Head gasket issues lead me to finding this...

[Error404]

Pretty easy - sump off, undo the rod bolt nuts, put some fuel hose over the rod bolt to protect the crank journal. Tap the piston and rod out of the block.
Rod bolts must be replaced.

From where you are you could pretty easily remove the block from the car now anyway, give you chance to have a proper look at it.

[GazzaG60]

and rod bolts if you wanna save a few quid can come from a 289 ford engine IIRC.aybe boss 302. I can check. still got half a set from a 16v rod set I did. 1/2 price for 2x the amount of the arp vw ones.

to clarify for others they came out of the top of the block so head off first?

[GazzaG60]

did the engine stand for a while and possible get water down a plug hole too?

depends how perfect you want it to be.

for example. I did scat rods, skimmed pistons then refitted the original rings to save hone/bore/ring bed in process.

ran fine, didn't smoke or burn oil, ran even compression. now to me that's fine and good. to some I should have 100% changes the rings and honed or bored.

[Error404]

Its often that case its worth doing while its all in bits - to refit it all and start it up then find its not right would be a major PITA and more work in the long run. Just my 2c

[Alex Rhys]

Just thought id add a couple of pictures of both sides of the headgasket and a top view of the block.

[Alex Rhys]

The car was slightly down on powrr and all I had from the water return was steam. The car wasnt run over temp according to the in car dials.

[adam g]

Looking at the photos id say the pistons are looking quite pitted round the rim too, at least on a couple. So prob is worth a ring check.

[Alex Rhys]

I just used a general household green scotch pad side of a sponge and the "pit marks practicality wiped off!!

A mobile mechanic happened to drive past so I promptly flagged him down and he said everything seemed to be in order and that for 140k looked to be in very good health. Ive since flatted the top of the block down with fine sandpaper and it looks like new with little or no blemishes to the top or bore edges... ill grab some more pics in the morning to back up my progress.

In all seriousness, this forum is a godsend and ive never felt so supported by an online community like this from any other VAG forum.

Thanks so much guys!

[pasbogdan]

Need to find out bore dimension at the tdc of rings on cylinders.If max of 0.02-0.03 + is present you can hone another 0.01-0.02 mm to get rid of those things.Get an internal gauge and measure bores.But you will need loads of things/money.
If you want the car 100%ok get engine out,hone bores 0.01-0.02 mm,get new ring set,paint block,change all gaskets,CHANGE valve guides/seals etc.
Or let it this way,you will be able to drive it like this for some time.How is the car?It worths a strong engine or needs other stuff too?

[Alex Rhys]

The motor is deffinatley a strong one. In all honesty it drove very well when the day I started stripping it down apart from there being no water return to the header bottle and there was a split/steam coming from the water pipe under the inlet to turbo.

[sidrick]

I'd give the top of the bore a clean up and leave the bottom end as it is. That's mainly from a monetary point of view, as if I started to strip it (as others have said) I'd end up replacing a whole lot 'while I was there'. There wasn't catastrophic failure and the dirty pistons look to be as a result of a slowly failing HG.

Have you sorted the issue with your cooling system, yeah?

[Alex Rhys]

Apart from the water pipe that feeds the turbo (split + steam/water flying out) everything else seems to be in order. Im just hoping that that was the cause of my loss of water return to the header. Because eventually the header cap was just going to pop off if I kept the car running...

[bigdan]

I'm surprised to see such honing marks on the bore after 140k? has the engine had work done to it recently?

[Alex Rhys]

Its done 6k in 3 years and I doubt the last owner had any work done. Its come to me as a daily driver that has just been used as a commuter.

[AndyP]

I'm surprised to see such honing marks on the bore after 140k? has the engine had work done to it recently?

Mine had 190k on the clock when it was stripped and you could still see the honing marks, original bore size too