[Vwdiesel] audi head gasket

[B & R Decker]

Hi Chris;
	I think your 2 day time frame is not going to work. If you want to
do the job in two days I would suggest that you get another head and have it
ready to install when you remove yours. I have not done a 5 cyl diesel head
though I have done 5 cyl gas and lots of 4 cyl diesel and gas. I would think
that if your head has a lot of miles on it you will probably need to change
the exhaust valve guides, lap in the valves, check and adjust the lifters if
needed. Have it surfaced if it is out of spec for true.
	Your mechanic probably thought you had hydraulic lifters and I'm
pretty sure you have solids.
	Heads are the weak link in VW 4 cyl diesels and I'm told even more
so in the 5 cyl diesel.

Boisfort Rabbit Rescue
Brian Decker

-----Original Message-----
From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com] On
Behalf Of Chris Jude
Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2008 10:46 AM
To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
Subject: [Vwdiesel] audi head gasket

So,  all this head gasket talk, and I'm realizing that I probably have a
problem in my '80 Audi 5000S.  I've noticed some oil in the coolant, white
smoke at startup, and the initial idle after startup is pretty rough.   I
smell some coolant in the heater air also. But it's been like this for
awhile, and once warmed up, runs fine.  There's some valve clatter, and I
was planning to do a  valve adjustment (i had a mechanic tell me that was
unneccesary, but i don't understand what his reasoning was).

So, assuming that this is a head gasket issue, where do I go from here? I
just picked up the bentley manual, but I've never done a head gasket.  From
what I've heard on the list, it sounds like there's a good chance the head
is warped, and I'd need to get it shaved, or even find a new head.   This is
our only car, so I'd need to get in there, get the job done, and have the
car running  again in a  couple days, so I need to plan it out pretty well
before I get started.


Any advice from the BTDT crowd?

thanks
chris
seattle
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