mk1 1.8gti head gasket

I am in the process of replacing the head gasket and have noticed the old and new gaskets partially block the water ways in the head.  Is there any cutting out required when fitting a new gasket?  There are only small holes in the gasket to allow water through and this has led to some becoming completely blocked with crap, this cant be right??

:dontknow: is it an original VW Gasket?

if not, might be worth paying a pound or two more for peice of mind

daniboy123

hi mate


Don't cut the gasket it will be ruined and useless , your new head gasket should match the old one exactly - hole for hole- if not its the wrong one . Do not worry about hole sizes as long as they are the same . Crud in the holes over time can be caused by not running the car with the correct coolant / antifreeze [it prevents corrosion building up ] . Its worth cleaning the waterways while the heads off with a suitable brush and flushing the cooling system once when you have finished with clean water and then filling with the correct coolant mix .

Match the headgaskets up like for like and you will be fine [ take the old one to your supplier if in dought ] read the manual twice first though and the gasket swop will be quite easy . Good luck with it ………

i've just done the head gasket on mine. had the same head scratching moment when i came to put the new gasket on. the old one i took off also didn't match up with the head but had obviously been running fine. one thing that did confuse me though was in the haynes manual it said that you had to lay the gasket so that the extra bit that sticks out on the gasket should be directly above the engine number to the right of the block. when i lined it up this way i noticed that one of the big holes on the gasket didn't match one of the oil channels running up the block. i flipped the gasket over and then it matched, anyone else have this dilema??

also, since putting it all back together the car runs lovely except for after about 5 minutes of idling oil begins to seep out of the rocker cover onto the injection and exhuast manifolds, causing lots of smoke. i've tried refitting the rocker gasket again, but the same. the replacement rocker gasket  is a cork one, so was wondering if by putting sealant in there too i may be preventing it from sealing propertly with the cover?? any suggestions??

I always use the red (non silicone) on gaskets.