Head Gasket Replace at 200 K?

Jjakimiak

Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2017
Location
Montanyuh
TDI
03 GLS Sedan,
Hello all, I am about to tear into the ole ALH and do the high mileage T belt job and pull apart the intake manifold and do the water pump and all the studs and the motor mounts, maybe the cam sprocket as well if if looks fatigued.

I was wondering if at 200 K it if a decent idea to just do the head gasket while I'm in there?

Thanks
 

jettawreck

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2004
Location
Northern Minnesota-55744
TDI
2001 Jetta and 2003 Jetta
If no issue with it I wouldn't touch it (headgasket).
Cam sprocket fatigue? Not unless someone has gotten real rough with the chisel method of loosening it for TB job I don't know how/why it should have any problem.
200k really isnt "high" miles...
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
200k is just getting broken in. :p

I have TDIs in here regularly with 300k+ miles on them that have never had the head off.
 

belome

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 8, 2010
Location
Mid MI
TDI
2002 Jetta GLS TDI 5-speed
Do you have any mods or plan to mod in the future for higher horsepower?
 

Jjakimiak

Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2017
Location
Montanyuh
TDI
03 GLS Sedan,
working onit

Not mods at the moment.
But putting a SB stage 2 clutch, nozzles and kerma chip.
no turbo mod for now.
 

Powder Hound

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 25, 1999
Location
Under a Bridge, Crestview, FL, USA
TDI
'00 Golf 4dr White 5sp, '02 Jettachero 5sp, Wife's '03 NB Platinum Gray auto(!)
Yes, agree with all the above. Otherwise, you're making work for yourself for what purpose? Is there a deep need to keep parts companies in business? Gotta stimulate the economy? An itching need to test out those new XGN bits in the set you just bought?


Nah, go enjoy your afternoon instead!!


Cheers,


PH
 

AndyBees

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 27, 2003
Location
Southeast Kentucky
TDI
Silver 2003 Jetta TDI, Silver 2000 Jetta TDI (sold), '84 Vanagon with '02 ALH engine
I'll finish buttoning up a TB job on my 2000 Jetta today (soon to be my son's beater). It has almost 370k on the odie ... cannot imagine replacing the head gasket, front crank seal, rear main seal, etc., as they are showing no signs of leaking!

OP, if you remove the Intake Manifold for cleaning, cleaning the intake ports in the head is highly recommended. You just need to make sure that the valve is closed on the port you are working on. Scrape, pick, gouge, vacuum, and compressed air blow-out, repeat as necessary (can be a very messy job).

You do not want to re-install the Intake with the head intake ports looking like this:






Which could (in this case did) result in this......... (also notice the Intake valve to the right)




When you remove the Intake Manifold, the crud crust from the runners to the ports in the head is broken. That junk can and will break loose and be ingested by the engine. If you are lucky, it will pass without incident!
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Just for the record, headgasket replacement on the Toyota 7M-GTE engine is essentially part of the 30k service. :p
 

KLXD

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 22, 2009
Location
Lompoc, CA
TDI
'98, '2 Jettas
Izat because of a known defect or does it get one every 30k? Although if every 30k I'd call that a known defect too.

My son's Focus is going in for one on a recall with less than 15k.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Known issue. Turbo Supra. In Japan they never drive anything that fast for that long, so it was fine there. They come here... and they blow headgaskets. The Euro spec ones got an extra air scoop and reduced power through a different timing map... because evidently if one tried to run alongside a 911 on the Autobahn the headgasket life could be measured in minutes. :eek:

The Focus RS is another notorious one.
 
Top