Hi Folks:

Have owned my '85 244Ti since it was 3 1/2 years old. Never a problem with the motor in 231,000 miles. Recently I experienced difficulty starting, a very uneven idle and hardly any power when it did start. The car really wasn't driveable. In monkeying around with the car I discovered that compression was super low (about 50 psi) in cylinders 2 & 3. Today I let her idle for about half an hour in my driveway. Let her cool down and then pulled the plugs....you guessed it, #2 & #3 look brand new against #1 and #4. Also have some nasty sludge floating around in my expansion tank.

I plan to keep this car "forver." Instead of just replacing the headgasket, I am thinking about rebuilding the engine. At the very least, I would have the valves done and drop the pan to replace the oil pump and con-rod bearings (assuming this can be done with the motor in the car). If I replace the rings, do I have to mess with the bore?

I have never done anything like this before, so please pardon my ignorance. I have pulled the turbo before so removing the head does not seem all that daunting, but not sure where to go from there. Any suggestions, tips, hints, etc. would be very helpful.

TIA,
Charles