Vanagon EuroVan
Previous messageNext messagePrevious in topicNext in topicPrevious by same authorNext by same authorPrevious page (November 1998, week 1)Back to main VANAGON pageJoin or leave VANAGON (or change settings)ReplyPost a new messageSearchProportional fontNon-proportional font
Date:         Tue, 3 Nov 1998 08:52:09 -0500
Reply-To:     "Joe L." <jliasse@EMAIL.MSN.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Joe L." <jliasse@EMAIL.MSN.COM>
Subject:      Re: Head advice
Comments: To: Johan Nyberg <johan.nyberg@ABC.SE>, vanagon@VANAGON.COM

I printed out your post and stapled it into my Bentley against the time when my left head fails sometime in the next 20k miles or so (if predictions are accurate). It certainly seems more doable than other techniques I have seen. Should I screw up and pull the cylinders out past the rings you will have saved the neighbrhood an exibition of how loudly and long an old sailor can cuss.

I mentioned pulling the engine in my post because the HAYNES manual (not me) says the heads should not be changed without pullling the engine. Haynes, having said that, continues with teardown instructions under the assumption that the engine is sitting on the bench and not in the van. In their instructions they state "If the head sticks to the liners, the head and liners may be withdrawn as an assembly.". This is stated so casually that the mechanically challenged (like me) might assume that the cylinders may be just as easily slipped back on (certianly NOT the case). I would probably have made this assumption myself had I not been reading the postings on this list for several months prior to the failure of my head gasket. Not knowing which manual he was reading or what else he may have known about the job I mentioned it "just in case".

-----Original Message----- From: Johan Nyberg <johan.nyberg@ABC.SE> To: vanagon@VANAGON.COM <vanagon@VANAGON.COM> Date: Monday, November 02, 1998 3:56 PM Subject: Re: Head advice

I just read Joe L.'s post about what is possible and what isn't with the engine in place. I have to disagree with you, Joe, because I have pulled the right-hand head with the cylinders and even managed to get it back on. Though I had strange pains, esp. in the calves, afterwards:-)

It's not fun, but it's very educational in the area of patience and hope.

I did it like this:

Getting the head off is no problem, though it's wise to catch the pistons when they come out and swing downwards. I think I stuffed some rags below them. The really hard part is to get the pistons off the connecting rods. I removed the oil filler tube, the dipstick tube and the coolant tube, used a pair of long, slim, surgical locking pliers (I don't know their name in english) to remove the clips securing the piston-bolts and with the curved end of a motorcycle spoke pulled the bolts through the coolant port. There is a VW tool for this, VW 3091, I suppose it's very expensive. What took me an hour or two to realize, was that it's important to support the piston in the right position when pulling, otherwise the bolt jams. Finding the right position is a matter of trial and error, if one doesn't have the VW 3090 special tool. There is a possibility that the bolt-hole is deformed, leaving a ridge blocking the passage. This ridge has to be shaved off. The VW 3195 is available for this, I used a tool made for finishing the cutting edges of a special cabintry scraper. I don't know the english word for this one either. First I thought this was the case and did some shaving, but later - much later - I realized the bolt was jamming because I was bending the connecting rod sideways.

Before removing the pistons, I tried to put the cylinder sleeves back with the pistons still on the connecting rods. It didn't work at all. I didn't have a ring-compressor, I didn't know of any that would fit in that very small place. I broke a ring in the process. Now I've seen one that might do the job, just a narrow, curved steel band with ends bent outwards. It has to be the right size to work.

Putting the pistons back with the sleeves on the bench and with the aid of a ring-compressor was very straight forward.

The proper way to remove cylinders and pistons is to pull each cylinder-sleeve - starting with the rearmost - until the bolt-hole and bolt is visible through the coolant port, pull the plug and remove the sleeve with the piston still in it, but this doesn't work if the sleeves are frozen in the head. At least I don't think so.

Anyway, this - in the opposite order - is how I got them in place.

Putting it together again was childs-play compared to taking it apart, and an advantage in pulling the cylinder-sleeves is that one is then able to replace the inner gasket between sleeve and crank-house. The only thing I did wrong was not checking carefully enough that the pushrods were propoerly in place when I put the rocker-arms back. This gave me a terrible fright when I started up the engine and it sounded like it was coming apart. However, no permanent harm was done.

Good luck, and let us try not to let pride make fools of us, tackling jobs that we don't manage. Despair is not a nice state to live in, though victory is sweet when it comes unexpected.

I haven't done the left-hand head, yet. Then one has to remove the water-pump to pull the piston bolts.

************************************************************ Johan Nyberg, Sweden N 59o E 17o 25" '86 Caravelle C ************************************************************


Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main VANAGON page

Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!


Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com


The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.

Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.