12v Valve cover gasket job

[Cincy]

Went to replace my leaking valve cover gaskets today and wasnt to happy with my findings. I opened them up and the drivers side cover has a crack across most of the cover. Doesnt seem to be anything but a superficial crack.

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp46/cincyTT/10202010191.jpg

Thats not even the worse part. Under both covers is a severe amount of sludge

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp46/cincyTT/10202010188.jpg

Took me a couple hours to get them to the point of where i was comfortable to put them back in. Sprayed them down with some degreaser, then powerwashed them, then hit them with tons of compressed air.

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp46/cincyTT/10202010192.jpg

The gaskets hard and brittle came out in about 15 pieces.

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp46/cincyTT/10202010193.jpg

Tried to clean up the head the best i could without removing it. Dont think it needs an oil change for another few k miles, but i think i rather throw some seafoam in there and see how that goes. Also if you look below, you can see the o2 sensor has residue from a leaky coolant bottle (also replaced... given the wrong bottle since it used a different cap so i had to steal the one off the TT since its sitting) and there was a bad o2 codes so i may have to remove them again to do the o2's. :bored:

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp46/cincyTT/10202010189.jpg

Hopefully this will improve my mpg and the power i feel im missing.

[hiwords]

wow dude. those VCGs were toasted. i didn't know you got yourself a 12v too

[Cincy]

ive had it for all of two weeks now. hoping a new o2 sensor fixes a few fueling issues along with some vac lines.

Also just had the rotors turned and cleaned up the pads today. About $300 or so all together and she will be running nicely.

[CCA4]

My old 12v was pretty well behaved, makes for a great DD. How's the TT been Cincy?

[Cincy]

Need some new parts and is about to get a turbo swap after the 12v get running like it should.

[ImTheDevil]

I know this may be considered resurrection of a dead thread, but when you cleaned up the underside of the VCs, did you pull those scrubbers off? When we did a friend's 12v, we took them off (they're layered) and soaked them in a bowl of Seafoam for a little while, and then scrubbed them clean with a wire brush. Pretty easy to do and only added 15 minutes or so to the job. I wish my 30v had the same scrubber setup - it doesn't. Would be nice to be able to clean everything as thoroughly as you can on the 12v.