B6 head removal

[Silenceo0o0]

Hey man, that is what my engine looks like to, albeit in the car. I did try turning the engine over this morning with all of the valves closed and it did nothing. arg!

[nxp]

Hey, don't forget that if you have the plugs removed you won't have any compression to pop the head off!

If you're a daring guy you could even try putting a few ccs of oil in the chambers before screwing the plugs in... that will hydrolock your engine and increase the pressure in the cylinder when you turn the engine over. In that way you might pop the head of even if you're turning the crankshaft so slowly that you would lose compression with just air.

Oh, and if you want to be a bit safer do this incrementally so you will only partially get hydrolock, do not throw a huge amount of oil all at once. Also make sure there are no bolts left unscrewed or you will break something badly.

NxP

[Silenceo0o0]

hey I just posted in my thread that my head came off today! Yesterday (about 24 hours ago now) I filled each head bolt hole with pb blaster when I gave up. I guess it did something because the head came off easily today when I put the prybar on it again! Give it a try!

Oh and the idea of putting the oil in the cc may be a good idea if you are that daring, I don't think I would put more than a tiny bit though!

[stefan]

yess i win! I put the plugs back in and turned it over a few times... after a few cycles i could hear air hissing out around the head gasket. but it still wouldn't pull off. But a few good whacks with a dead blow hammer and it was off.





the only scary thing is... the cylinders looks nasty!?! there is all sorts of chunks of stuff in there? eek! i thot everything was gonna be in good condition cause there were only 80k miles on it and it came out of a running car.

[jglutz]

If you plan on taking out the intake manifold and exhaust manifold all out at the same time.....did you forget the bolt in the back of the block from the intake manifold brace bar??

Brilliant! that's a great suggestion, thou we didn't know the manifold is off.

jultz... do you mean jam a chizel between the head and the block? that sounds scary.

Yes I did....The thin sharp edge will easily find its way between the the head and the block..the gasket is currently about 1/2 its original thickness. Too blunt of an object could create an unecessary burr. The only thing you could hit is a locating dowel, provided you make sure any adajcent valves are extended.

I've seen a head stuck on a 302 and to get it off a nut (5/16) was dopped into the cylinder and the crank was turned...when the cylinder came up, the head popped off.