Spent many hours dismantling my engine to remove cylinder head but always in the back of my mind I was wondering if the clutch which has the timing marks on it was incorrectly installed making the process impossible. Searching tinternet last night came across a site called vincewaldon.com where a comment was made suggesting clutch installers have been known to get the things on wrong becuase they use those bloody air impact tools which squashes the cover plate assembly on even if its not correctly alligned.
So as suggested I removed number 4 injector, easiest to get to, and fed a small wire down through the swirl chamber so I could tell when the piston is at the top. Ladies can stop reading at this point.
Well, turns out my timing marks are way out!
Luckily I havent actually taken the head off yet, couldnt get the bloody turbo off, so I just need to order some gaskets and stuff then I can put it all back together and try again. What a fecking ballache.
Thanks to the marvellous internet and especially to vincewaldon.com, always trust a Vince, who has spent hours putting down in good English that you can understand everything you ever need to know about a VW engine. 




