cracked head

[westcoaster]

My headgasket popped and was dribbling coolant out the front of the engine. I pulled it all apart with the intent of replacing the headgasket. It was suggested I take the head in to get checked out. There are only two sylinders with cracks between the valves and according to the machine shop one of them are leaking between intake and exhaust. (small crack less than a MM )

From reading this isn't good but not necessarly bad either. The head will still run and run well but just have a short life expectancy (correct?)
If I understand correctly the crack will eventually progress into the water jacket and pressurize the cooling system.

I have swapped this motor into a suzuki samurai and want to ensure I have any cooling bugs worked out before I spring for a new head. I have a couple areas that I may be having problems. Air trapped. Bad hose routing and a poor radiator. May have a bad thermostat as well....

The bottom end had 383,000km before the odo stopped working on the donor car but it seems pretty tight (wasn't much blowby and the pistons are reasonably tight in the holes but there is a bit of a ridge)

Considering the crack, should I still get the head shaved (flattened) or bolt it back together as is with a new gasket?

[Mark(The Miser)UK]

Peen it shut with a punch IMO...

[88jetta350]

I thought you weren't supposed to shave a diesel head unless absolutely needed?  

BTW, +1 on peening the crack shut.

[westcoaster]

I thought you weren't supposed to shave a diesel head unless absolutely needed?  

I'm getting conflicting opinions on this....


As for the peening...
Take a punch and on either side deform the aluminum just enough to close the crack a little?

Couple good whallops? many tiny taps?

[maxfax]

I always prefrred tiny taps..  But I tend to be sort of agressive with a hammer....

AS far as shaving the heads I've only done do when they are warped out of spec..   And any of the heads that I have had that were out of spec were warped bad enough they needed straightened (basically bent back) before they could be shaved..   Some prefer to just shave them and have the cam journels line bored.. Both accomplish the same thing..

If you just shave a head that has warped signifigantly there is a very good chance the the cam journels are not in a line which will put stress on teh camshaft itself causing either the journel in the head or on the cam to wear more.. I've also heard stories of cams breaking because of this, although not on a VW engine yet.. 

Did the gasket look like it just deteriorated from age and was the engine run hot? If it wasn;t severely overheated chances are you can just peen the cracks and slap a gasket in..    Which head bolts does you engine have BTW, 11mm or 12mm???

[Baxter]

No probs with skimming, we do it all the time.
That's the joy of infinatly adjustable cam timing.

[Rabbit on Roids]

the only reason they say not to plane a diesel head, is because most of the time, the retards at the shop leave the Inconel pre cups in the head. Inconel vs. Aluminum... what metal is harder? hmm, maybe aluminum since you can pretty much look at it wrong and warp it? but yea, Inconel doesnt plane down at the same rate as the aluminum. but if you pop the pre cups out and have the head shaved, then get the pre chambers fly cut so that the pre cup will sit flush with the deck of the head again, you will be good to go.

[westcoaster]

Not sure if they date code the gaskets. If they do it looked like this one was from '98.

I can't say if it was overheated before I got it. It was low on coolant when I bought the car (none in the expansion tank)
I only drove the thing 60Km before I ripped the motor out. when I dropped the coolant it left a nice black ring around the bucket....

It did get pretty warm once when I had it out in the samurai. The samurai temp guage was still not pegged though....

I think I have the 12mm bolts at least that is the tripple square size used to take them out....

[Rabbit on Roids]

if you used a triple square, they are 12's. all the 11mm bolts just have normal 10mm allen heads.

[maxfax]

Whew!  Yes 12mm.. No need for the head stud speech today..

[Rabbit on Roids]

there is always the need for the head stud speech.
so, here goes...
GET SOME FRIGGEN HEAD STUDS!!!

[arb]

I just blew my HG too. Did you check your head ? Bentley says 0.004" is the limit. I was close, so I took another approach. I 'sanded" most of the warp out of mine. Look at the photos, you'll see the pre-cups also came down a little. In the next few days I'll know if this resolved my problem. I DID over heat it, but have no visible cracks. I need to fix my new temp gauge too. Its a Sun Pac that the needle jumped the peg, so it bottoms out on the peg and I could not tell I was cooking the aluminum.
http://www.vwdiesel.net/forum/index.php?topic=15633.255

[maxfax]

there is always the need for the head stud speech.
so, here goes...
GET SOME FRIGGEN HEAD STUDS!!!

I let it slide on 12mm N/A's although they are still well worth it..   IF he'd said 11mm bolts I would have jumped on the pulpit...

[arb]

there is always the need for the head stud speech.
so, here goes...
GET SOME FRIGGEN HEAD STUDS!!!

I let it slide on 12mm N/A's although they are still well worth it..   IF he'd said 11mm bolts I would have jumped on the pulpit...

I tried to get studs for my latest HG, but with the forum still down, I could not find a source. The local suppliers did not know what part numbers to look up. ( SE Michigan) The diesel guy remembers the Cogsworth studs back in the day, but said he didn't know what # to find.

[westcoaster]

there is always the need for the head stud speech.
so, here goes...
GET SOME FRIGGEN HEAD STUDS!!!

I let it slide on 12mm N/A's although they are still well worth it..   IF he'd said 11mm bolts I would have jumped on the pulpit...

I tried to get studs for my latest HG, but with the forum still down, I could not find a source. The local suppliers did not know what part numbers to look up. ( SE Michigan) The diesel guy remembers the Cogsworth studs back in the day, but said he didn't know what # to find.

The exact problem here as well. emailed the parts house, nope no studs here! had no idea where to get them in or around Vancouver BC.