hubturn

I'm pretty much committed to doing a head gasket job. Valley pan, also. I can't take the smell of oil burning off the pipes any longer. My big question is how far to go with the heads - machine shop wise. I figure resurfacing for sure, but what about valve guides and seals, and camshaft seals, not to mention valve lapping. My dry compression is a high of 195 and a low of 175, with the other 4 cylinders right on 188. Small amount of antifreeze being consumed but no tel-tale white smoke out the exhaust. Plugs clean, light white ash, but not water blasted clean. Smooth running, no issues. '95 Cab. 102K on the mileage, TB etc. already done at 77K, with a recent replacement of a fractured thermostat (how can one arm of a t-stat break in half?). Here's a ringer for ya. Bentleys has a caution that says if you remove the intake, you have to retorque the head bolts 1/4 turn. Would you try that first? I know the stretch bolt/retorque controversy.

grillage

I just did the head gaskets on my 1993 90 Q and I would recommend the seals at least. They're super easy and cheap to replace if you have the seal puller tool. The camshaft seals couldn't be easier once the heads are off. You'll also want to replace the seals on the hard coolant pipe on the backside of the heads. I think you can buy a seal kit for the top half of the engine that includes all that stuff and the injector o-rings and what not.

Make sure you're ready to replace all the exhaust studs and nuts too - on the heads and the downpipes. I had to stop and wait for parts when I got to that part. All 6 of my downpipe studs snapped when I tried to loosen them. You'll need 18 of each total.

if you need a new viton washer for the block drain plug let me know and I'll mail you one. I ordered them in the smallest increment I could which was 10 and I hope to god never to need that many.

As for the re-torquing issue. I was a little vexed as to whether I should torque the heads all the way before I put the IM on or wait until the IM was on to do the last half turn.

Oh, lastly, check your head bolts to see what kind of heads they have. See this thread for the variations....
https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho....php?t=2805428

hubturn

Thanks for the offer on the drain plug o-ring. I have an extra and that's the cheapest part I ever bought at Audi. So you removed the exhaust manifolds after you took off the heads and all the studs needed replacing? I was hoping that the machine shop wouldn't require that. I've been looking at the Victor-Reinz gasket set which seems to have a lot of additional parts. Did you use their kit and the Victor-Reinz head bolts? While I've been in pretty deep, timing belt, etc, I haven't done the head gaskets. Some trepidation.

grillage

It was my first time with heads off too. Really not that much harder than the TB job and the IM job put together. The studs are pretty cheap and many recommend replacing them all with new every time you can see them.

ECS Tuning has 5 different kinds from $0.69 -$1.62.
http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-90-Qua.../Exhaust_Stud/

I was able to take off the heads with the exhaust manifolds still attached. The drivers side took some wiggling but the passenger side was simple.

As for the gasket kit, I got my heads from a guy who threw in the gasket set. I don't know who he got the kit from but it had damn near everything.

Good luck!