About a year ago the headgasket blew on my tdi 110 asv,i was advised by my mechanic to have the head skimmed as there were some marks where it had gone but i took forum advice and didnt get it done as it causes problems. its now gone again with the same symptoms so im going to swap the head now. Its an ASV engine but i cant find a whole engine or a head anywhere! so im going to put an ALH head on it as there the same (from what ive read) thing is what would i do about the headgasket thickness as theres 3 types (1hole 2 hole and 3hole) i dont want to put the wrong gasket on after all this!

To be honest I would have skimmed it the first time round.

Is it too far gone now to be skimmed?

If in doubt fit the thickest gasket.

What are the symptoms?

symptoms are: heater goes cold when i get my toe down (makes an airlock i suppose) and it spits water out the overflow - by over pressurusing the cooling system. its blown between a cylinder and a water wAy.

i was advised against skimming by many various VAG forum members as if its warped and i have it skimmed the cam saddles may not sit right therefore stopping the cam rotating

I dont have personal experience of your type of engine but if the head needed skimming & wasnt done then thats why your new gasket has failed again,i always get the cylinder heads checked/skimmed if req on every head gasket job i do.I cant see how skimming the head properly would affect the cam bearings(only problem i could see is if to much is taken off the head which could leave valve to piston contact),if a head cant be skimmed then its time for a new one!

I have to agree with the above did you get the Head checked last time to see if it was warped?

Id look at getting it checked out as any good machine shop will know if its too far gone to be off any use.

You also dont know what a secondhand head will be like either.