I am attempting to do a head gasket on my d15B7, I have heard that 1. You can leave intake manifold on when pulling head, is this true? and 2. You can pull the cam gear off and use a bungee cord to hang it so to not lose cam timing postion. Anybody got any input on these?

 

Yep, that's how I did mine. Works perfect. I just used a zip tie to hold the timing belt to the cam pulley, don't have to mess with your cam timing at all that way

 

awesome,and cam gear only goes on one way because of keyway correct? how bout intake manifold, does it gotta come off first or can it just come with head?


Modified by VWFAN420 at 2:04 PM 12/20/2007

 

i just pulled my head off my d15b7 and i left everything on it the cam gear i just marks with white out and the belt i marked.and i left the intake on you just have to mark everything.and disconnect everything

 

why you were able to slide the belt off without loosing tensioner? I dont want to have to take lower timing cover and crank pulley off to get to tensioner, i figure i can just take pulley off and push it with belt ziptied out of the way, dont feel like fighting with that damn crankshaft pulley bolt again.

 

power steering pump and bracket gotta come off too huh?

 

anybody?

 

Just wanted to let you guys know for anyone who cares, I tried K & W block seal, followed directions to the T and that crap only lasted 2 days and the time it took to flush the coolant was longer than it would have taken to pull off the head. Just some food for though for anyone that see's this thread, I would try to stay away from it, but if you got tons of time on your hands give it a try and maybe it will work for you but I pretty much knew a mechanic in a bottle wasnt gonna work, what a waste of time but fortunately I have tons of it.

 

All those sealers are JUNK! It clogged the thermostat shut on my old beater car and clogged the heater core on it too.

But yeah holding the cam gear with a bungee works, Thats how I did my Toyota as well

 

Yeah I got lucky, no clogging but didnt do anything for HG either, thanks for info, any one of these days I will be attacking this job, its just too damn cold out here in New England and I dont have a garage but I will have to pull my skirt up, lol!

 

Its been like 3 weeks now and the KW block seal is actually working, i am amazed, just thought i would let u guys know, at first seemed like no results but it has been holding coolant for 3 weeks now and smoke out tail is significantly reduced, it needs to get warmer tho so i can fix it for real cause who knows how long this will last but keep getting more and more snow.

 

Oh Ya.leave it all on. I just TDC it and left the cam in place. Scrape it. JUst make sure you get new head bolts or just spend a littl extra and get the ARP studs

 

Cool, thanks a lot everyone

 

Just to anyone who cares the k&W block seal is still working, I am amazed

 

Update: K&W still holding even after hard driving, so very impressed, changed oil and not a sign of any mixing and havent had to add any coolant at all. Way to go K&W!

 

Still working, amazing!!!!!!

 

Still working after hard driving, who would have ever thought!

 

starting to slowly leak again, but wow lasted longer than I thought

 

where did you find that block sealer?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by VWFAN420 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">why you were able to slide the belt off without loosing tensioner? I dont want to have to take lower timing cover and crank pulley off to get to tensioner</TD></TR></TABLE>

FTW you don't need to. There is a Timing belt cover grommet you take off to get to the tensioner bolt. After installing the cam back on the head. All you do is rotate the crankshaft bolt 1/4 of a turn then tighten the tensioner bolt. That's how you set the correct tension of the belt.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CivicMike &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">where did you find that block sealer?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Advance auto parts, hg just blew out again and this time was horrible, 15 ft cloud of smoke and major skipping, another $5 can of H&R block sealer and whalla, car runs mint once again, not a trace of smoke and runs perfect, I am very impressed with this product, maybe only a band-aid but for $5 the "mechanic in a can" keeps saving my day while I have no money/job. just make sure you stick to the instructions religiously and change your oil/filter lets see how long it lasts this time.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by meandino &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">FTW you don't need to. There is a Timing belt cover grommet you take off to get to the tensioner bolt. After installing the cam back on the head. All you do is rotate the crankshaft bolt 1/4 of a turn then tighten the tensioner bolt. That's how you set the correct tension of the belt. </TD></TR></TABLE> Thanks a lot man but I dont even think im gonna replace it now, im getting a settlement in a few months for my back injury and im just gonna buy a E36 Beemer or Corrado, im done playing with rice, back to my german roots.

 

wow I can't believe that stuff worked for you. Most the time it's just a waste of money. But it's simple to change the headgasket and no need to tie up the timing belt just time it back in. It literally took me less and 5 mins to put my car back in time (just changed my HG this weekend)