16v head gasket Q's

[tereed2 at gmail.com (T. Reed)]

Hi all,

I'm replacing the head gasket on my 2.0l 16v. This was prompted by a 
hydrocarbon smell inside the coolant expansion tank, mysterious coolant 
loss (~1 gallon in 4 days), and coolant spurting from the expansion tank 
cap despite a brand new cap. No white smoke from the exhaust, no 
mayonnaise in the oil.. but it did run very poorly and erratically when 
cold.. mainly the first 30-45 seconds (it would hestitate or stall as soon 
as I began to release the clutch). I also noticed a general loss of power 
and frequent miss at idle.

I don't remember it doing any of this prior to sometime in July (although 
the symptoms developed gradually, not all at once) when a friend was 
sitting in the car with the engine running and let it overheat until the 
cap blew and the over-temp idiot light came on. I didn't own a compression 
tester last Thursday (I just got one yesterday) so I pulled the head 
blindly. I felt fairly confident the gasket was blown from the symptoms 
above.

Strangely, a chunk of the gasket is missing between one of the bolt holes 
and an oil passage, but there is no other obvious damage. I'm not quite 
sure what to look for, or even if its possible to see where the gasket was 
leaking just by inspection.

The head is being resurfaced at a machine shop.. I've got new gaskets (I'm 
using the 2.0 headgasket) and head bolts, but now I'm looking at the block 
wondering how clean it needs to be before I re-install the head.

Anyone have recommendations on how to clean it?

If I were doing a complete teardown, I'd think about using something like 
scotchbrite pads, but it seems like doing this in my situation might 
create abrasive dust that could get in to the cylinders and oil passages.. 
not a good thing.

I didn't resurface the head when I did the 2 liter swap, and I'm wondering 
if that set me up for a headgasket failure. Either way, I don't want to 
put it all together this time and find out that its not making a good 
seal. Anybody that's been down this road before care to offer me advice?

Thanks,

-Toby