[Vwdiesel] head gasket replacement

[Pam & Doug Boes]

Today, I pulled the valve cover and checked the torque on all the head nuts.
They all clicked immediately on the 35 ft. lb. pass. When I tried 50 ft.
lbs., the first two clicked right away, the rest moved a little.

When I started it, I watched the coolant with the lid off. At first there
were bubbles and the level went down because I had taken the thermostat off
to make sure it was moving the proper distance. After running for awhile,
the temperature gauge kept getting higher and higher. The coolant would
swell when the engine was revved and gush out on the floor.

Prior to checking the thermostat, it was running hot (not quite to the red)
and it would force coolant out the cap. Then after letting it cool the
coolant would be low. When I drained it to check the thermostat there wasn't
any black in the coolant that would indicate a head gasket leak. How can I
be getting pressure pulses into the coolant without any blow by showing up
in the coolant?

 

I'm not sure how a dead glow plug would cause the pressure pulses in the
coolant, but it starts right up in cold weather usually w/o using the cold
start advance. I get about three miles down the road from a cold start until
it is running hotter than normal

 

Could this be anything else besides a head gasket?

 

Sandy says he didn't remove the manifolds to replace the gasket. Is there
enough room for the head to clear the top of the Raceware studs and the
manifolds to clear the firewall at the same time?