Hi,

 

After finding out on my previous thread that I need to pull the engine to do the head gasket I've been mulling over what to do next.

 

The engine suffered a pretty serious overheat last year, caused by the nearside turbo water pipe. Last week I finally got round to replacing the pipe, and doing a water by pass while the plenum was off. I think I knew really that the gasket was knackered but needed to sort the pipe to be sure :(

 

So the dilemma is, do I pull the engine, have the heads skimmed & do gaskets or replace the engine completely with a known working one (yet to be sourced)?

The gasket kit and skimming is going to cost several hundred and that's assuming there was no other damage done, so probably not a lot of difference in price to a used one.

Also replacing the engine will save stripping the heads etc. But the other side of the coin is the replacement engine could be risky and I'll need to at least do the cam belt which was only done a few K's ago on mine.

 

I'm not planning on modding or increasing power so a full rebuild of mine doesn't really appeal. Also I'm on a fairly tight budget so need to take that into account.

 

None of this is going to happen till Spring next year so I'm just trying to plan ahead.

 

Any advice greatly appreciated.

My advice, keep your engine and get the heads skimmed. It could happen to you again on a donor engine and the cambelt kit on top of that will be a nasty bill. Once you've done your head, and the belts have only just been done a few K's ago as you say, then you have a nice healthy engine.

 

Get yours fixed. Do not swap :)

I spose it's like doing a job and finding you don't have the right size of spanner. You can borrow a spanner or take the hit and go out and buy a spanner for one specific nut. You want to do the easy option but it's a gamble that you won't just be borrowing it again in a few weeks. If you keep buying spanners one day you have the toolkit of everyone's dreams.

 

Sorry to sound like a bloody horrorscope. Fix it and build up a trust in your engine that you know the history of.

hi. I look at it this way, if you spend some time on yours, do the heads,(skim and maybe pressure test) new geskets, and then whilst the engine is out you can change all the old pipes and check all the metal ones, new water pump, new belt, and once you have her back together you will know exactly what you have, check turbo's before putting her back in. Better to get to know your own than trust someone else's. just a opinion :)

 

its a wide boy manual :)

Better the devil you know.... It could however be a hard one financially. Swapping out a known runner will be cheaper and faster.

Engines are rather chreap these days for some strange reason, good mileage TT engines can be bought for around the 500 quid mark, if it was me I'd buy another engine, preferably one I can hear running before removal and see the speedometer ect, bang the whole lot in and sell bits off the old engine to recuperate some money, remember depending on how warm it actually got it could also have a cracked cylinder head, so pressure testing for internal cracks is advisable and also the bottom end has also endured the same high temperatures so .... ..... It's a gamble I'd say, not one I'd take, your roasted engine as I said could be sold for parts (plenum, turbo's, VVT pulleys ect) or be a good engine for a forged project as it would be stripped and rebuilt anyway.

as above, either repair your own engine or swap it with a known good one, rebuild your old one and sell it on. simples

Thanks for the replies folks.

 

It's interesting to get views from both sides, the do's & dont's :)

 

It's very hard to decide. I've been the only owner of my car in the UK for the last 10 years so I know that the engine has been well looked after, since I had it anyway. The down side was the way it overheated. My wife was driving, hadn't noticed the temp increasing on either of the two gauges :cursing: and drove it on a dual carriageway for about 5 miles. When she got home (just off dual carriageway) steam was escaping from several places (including my ears when I saw it!) I am worried about the long term damage that may have been done although the car starts and runs pretty smoothly.

 

I suppose the best way would be to pull the engine get the heads checked & go from there. I think it may be fair while yet before the old girl sees the road again.

On the plus side now that I'm resigned to pulling the engine I'm looking forward to clearing up loads of the crap & clutter from the engine bay:)