Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:14:32 -0700
Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Fox head torque question
In-Reply-To: <399544.85516.qm@web62405.mail.re1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
What is difficult with the spec you have? Sounds right to me.
"Checking" torque on a head bolt...ummm I'd guess that won't be very
effective...Yeah, if someone forgot to torque one in the first place you may
discover that, but to put a torque wrench on old bolts on a leaking
headgasket situation I'd think your checking would be meaningless...Some
bolts may be corroded in place, filled with anti-freeze schmegma (technical
term) stretched out, all kinds of variations. I know you are hoping to be
able to just tighten it up and 'fix' it. Not likely, but worth a try.
What I would do is get a Bently to discover the proper sequence for
tightening the head bolts. Loosen them all in the proper sequence...just
slightly but enough to free up each one in the block so that you can then
re-torque them to specs....but I would probably go a bit tighter on the
torque, since the headgasket is likely a bit damaged..
Probably best would be to just go on and replace the headgasket
now...since you will probably need to do it anyway...I did one in my
Vanagon/Jetta inline 4 in about 4hrs, including a cam swap...don't know a
thing about the Fox..but it is probably that same motor anyway..
You can check the headgasket leaking by taking out the sparkplugs and
checking each 'hole' to see if you find antifreeze/coolant in the
cylinder..Crank it over with the plugs out and see if one gets wet, too..
Good luck with it.
Don Hanson
On Wed, Aug 19, 2009 at 1:12 PM, roger sisler <rogersisler2000@yahoo.com>wrote:
> Hello, this 1.8 is similar to many VW inline four engines, and it is
> loosing coolant at the rate of about 1 qt per 50 miles. No exterlal leaks
> are to be found, therefore I think it is a head gasket issue. This Fox had
> been leaking coolant for some time(damn VW's), however I traced it to a lose
> coolant temp sensor at the bottom of the radiator.Got that fixed, and then
> this thing started eating up all my antifreeze.
>
> I first want to check the torque on the head gasket to see if all the bolts
> are tight to specs. I see that the spec is 44ftpounds + 1/2 turn. That
> seems like a difficult measurement to tell if a bolt is loose.I mean. Does
> anyone know if there is a proper torque number for this cylinder head torque
> on the Fox?
>
> thanks!
>
>
>
>
>
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