[Vwdiesel] Head gasket problems

[Kurt Nolte]

Be careful of letting oven cleaner sit too long on the piston tops. A 
lot of such products are sodium hydroxide based, and NaOH + Aluminum = 
nasty mess and lots of pitting.

If you're going the oven cleaner route, I recommend wetting the piston 
top (I used a squirt/spray bottle), spray a little bit of cleaner on it, 
and use a plastic scrubber or plastic "wool" pad to work the cleaner in. 
WIPE the carbon and crap off, wet with the bottle again, wipe clean.

Once you're done with the cleaner, make sure you douse the piston top 
well enough to really clean it out.

Hydroxide is a great cleaner, but it's corrosive as all hell's vileness, 
wear gloves!

-Kurt


On 11/20/2011 12:56 PM, Stephen Kraus wrote:
> If you've got it apart, pull the pistons and do the rings, and inspect the
> cylinders. I'd clean the carbon off, get some engine parts cleaner and let
> the pistons soak for a day. It will eat off the carbon and loosen the heavy
> deposits. Another thing that works well on heavy carbon is oven cleaner.