I5 Head Gaskets..to seal or not to seal?
 

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/54386/img_3900.jpg"></center><p>I am about to put a new head on my trusty CGT, and have a question: Although the Bentley manual says that sealant shouldn't be used in conjunction with the headgasket, it seems to me that a dry gasket would be fairly leak-prone. Does anyone have experience one way or the other with this?

Here's a pic of the new head with the stud friendly 2 piece manifold.

TIA

Never ever.

never use sealer on a head gasket.

Don't even think about it,Dan the man!!!
 

The gasket has a special design where they included some soft sticky material, on my gasket it was a little green stripe that squishes and helps seal the oil passages.
You should also use new head bolts, they stretch when tightend, so they're designed to be used only once!

No sealant. Just make sure the block surface is super CLEAN.
 

and make sure the surfaces are not smooth. Like the bottom of your new head.. it has a non-directional surface. Youll also want to clean the head surface due to the fact they may have used chemicals during packaging (like new brake discs and flywheels). Goodluck!

Where did you get the manifold from?

Thanks guys!
 

Just wanted to make sure. I got the factory new head on Ebay from seller "auctionfrontier" for $199 plus about $25 for shipping. Head looks good, but had to be cleaned a bit (a little particulate matter got on it sometime before it arrived). The engine code is KZ (no vac pump).

One question though: I have heard before that the head bolts are to only be used once, but Bentley says (page 15.13) that "It is not necessary to replace polygon head bolts when making engine repairs. Bolts can be reused. New polygon bolts are to be used in complete sets only". Is the Bentley outdated on this or would this be more of a precautionary measure? I think I will get a new set regardless, but I am still curious.

Thanks, Dan

Head bolts are relatively cheap...
 

...so, replace them whenever they are removed. That's a good rule of thumb to use when dealing with any VAG automobile.