Head Problems: Twice in a row.

During my timing belt change I decided to clean the intake manifold. I also decided to clean the intake ports. I took the cam out in order to close all valves. Upon putting the cam back in I put one of the Cam Caps (the last one, cylinder four) on backwards. As you can imagine, it broke in half. Well turns out you cant purchase one, they are align drilled?

Well I got a cap from a mk2 to work, just without the stud for the valve cover. I put everything back together, all is lined up, belts on, etc. I go to start the engine and all I hear is a whole heck of alot of belt slippage. I look and I left my IP lock in. Well that stopped my cam from turning but obviously not the crank.

Now:
What damage should I expect? There was definatley contact.
Where can I purchase a new head if need be?
How about new valves?
Why am I so retarted?

yeah your head is fubared now.

A few trusted TDI retailers have new heads, complete with cam and lifters installed.

I have this one: http://www.idparts.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=697

and am so far very happy with. (2k miles)

Forgot to mention that this is a 1998 Jetta TDI. AHU im gonna guess, but actually not 100 percent sure.

This is why these engines are not for a novice mechanic to work on. If you dont have great mechanical ability I dont recommend trying to do any repairs your self.

You tried to save money doing it yourself now you have cost yourself more than it would have cost to pay some one to the job.

Sorry for you bad luck but you need to pull the head if the belt slipped. If the cam and crank are out of time tear it down.

I think that for the AHU's you need to send the head out to a machine shop.

I do not think there are any replacements, but I could be wrong.

two trusted TDI head men"

Bill: aka 87turboquattro on the forum

and Frank06

Wish you would have alerted me to that before. The head, IMHO would be fine because of the relativley low speed of the starter if I wouldnt have busted the cam cap. I found one head, 450 dollars, but Im pretty sure its chinese? But how could you mess up making a head, its a solid block. Any two cents on the 450 dollar complete head?

run away as fast as possible from that cheap chinese CRAP

you want to do all that work to your car and have it FAIL because of a cheap part. . I hope not

do a search on Prothe. . .he's got a bad rap

edit, Sorry, I misread the post.

KROUT said:

This is why these engines are not for a novice mechanic to work on. If you dont have great mechanical ability I dont recommend trying to do any repairs your self.

You tried to save money doing it yourself now you have cost yourself more than it would have cost to pay some one to the job.

Sorry for you bad luck but you need to pull the head if the belt slipped. If the cam and crank are out of time tear it down.

Click to expand...

Luck didn't have much to do with this! FAIL did.

kokolaube said:

... But how could you mess up making a head, its a solid block. Any two cents on the 450 dollar complete head?

Click to expand...

Easy. A head isn't a solid block, it has exhaust passages, intake passages, holes up for the valve stems, coolant passages, oil galleries. Mess up any of the cores needed to cast it properly and you have crap. Improperly clean out the casting sand from those cores, so that you have sand waiting to be blown into bearings and lifters along with the first influx of lubricating oil, and you have crap. Mess up the alloy mix and you have crap. Mess up any machining, and you have crap. Sending crap down a line where there are no inspections whatever, or inspectors that don't care because it is a part, after all, or have crap parts installed, and you end up with crap.

If you can see the pattern, then you hopefully can get the picture. While it isn't rocket science, you do have to pay attention when the parts are made. Cut too many corners so you can sell it really cheap, and you get... well you know at this point, right?

If it were mine, I'd send the head to be re-built by someone who specializes in TDI head re-building.

These TDI's are a "special breed". They're not for everybody. Nor, can any mechanic properly fix them.

JMHO,

The head needs to come off to replace the valves and guides. While it's off is the ideal time to have it checked for cracks.
Leaving it on with compressed (and widened) valve stems will cause the guides to tear-up and seize, the valve heads to break off, and THEN the piston punching that loose valve head WILL ruin the head, piston and cylinder wall.

While you're at it, pull the crank belt sprocket. If the cam belt didn't snap, and the pump didn't turn, and if the tension was properly set the belt didn't jump the teeth, then the "D" shaped flat in the crank sprocket is more than likely rounded off and will prevent ever setting and maintaining timing.

You attempted to save time and money and made a simple mistake of omission, Don't compound that attempting to save time and money during your remediation.

Any thoughts on this head?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-VW-BEETLE-JETTA-GOLF-1-9-TDI-ALH-CYLINDER-HEAD-5YR_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem27ac7f8b33QQitemZ170397764403QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

it's for an ALH engine

you need AHU engine

Oops, thanks.

BTW the reason im not rebuilding, resurfacing etc... the current head is because of the broken cam cap. Appreciate your guys 2cents. Gnight.

"Why am I so retarted? "

Retarded (sp)

Well I see you have a little problem similar to mine, yes I have purchaced a head from clearwater, will let you know how it works.
5 year unlimited mileage, but we will see oh an good luck on that project your doing hard to understand some feed back if I could give you info on a fix I would. only this advice get a book or dvd and keep plugin.

Give aaron at boraparts a shout. He'll usually match or beat anyone's price

We sometime forget to remove tools. So there is nothing stupid about it. If your engine has high mileage, you can buy a good low mileage used engine for about $1,500 imported from Germany. You can offset the cost by selling your existing engine parts. Even replacing your existing head with a new one, there is no assurance that the engine will run smooth. I marvel your effort to fix the car. Next time, please make sure to remove all the tools before cranking.

I've got replacement caps. It's not a major thing to drop a new cap on, lower it and align bore the new cap. It's the cheapest way out.

Btw:If you want a Chinese head, Clearwater is the place to go. Recently, someone asked me about no oil pressure to the head. It was a Clearwater head. What ended up being the problem was a blocked oil galley. That really installs confidence in their product for me.

I refurbish VW cylinder heads. I will not refurbish those "other guys" heads. Too much risk involved fixing that junk, and then it can come back to bite you.

Franko6 said:

Btw:If you want a Chinese head, Clearwater is the place to go. Recently, someone asked me about no oil pressure to the head. It was a Clearwater head. What ended up being the problem was a blocked oil galley. That really installs confidence in their product for me.

I refurbish VW cylinder heads. I will not refurbish those "other guys" heads. Too much risk involved fixing that junk, and then it can come back to bite you.

Click to expand...

I'll vouch for Frank!

100,000 km since my TB tensioner failed and the TB skipped a tooth and cracked a couple of cam caps. Frank repaired the head, cleaned it all up -- beautiful job, very reasonable cost and it runs like a Swiss watch ever since.

Cheers
Duey

That is why you are supposed spin the engine by hand not the starter after it is taken apart and reassembled .

Dodoma said:

We sometime forget to remove tools. So there is nothing stupid about it. If your engine has high mileage, you can buy a good low mileage used engine for about $1,500 imported from Germany. You can offset the cost by selling your existing engine parts. Even replacing your existing head with a new one, there is no assurance that the engine will run smooth. I marvel your effort to fix the car. Next time, please make sure to remove all the tools before cranking.

Click to expand...

Not removing the pin and then not following the proper procedure and cranking it over 2 revolutions by hand before using the starter equals FAIL in my books.