Ported heads problem

ben0069

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 15, 2012
Location
wales
TDI
allroad 2.5 tdi v6
I had my heads ported last year and have had issues with oil leaking down the side of the exhaust valves, either that or between head and valve guide. It then tracks along the roof of the exhaust port and out through the studs that hold the exhaust manifold on and through the exhaust manifold gasket as well as being burned off with whatever goes into the manifold
I replaced new stem seals first thinking it was them but no change, then the heads came off again and I had the valve guides changed and valves checked for tolerance which was all good. While it was in the shop the guy tested for leakage from the top down ie past the stem seal and nothing got past. It is noticeable on both banks and on all 6 ports. I wonder if the porting was a bit to intense where the valve seats or does this sound like a crack.
Any ideas ?
 

Theguy1084

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Mar 30, 2018
Location
Charleston, SC
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2006 Jetta TDI
I had a head for a 1.8T ported a while back. After porting it smoked really bad and fouled out plugs. I changed the guides and too had no change. Eventually the head was pulled and checked for cracks. The porting weakened and cracked the same area in each port causing oil to get in. Your situation sounds very similar
 

Mongler98

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98 Jetta TDI AHU 1.9L (944 TDI swap in progress) I moved so now i got nothing but an AHU in a garage on a pallet.
yea need to send your head to frank. I did my own head work but it was more of a light port and polish with a gasket match, i did not change the overall port size other than the last 1/4" of the ports where the gaskets are. If your taking material out of the head like that, leave it to someone who has done this thousands of times with success, not yourself.

100% sure your head is now scrap aluminum! sorry.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

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Since the OP is in Wales I kind of doubt it's worth the expense of sending a cylinder head to Missouri. I'm guessing there are adequately skilled people in the UK that can port a head.
 

mrchill

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There are many competent porters in Europe....see if one has a head already done for you so you dont have to find a good core.
 

Mongler98

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COLORADO (SE of Denver)
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98 Jetta TDI AHU 1.9L (944 TDI swap in progress) I moved so now i got nothing but an AHU in a garage on a pallet.
NA, its not expensive, you gata get one of them container ships that loads things for pennies. it may take 3 weeks to get to him but i have shipped and been shipped things like this for about $25 bucks, china can ship this to you for $0.10 though lol
 

mrchill

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Its more than you think...even by ship. And if you dont insure it...you may find yourself in a bad way. Besides, with a couple of exceptions...the good porters are in Europe anyway.
 

Enabled

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Apr 23, 2013
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Houston, TX
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NA, its not expensive, you gata get one of them container ships that loads things for pennies. it may take 3 weeks to get to him but i have shipped and been shipped things like this for about $25 bucks, china can ship this to you for $0.10 though lol
OT:

China shipping to US is actually subsidized by the US government, and we are all paying for the "free shipping" of junky fidget spinners.

/OT
 

[486]

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MN
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02 golf ALH
NA, its not expensive, you gata get one of them container ships that loads things for pennies. it may take 3 weeks to get to him but i have shipped and been shipped things like this for about $25 bucks, china can ship this to you for $0.10 though lol
know what an 0a6 transfer case from the UK runs? $200 in shipping alone
Know what a transmission costs? Hell if I know but I feel like I got it for a steal at $1k for the trans and shipping
Know what four pistons cost to get shipped from there? $60

Shipping is hideous expensive.

ETA: to the op, run a crankcase evac pump, it'll pull the oil back in, haha
 

Yourbuddysatin

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Ben0069
Get in touch with dark side. I ordered an alh head from them and they used a local machine shop for all the work I had done. Just my $.02.....
 

ben0069

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Oct 15, 2012
Location
wales
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allroad 2.5 tdi v6
Hi all,
thanks for your input, the shop I used for the porting I thought had a good reputation, it was cnc done, I have sent him a message but I'm not going to hold my breath, thinking he may want to help.
darkside is a good shout, I will ask them
 

Mongler98

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Mar 23, 2011
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COLORADO (SE of Denver)
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98 Jetta TDI AHU 1.9L (944 TDI swap in progress) I moved so now i got nothing but an AHU in a garage on a pallet.
3 years ago when i contacted a scrap yard in UK who had a PD150 i purchased, had it shipped to USA for $12.00.
 

leon10tagg

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Hi all,
thanks for your input, the shop I used for the porting I thought had a good reputation, it was cnc done, I have sent him a message but I'm not going to hold my breath, thinking he may want to help.
darkside is a good shout, I will ask them
Who did the head work?
 

GOFAST

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Oct 1, 2014
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nederland
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vento afn
I had my heads ported last year and have had issues with oil leaking down the side of the exhaust valves,
then the heads came off again and I had the valve guides changed and valves checked for tolerance which was all good.
I had simular problems.
Did your man check the tolerance with the camshaft in it?
And do you use a hi lift camshaft ?
 

vtpsd

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Vermont
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03 jsw TDI, audi 90 AHU swap
I had simular problems.
Did your man check the tolerance with the camshaft in it?
And do you use a hi lift camshaft ?
Could you go into a bit more detail? I used a stage 3 colt camshaft and ported my own head and had the exact same issues as the original poster.

How did your high lift camshaft cause issues?
 

turbovan+tdi

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I had a head for a 1.8T ported a while back. After porting it smoked really bad and fouled out plugs. I changed the guides and too had no change. Eventually the head was pulled and checked for cracks. The porting weakened and cracked the same area in each port causing oil to get in. Your situation sounds very similar
This. Not really fixable so sadly, you are looking for another head.
 

ben0069

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Oct 15, 2012
Location
wales
TDI
allroad 2.5 tdi v6
No hi lift cams, just stock and I'm not sure about checking tolerance with cams in, I will have to ask
I had simular problems.
Did your man check the tolerance with the camshaft in it?
And do you use a hi lift camshaft ?
 

bhodgkiss

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Sep 11, 2006
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Banbury, UK
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AFN Passat Wagon
ive used a company called CylinderHeadDevelopments in the midlands (UK) for porting my AFN, 7 years later and 60k miles and still good,
 

GOFAST

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nederland
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vento afn
Could you go into a bit more detail? I used a stage 3 colt camshaft and ported my own head and had the exact same issues as the original poster.
How did your high lift camshaft cause issues?
In my case i used volvo exhaust valves.
They ware 1mm shorter, so i used 1mm lash caps to fill the space between the valve and the hydro tappet.
My cam had one mm more lift, combine the two and i had a problem
Do not know te correct name for this part in english.


But it came in contact with the valve seal.
Like this.


I search't a long time for i found it.
Becouse if you take the head off it looks just fine
 

vtpsd

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In my case i used volvo exhaust valves.
They ware 1mm shorter, so i used 1mm lash caps to fill the space between the valve and the hydro tappet.
My cam had one mm more lift, combine the two and i had a problem
Do not know te correct name for this part in english.

But it came in contact with the valve seal.
Like this.

I search't a long time for i found it.
Becouse if you take the head off it looks just fine
Thank you very much for the explanation and the pictures. I wonder if I could have an issue like that with my AHU that started loosing oil around all of the valve seals quite badly.

The parts that you show are called "valve keepers" or just "keepers" in English because they 'keep' the valve in place. They probably have a more technical name, but I am not sure what it is.
 

ben0069

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Oct 15, 2012
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wales
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allroad 2.5 tdi v6
ive used a company called CylinderHeadDevelopments in the midlands (UK) for porting my AFN, 7 years later and 60k miles and still good,
Thanks for that.

Layerz, it's both heads.


vtpsd, They are called 'collets' or valve cotters, usually referred to as valve keepers as you said
 

DCautosport

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Ccheck a company name "Veicomer" in Portugal .... maybe be surprised with their work ... have facebook with many videos, I'm sure everyone will like it.
 

ben0069

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Oct 15, 2012
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wales
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allroad 2.5 tdi v6
The place where I had the heads done have agreed to have them back and inspect them, will let you know what they come up with.
 

Franko6

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Hey, I'm not against doing heads for people in foreign countries. It would not be my first... But even saying that, I wouldn't recommend sending stuff over here. Besides that, you'd have to wait. Backlog is my biggest problem.

I have been criticized for my work from 'the professionals'. I can take it. Some of the 'constructive criticism' is actually just plain wrong. I keep doing what I do. Many understand and appreciate our goals and concepts. It's not like we haven't learned from others mistakes and even more, from our own.

Going big is fine, but anyone without the tooling and experience can find a casting that has porosity. The bigger mistake is thinking 'maximum CFM' wins the race. I believe max porting means you eventually will crack a port. Particularly susceptible are the outside of each end's exhaust port. Other than that, going big also means head lift. We have seen and heard of many ideas that are 'off the chain' to control the lift, but the obvious issue is not enough head bolts.

Whatever does happen, I think we all would like to hear what the issue ends up being.
 
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