[Tech] Head Gasket oil leak

["Christian Els" <tiAn@usiw.net>]

Now that I have finally buttoned up the leaking oil cooler gasket leak, and
am finalizing the car for the first Solo2 event of the season, I have a new
leak. Damn.

I steam-cleaned the engine bay this morning and after I returned home I
found the head gasket is now leaking on the exhaust side. I'm not sure if I
caused this with the steam cleaner, or if it was just too dirty from the
previous leaks to notice. Regardless, it won't pass tech next weekend as it
sits now. Shazbot!

Is there any hope of this being simple, like re-torque the head bolts and
make it go away? These are factory stretch bolts so I'm leery of that
approach but at this point I don't get to play unless I fix it, so I'll try
nearly anything.

If a new gasket is the only way to correct this, do I recall correctly that
the metal gasket from a 93+ ABA is the way to go even on my 1.8L PL?

What prep should I pay particular attention to so I don't suffer a relapse?
I only have about 10K miles on the motor since I rebuilt it, at that time I
had the head decked and checked the block for cracks and warpage - looked
good. It hasn't been run hot since then so I believe those are both still
OK.

Thanks for your thoughts and advice.

Christian
87 16V - drippy



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