Our polo looks like it froze in the cold weather. In starting the engine it appears that the water pump being frozen caused the cam belt to come off. I have a minimum of 5 valves bent. Does anyone know how to get them out of the head without doing more damage to the valve guides? Or am I automatically looking at a new head?

The pistons are intact but have dings in their heads. The car is a 98 model on a S plate so dont want to spend much on it as its used by the kids as their run around.



Thanks

Ian

If you have dings in your pistons I would sugest a new engine. They could have fractures in them and let go, conrod(s) could have bent etc.

Wouldnt bother trying to repair if that amount of damage is already known, try and get another engine, maybe BREAKING VW POLO 2000 1.0 BLUE - MIRROR on eBay (end time 10-Jan-11 17:30:49 GMT)

Cheers

Rich

Has to be a 2nd hand engine I reckon, not worth chancing the cost and effort of fitting a 2nd hand head to have it go bang. At least with a complete engine change you can do things like fit a new cam belt/water pump/oil filter etc out of the car then just drop it in ready to go. You'll also get to check the clutch as well.

well I might get slated for saying the opposite to all the above but ive seen many engines go back together perfectly well with dings in the pistons even diesels.
never had a problem after either.
of course yours might be the exception.
valves will normally tap out and can normally be replaced with new then a quick lap.
i bought a corsa a while ago after the belt had snapped put 3 valves and a belt and new gasket ran fine for a year then sold it.
as for worrying about bent conrods check the deck height of the pistons
piston crowns are pretty thick by the way
ive heard of ford diesels punching the cam out of the carriers that went on to have replacement heads fitted that ran ok after
remeber its only the kids runaround.
if your doing it yourself it wont cost much and youd fit a new belt to a replacement engine anyway to stop it happening again wouldnt you.
Ray

new valves and related parts (never had to do it myself) if you do the work youself shouldn't cost too much, but a bit of time to do it. if it works then all good, if it goes bang again, then you can still go for that engine swap

I have fitted valve guides in a Polo head before , not difficult but I did turn up a drift to fit inside the guides . Recutting the valve seats was the hardest part of the job