bolts that has the braided bit that goes to the starter motor? Tried jumping that and it just sparked and cracked loudly

I'm going to pull it off and bench test it now