zabranca

Hello all,

Here is my problem:

I bought a 2000 1.8t ATW that had an alleged bad head gasket. Previous owner claimed all was good until one day the car started bucking and stalling until it would restart. A friend of his believed it to be a bad gasket.

After getting to my garage I discovered that cylinder #1 plug had disintegrated and the tip had bounced around the cylinder scarring up the head and piston head. Not sure if this was due to water in the cylinder or what.

I ran my NAPA head gasket check fluid on the coolant reservoir and sure enough turned yellow and full of bubbles. So...

I pull the head, get it washed and decked at my machine shop. I order an OEM head gasket which was installed correctly. New head bolts. All new gaskets, timing belt - the whole nine yards. Everything was torqued to spec.

After finishing the job, the car seems to have the same exact issue. It runs hot from all the air in the system I believe. It's hard to bleed the cooling system and there is all sorts of gargling behind the dash from the heater core and plumbing. I tried the NAPA test again and all sorts of bubbles and "faulty head gasket" liquid color.

Am I missing something here, is there another source of exhaust gasses getting into the cooling system?

jseklund

Well, you had the head off, so did you notice any bent valves? I would do a compression test and see if your cylinders are holding compression? Or a leak down test?

Did you check the timing on the car when you replaced the belt?