[Minuteman]

Hey, been awhile since I been in here. Decided I need to do something w my Passat which has been sitting for near 2-yrs now. Intended to remove the head to check for piston damage after I ran it into overheating in a bid to get it home. Bad move. Come to realize that it isn't worth my while to try to repair it, I simply don't have the time available to do it.


Body and interior good, even has a tow hitch on it. I hate to junk it so I'm fishing on here for ideas or interested parties. I'm 15 miles South of Raleigh, NC if anyone near is interested in making an offer. I'll post this in the parts section as well....

 

[jjpark]

Hey there.

I am in Ral and might be interested depending on what you have. Feel free to hit me up here or text me. 919-795-9355

 

[Harold]

Tough decision. I was in the same situation with my 2002 1.8T wagon. Water pump gave out and lost all coolant on the freeway. Noticed increased oil consumption afterwards (may also just have been age with 200k miles). Since everything else is still in good shape and the car is so perfect for my mountain biking I decided to make one last attempt. Getting a newer equivalent car would set me back by about $25 - $30k. Took the head off and had it redone. The cylinders and pistons looked to be in decent shape. The big unknown is the condition of the rings but did not feel like pulling the engine. They replaced exhaust guides, all valve seals, and put in a used but good inlet cam for about $350 total. Also noticed turbo damage so instead of just rebuilding I got a new one for about $600. With fluids and seals I'll probably will spend about $1k. If I'm lucky will get a couple more years out of it. If not, it was worth a try and I hopefully will feel better about letting her go. It is a pretty time consuming job (not being a professional mechanic) and my wife thinks I'm crazy but I enjoy doing it so did not mind the time spent.

 

[Minuteman]

Hey jjpark, we've chatted before. I'll get up with you before the weekend is out.

Harold, only $350 to do the valve job? I was hearing that the valves alone were $70 apiece. But that was for the sodium filled valve stems, I guess one could put in less expensive valves w/o the sodium. I was expecting to replace the turbo as well, all the rubber hoses and such. Love the car and the way it drives but I need to cut some of my work out. Too many vehicles to work on!

 

[AndreasPassat]

You can buy aftermarket valves for less than $7 a piece. Who knows how good they are. :hmmm:
Genuine VW/Audi valves are around $65 a piece.

Some of the cars I have worked on I've stripped certain parts off of, valves being one of them. I've got 2 complete sets of (60) valves from V6's. You just never know when you might need them. Not related, but I also keep all of the metal clips from the coolant hoses and wire harness connectors.

 

[Minuteman]

Really, $7 for a valve. Sounds like there is a range of prices to be had. The sodium is supposed to help transfer heat out of the engine so I wonder if with the less expensive valves will the engine run a little hotter? If so is there a timing adjustment to be made? Maybe the temp rise won't be enough to be noticeable....

 

[Harold]

Sorry for the confusion. Did not replace the valves. They were in good shape so they just cleaned and lapped them. I supplied the valve seals for a 20 valves (came as part of the head gasket kit) and they charged me for 8 new exhaust valve guides and a good used intake cam. Would not want to go through all this work and risk it with $7 valves. Even for the turbo got a new Borg-Warner instead of something half price from eBay.

 

[John_E]

I am facing a possible end-of-life decision on my 1996 A4 2.8Q, as well. I just replaced the coilpack (unnecessarily complicated by the OEM routing of the 6 control wires under the intake manifold) and the ignition module. It cranked and started fine, but now I get a flashing temperature warning light, and my VCDS shows "error" for the engine coolant temperature sensor. I am hoping it simply failed and that I did not disrupt its wiring, which would be a royal pain to trace. Fortunately, it is a cheap part, if one does not buy genuine VW/Audi, and the early B5 generation ones are known to fail, and mine has never been replaced, so I have gone ahead and ordered a new one from AutoHaus AZ. If that fixes the problem, I'll try to get another year or so out of the car. Meanwhile, while I was working on the ignition system, one of the two three-pin knock sensor connectors crumbled in my hand, probably from years of sitting right under the hot coolant recovery tank. (The one of the other side doesn't look a lot better.) 2018 was also the year for the integrated headlight / turn signal switch to finish failing, for more window regulator fun-and-games, and for the return spring inside the left rear door latch to fail. I have been able to keep up with all of the repairs so far, but I am starting to dread getting stranded on the freeway.

 

[Minuteman]

Ok, found a mistake in my post. Duh. I'd been away from this car too long....thought it was a 2004, but as in my profile it is in reality a 2002.

I have most of the top half of the engine off - one more bolt in the exhaust manifold, intake is off. Maybe I'll see if I can finish removing the head with two hours this weekend.

 

[AndreasPassat]

You know, I don't know exactly what your up against here but...

Depending on your engine code, a fully loaded 1.8t head can be had for $370. Check here: https://carparts4sale.com/18t-cylinder-head-cams-audi-a4-vw-passat-jetta-golf-beetle-058-103-373-d-cp546880690

 

[Minuteman]

No kiddin. I'll have to do some more digging to see if I can make that work. Much less expensive than I thought it might be....
Thanks AndreasPassat!
:thumbup: