06 BRM valve guides

I'm replacing valve guides in my Jetta and having a hard time figuring out which ones to use. the ones I've pulled out of the head are about 30mm in length and don't have a shoulder, but all the replacement ones are 36.5 mm and have a flange. Does anyone know which ones are correct?

(valves are 7mm stem)

Thanks!

I just pressed valve guides into an ALH head and the old were no shoulder and the new were shouldered and 36.5mm long. The guides for the ALH and BRM are the same. I'm not sure why the new style is different from the old style but maybe VW has updated them over the years to make they easy to know how far to press them in. These were the guides I purchased:

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/vw-audi-engine-valve-guide-037103419b

Great, thank you for the replay. Those are the exact same ones I got.

ALH exhaust valves (part number 028-109-611-G) are 96.85mm long.

BRM exhaust valves (part number 038-109-611-G) are only 89mm long.

That is why the BRMs have shorter valve guides. They have shorter valves.

However, you can use the more widely available longer guides in the BRMs, but some folks will chuck them up in a lathe and machine them shorter to match up with the originals.

Since VAG does not sell these apart from the head we are only able to get the aftermarket stuff, which are technically from a gasser (hence the 037 prefix part number) which VAG does sell by themselves. And in ETKA, that guide only shows up with various gas engine cylinder heads, but never with the diesels. Because it is not the same guide the diesels' heads left the factory with. It is not an "update", we are just using the wrong-but-available-and-usable gasoline engine guides in our diesels.

What about BEW guides, same as BRM?

pedroYUL said:

What about BEW guides, same as BRM?

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That is different again, the part number for the BEW's exhaust valve is 038-109-611-G, which is 89mm long....so closer to...but not the same as... the BRM than the ALH.

Interesting. Does VW think TDI owners would never want to rebuild their heads?

MrBigTruck said:

Interesting. Does VW think TDI owners would never want to rebuild their heads?

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Correct, this is nothing new. VAG has had this stance since 1977. If it is not servicable as is, replace it.

This is not to say that the aftermarket service and parts folks have not successfully rebuilt countless VAG diesel heads, they have. But like all diesels, a little more care needs to be taken to make sure the stack height of the valvetrain is kept proper, as there is no fudge factor for this due to no combustion chamber and very tight valve to piston clearances.

Well, my ALH is back in service and running perfectly with the gasser valve guides that I pressed in earlier this week. To be honest, I liked the shoulder on the guide. It took the guesswork out of how far to press them in.

Yep, my daily driver ALH has been fine for nearly 200k miles with the gasser guides, as have countless other VAG diesel cylinder heads.

miron said:

Great, thank you for the replay. Those are the exact same ones I got.

Click to expand...

Did you end up putting the ALH valve guides in your BRM head? I'm in the same situation and it doesn't look at all like it will fit without something breaking the first time the engine's started. The valve guide (and seal) would sit 4mm higher under the cam followers with the ALH valve guides, and it just doesn't seem like it has that sort of room.

Well I have one exhaust and one intake guide that I haven't pulled out of the head for my BRM, and just dropped in an exhaust valve and intake valve with a tight fitting o-ring on the valve stem pressed against the valve guide seal. I installed the cam followers, then set the cam on top (with bearings) and rotated it so the valves move through their full range of motion, while providing upward pressure on the valves from below. Afterwards both the o-rings were pressed up to where the top was right up against the valve retainer grooves, so there's room to accommodate maybe a 1mm taller valve guide. There is absolutely no way to install the 4mm taller valve guides with a shelf on them without either modifying the valve guide with a lathe or destroying your head.