Hi guys!

I had to move out of my country for almost a year and i left the car parked in a place where rats were common and I didn't notice, thanks God the rats didn't chew the electrical system, but the interior is almost destroyed, seats plastic panels and they bit the distribution belt.

I have had nightmares with mechanics here in my country (it is one of the worse and most mediocre mechanic practice you can find in the world (it is an statistic) so i have to be extremely carefully when letting the mechanic to work on the car.

The area where the distribution belt is was full of rat pop, and the pop stuck between the pulley and the belt teeth, so when starting the car, the belt jumped then broke.

The mechanic found some light bent valves, we are going to replace it, the seals and the head gasket.

But here my first request for help:

I got This head gasket. (the only brands available in my country are, Victor Reinz, Topran and Vika.

I got the Victor Reinz due recommendation about its quality, but when I went to oscaro.es to make sure it is the right for my car (2002 Fabia 1.9 SDi) the part number does not match, the wholes and the design is exact the same but there is no coincidence with the part number i have and the ones i see in Oscaro website for my car, then I thought that maybe the one i got here in my country is not for my car.

Here are pictures of the ones I got

As I said, it is a Victor REINZ 61-31325-20 1.61mm thickness

Even choosing from a web site, with all the car's info right, it shows me (in the same brand) different thickness, from 1.47 to 1.73mm, how do I know which is the right for my car?

Edited 10 March, 20251 yr by Kharl

Nobody?

I assume the different thickneses are if you have had to have head skimmed and by how much. The part number on the new gasket when searched in Vic Reinz cross ref gives OE 038103383E which according to Skodaparts.com is for the octavia 1.9sdi AGP 1997-2000. It may fit the fabia 1.9sdi but not sure what engine code you have. I would use https://web.tecalliance.net/reinz/en/home and see what part numbers they come up with. If the head has to be skimmed then you should be able to choose a slightly thicker gasket.

Alasdair

4 hours ago, Alasdair1 said:

I assume the different thickneses are if you have had to have head skimmed and by how much. The part number on the new gasket when searched in Vic Reinz cross ref gives OE 038103383E which according to Skodaparts.com is for the octavia 1.9sdi AGP 1997-2000. It may fit the fabia 1.9sdi but not sure what engine code you have. I would use https://web.tecalliance.net/reinz/en/home and see what part numbers they come up with. If the head has to be skimmed then you should be able to choose a slightly thicker gasket.

Alasdair

My engine code is ASY

Edited 14 March, 20251 yr by Kharl

No, the different thicknesses are for piston crown to block deck height, since you're not changing anything then you simply need a duplicate of whichever gasket is already fitted.

19 hours ago, sepulchrave said:

No, the different thicknesses are for piston crown to block deck height, since you're not changing anything then you simply need a duplicate of whichever gasket is already fitted.

That is what I thought

I dont suppose there is an OE part number on the old gasket that is readable if its been removed yet or perhaps a Skoda dealership you could contact for the correct part number

Alasdair