Originally Posted by kaiser (Post 1985877)

This is a repeat from another thread:

I hate to admit it, but my 1.8T is going again. It has just done 15000km since the last head gasket repair, and I did it myself, as well as it can be done.

The car has gradually started to use water, and now it is pressurising the coolant system and a pipe has blown.
Three of the spark plugs show signs of water, and there is no doubt in my mind, the gasket is going. No other symptoms and no oil/water mix. Just high pressure and water in the cylinder(s) and general water loss.

I recently tried to re-torque the engine bolts, to see if I could maybe save the day, and first slackened them of in sequence. I made a note of the torque required to "break" each bolt, and that varied from 25 to 40 Nm. It had no effect, at least not positive.

And a similar story. A couple of years ago, I had head gasket failure on a 7MGE Toyota Cressida engine. I bought new gaskets and had the head skimmed and valves sorted. Fitted the head and read up about the torque. From memory it stated that the recommended torque was 70Nm, but there is general agreement that that figure is too low, so I gave it 90Nm.
All was well for about 5000km, and it went again. I took the head in to be skimmed again, and spoke to the owner of the business, he asked if I had re-torqued the head, and I said no, but I had given it extra torque. He went into the computer and came back and said the head had to be re-torqued after the first 800km. I fitted the head, torqued to 90 again and drove about 1000km. Then I re torqued all bolts again, and the most telling aspect is, that when "breaking" the bolts, they all were about 40Nm, that is less than half the original torque. So a settling of the gasket, and all sorts of heat and cooling effects, had brought the permanent torque to less than half of the original torque.
I have now driven that engine a great distance and all is well.

I am just quietly wondering if we are under torquing these k-4 engines? and further, if we would maybe not gain from re-torquing the head after say 1000km?

I know these are stretch bolts and all that jazz, but 3 spark plugs showing signs of water sounds like either a general lack of torque, or sunken liners on three cylinders.

And, I sealed the liners with Loc-Tite when installing them, so time will tell.

Time to take the head off.

The head has now come off, and it is clear that water has come past the fir rings especially on the two middle cylinders, on the pictures towards the bottom of the screen.

Any idea why?

I have written to Victor Reinz for their opinion, as I would really like to avoid a repeat!.All liners are proud, the head was skimmed and flat, new bolts, correct torque and procedure. No subsequent overheat, no mixing water and oil, only water in the cylinders and pressure in the cooling system.