Questions re: Repairing Blown Head Gasket on 1.9L

morempg

Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2004
Location
Indiana, USA
TDI
99 Beetle & 99 Jetta
Have a 99 Jetta TDI w/ 180K mi. Upsolute chip and larger injectors. Been running great. Was in PA on vacation, apparently blew head gasket....reved engine higher than normal pulling out into traffic from gravel, tires spun big time and over reved engine? and got lots of grey smoke. Am leaving it for 3 wks at foreign car mechanic in PA (I live in IN). He is reputable and honest...BUT...I have some questions I'd like some experienced techs to help me with. The Tech in PA is also open to suggestions.
1)Where is best place to order gasket kit and how much is good price? For kit and entire job?
2)Tech wanted to know if after-market is ok?
3)Should head bolts be replaced?
Please offer ANY suggestions you have for this job or any other things that should be checked out on my car.
Thanks,
morempg
 

GoFaster

Moderator at Large
Joined
Jun 16, 1999
Location
Brampton, Ontario, Canada
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI
Sure it's a blown head gasket and not a blown turbo?

Does the engine still run? With a blown head gasket, it should run more-or-less normally but overheat and use coolant. You may get oil in the coolant, or coolant in the oil (don't run the engine if the latter happens). The turbo should work okay (until the engine overheats).
 

cp

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2001
Location
usa
TDI
2006 TDI Beetle
Re: Questions re: Repairing Blown Head Gasket on 1

I have never heard of over-revving as a cause of a blown head gasket. You might want to do some more diagnostics before you tear into this thing.
 

morempg

Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2004
Location
Indiana, USA
TDI
99 Beetle & 99 Jetta
Re: Questions re: Repairing Blown Head Gasket on 1

After gasket blew, engine still ran for a few seconds, no turbo though. I turned off then on again...lots of gray smoke. Engine will no longer turn over...local mech said this is because of coolant in cylinders. As to cause of gasket failure...I am only guessing. Belts intact. Not sure about Turbo...but coolant definitely in engine...could smell it in gray exhaust. The mechanic is open to suggestions, although he has done a few of them. He is talking about having to send the head off to be milled etc... Is this necessary? Thanks, morempg
 

GoFaster

Moderator at Large
Joined
Jun 16, 1999
Location
Brampton, Ontario, Canada
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI
Re: Questions re: Repairing Blown Head Gasket on 1

I betcha:
- the cylinders are full of OIL, not coolant
- the whole intake system is loaded with oil
- the turbo is fragmented
- the head gasket is fine.

I could be wrong, but your failure mode and most of the symptoms are consistent with a turbo failure. Head gaskets very rarely fail catastrophically like that. And I've blown a few of those (just not on a TDI).

It's easy to check if the cylinders are full of coolant or oil (take the glow plugs out and rotate the engine) and it's easy to check if the intake system is full of oil. Do that before doing anything else.
 
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