G-Teched my 1.6TD - Baseline Runs

[malone]

Update: Jose @ JS Performance has done a little more than I expected when he prepped my 1.6TD; he not only installed my new injection pump and injectors, he also installed the newer water pump from my 1.8L 8v, got new pulleys from a later TD, quickly picked up a new clutch & flywheel, got a few new hoses to clean up the engine (some original hoses were old/dirty, not necessary to replace but worth the cost), installed a longer ratio 5th gear, and a few more... I am pleasantly surprised by his attention towards the motor :thumbup: Not to forget Dave who replaced the intermediate shaft races to improve oil flow to the head.

As of yesterday, the 1.6TD was dropped into the Golf. It's already nearing completion and I cannot wait. I'm going to try to leave work early today so I can go back to JS Performance to get everything connected before starting the engine.

While searching for a MK3 1.9L TD instrument cluster, I was told by a VW wrecker that only 1 out of 30 clusters have a tachometer, while the rest has a clock. 1.9L clusters w/ a tach costs a lot on german ebay, too. So, instead of that I'm going to buy an aftermarket tach with this device:

http://www.dakotadigital.com/i...8.htm

The DSL-2 with a flywheel/cam teeth sensor is an option, but I already have an alternator with a "W" terminal and don't want to spend $45 USD more for DSL-2.

Updated pictures will be posted in a few days.

[veeman]

>>So, instead of that I'm going to buy an aftermarket tach with this device:
>>  http://www.dakotadigital.com/i...8.htm

Please let me know how that works out for you.  I just got Roger's kit with the pump pulley sensor and timing circuit.  I'm planning to use that in my A1 with a normal gas tach.  I got the "bag o' parts option" featured here:

http://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/CheapTricks/Tachometer/index.shtml#Kits

I'm still waiting on a friend to solder it up for me.

[malone]

The Golf TD started up on Friday. It ran great except for an extremely slow boost build-up. We did a test by keeping the wastegate closed all the time. I could only get about 15 PSI by 4,800 RPM. The highest boost I could ever get was 17 or 18.

We figured it might be because of the following:
1) The restrictive stock exhaust including a cat and two mufflers.
2) The wastegate may be stuck partially open.

Yesterday Brett, Felix and I moved the exhaust from the MK2 Jetta to the Golf. It was a direct fit; the exhaust routing of both the MK2 and MK3 are nearly identical. The Golf however has a shorter body so Brett cut the tip off a bit. He also added 90 degree mandrel bent tip facing down to the ground for better soot dispersal. The tip was also spray painted flat black and it looks nice

The exhaust swap alone (2.5" downpipe to 3" exhaust) increased my max. boost to about 24-26 PSI. The turbo still built boost relatively slowly so we figured that there might be a problem with the wastegate. The turbo shaft spins freely with very little play. The blades do not contact the housings.

[malone]

The off-boost performance with the Giles pump (Superior Fuel Injection) is awesome. It's nothing like a NA 1.6D; even my fatter MK3 Golf moves quicker with no boost than a MK2 1.6D. I would say it's comparable to a 1.8L or 2.0L 8v gasser. I was impressed.

If I put the pedal to the floor it smokes like fiery hell, which is exactly what I wanted as I have plans for more airflow in the near future. Partial throttle acceleration doesn't have much smoke, if at all, which is perfectly comfortable for daily driving. This is a very well balanced pump. I'm also running Smog's GTD nozzles.

Yesterday Felix and I left Chilliwack on our way to Abbotsford where he parked his 16v. Felix drove my Golf from Chilliwack (I'm in the Jetta) and he commented that it feels more powerful than his mildly modded 2.0L 16v, which can keep up with stock MK3 VR6s. He used to make fun of me & diesels and was strongly considering a 1.8T, but now he wants a TD

I parked the Jetta TD in Abbotsford, got into the Golf, and Felix went into his 16v. We returned to the highway on our way home.

WOW , the Golf was really quick whenever the boost exceeds 20 PSI. It pinned me back in the seat pretty good. Giles' pump contributed much to the performance.

It was 11:00pm and we continued driving on the highway at speeds of 120km/h to 160km/h until 10 kilometres later, when I felt a sudden loss of power. I quickly glanced down at the water temp gauge and was :eek: to see it exceed 110 degrees celsuis. I quickly pulled over with hazards on and turned off the engine before the car came to a stop.

I popped the hood and the first thing I saw was oil sprayed all over the engine bay, including the hood. The coolant volume went down a bit too.

The radiator fan was not running even with the ignition key in. We hardwired the fan to the battery and it ran OK though. Don't some VW fans continue to run even if the ignition is off? That's what mine did.

There was some oil left in the pan, so after the coolant cooled to 90 degrees I tried cranking the motor and it was very slow and lumpy with no immediate ignition. Didn't sound good too. Called in a tow truck to take the Golf back to Abbotsford, then I drove the Jetta home in North Delta (2:30am).

I went back to Abbotsford at 8:00am this morning and after a quick diagnosis we think it may be just the headgasket/rings. Jose @ JS Performance will pull the head tmw though, so we'll have more details as to what the damage(s) are.

If it's just the headgasket, that'll be a relief. I already have a 1.9L hg that might be wise to install. Raceware head studs would be a good idea as well. The 1.6TD was completely stock with ~200k km during the failure.

After the fixes, a GT20 turbo + exhaust manifold, maybe a gasser intake, and an intercooler will go in. I'm looking forward to eating more VR6s

[malone]

>>So, instead of that I'm going to buy an aftermarket tach with this device:
>>  http://www.dakotadigital.com/i...8.htm

Please let me know how that works out for you.

I just figured that my G-Tech's tachometer does the job, so I'll likely stick with that and not need another aftermarket tach for a while

[Giles@PerformanceDiesel]

sorry to hear about your bad luck

was it the head gasket that failed? with the higher boost and more power?

glad to hear that you're happy with my pump.

keep in touch, if u want any adjustments to the pump let me know
by email.

Giles

[malone]

Thanks Giles. Yes, I'm 90% sure it's just the headgasket that failed due to overboost. The head will be pulled tomorrow (Wednesday June 8 2005).

Finally, a picture of the entire car:


Downturned exhaust tip on the left:


I took the picture below while the Golf was following me on a highway. This was approx. 1 hour before it broke down I really miss driving it. If it's only a headgasket damage, I'm hoping it'll be back on the road this weekend as I already have a 1.9L headgasket I should have installed earlier! I might have to wait for Raceware headstuds too, though.

[fspGTD]

malone - do you know what kind of EGTs you were hitting at those high fuel and boost levels?

[DVST8R]

Unfortunatly I know the answer to this. He doesn't as the egt gauge wasn't hooked up as we were going to install the GT20 turbo and manifold but didn't have the right lines for the oil return. We didn't have a plug for the old manifold and didn't want to swap manifolds, so we just left it without for what we thought would be a day or so, unfortunatley this happened, before we had the chance to get the turbo's swaped.

[fspGTD]

Let us know if you find any clues, malone.  Good luck and sorry to hear about this set-back!

Given the observation of elevated coolant temps, it's likely the head warped and let combustion gasses pass by it.  This would overpressurize the coolant system and let coolant out of the pressure relief valve and also inject air into the coolant system, causing a vicious cycle of more and more overheating as soon as the leak started.  Hopefully the head settled back into "flat" position after the temps cooled back down, and didn't take on a permanent warped shape.  Although usually these head gaskets will not re-seal once they let combustion gasses pass by.

The chain of events and the original cause is a mystery though...  this is a hard one to diagnose.  I've had a sticking thermostat cause this before.  It would let some coolant by it so was OK if you babied the engine, but the temps would get pretty hot if you used power for very long.  I actually was the one who damaged it, physically bending it by accident when I was installing it at one point.  Learned the importance of installing the thermostat cover squarely and tightening the two retaining bolts evenly from that.  And then on dad's Rabbit, recently a faulty coolant pressure relief valve caused overpressurization of the system, which cracked the expansion tank, and let coolant escape through the cracks.  Eventual low coolant levels resulted in an overheat and blown head gasket - again combustion gasses were escaping into the cooling system.

[malone]

Thanks for the details fspGTD, it's good to know. What would cause the pressure that forced a lot of oil out of the dipstick tube?

I'm still quite anxious as to see what the damage(s) are; I will be leaving work at around lunchtime today so we can pull the head. Jose was too busy to do it himself yesterday. I'll post the details in this thread later, and hopefully others can learn from this.

A fellow vwdiesel.net member is kind enough to ship a 1.9L TD head soon in exchange for my spare ALH TDI head, so if I need another TD head it won't be a problem. The 1.9 head will need to be rebuilt though.

I'm hoping the pistons/block are OK (in case the EGT was too high). If not, the injection pump, transmission, and other parts will have to be reinstalled to a new block, then re-do the timing... all this in less than 1 week since the initial swap was completed.

Spike, if you're reading this, can you include a 1.9L bracket (for alternator, etc.) in the shipment with the head? Thanks.

Can anyone advise where I can find a 1.6TD block? I'd like to find another source or two so I can prepare to buy a block ASAP if I have to. A local wrecker has a complete 1.6TD motor (188,000km) with pump & turbo for $1,250, or $1,000 CAD ($800 USD) with core TD return. I could part out the 1.6 head, turbo, and pump to get some $ back.

Thanks,
Mark

[andy2]

I overheated my 1.6td not too long ago, my motor mount managed to smash the fan schroud in on a vicious launch and by the time I hit a high speed (170km/hr) on a side road I started to loose power I then kept my foot into it with 24 psi boost and alot of fuel and I seen grey/white smoke coming out the tailpipe.When she stalled I opened the hood to see oil everywhere coming out of my dipstick tube and my crank case dump hose to the ground. I pulled the head off and  the cylinders were badly scored so the oil that was forced out was due to the massive blow-by.I hope this is not the fate of your engine but it sure sounds like it .I guess I should add that my pyro was bottomed out at 1500 degrees for mabye 15 seconds,however I do know for sure that this was not the problem it just simply overheated.

[malone]

Yeah, it was definitely a blow-by.

Bad news: scored cylinder walls.

Good news: the head gasket is in one piece :roll:





The following are pictures of the worst cylinder:








The head just sitting in the back of the Golf:




Live & learn.

A few options to get the car running again:

1) Bore the block to get rid of the scores. Can run 79.5mm (1.9L) pistons. A 3mm bore should clear the damage well. New bearings, new gaskets. I'm probably looking at $3,300 CAD for all new parts including a head rebuild w/ 3-angle valve job. It will become a pratically new engine with good performance potential. I won't be doing the complete rebuild labour myself as I'm not proficient enough for that task.

2) Get an used 1.6TD longblock with pump & turbo for $1,000 CAD. It has 180,000km and comes with warranty. I can sell the pump and turbo so in the end it may cost me roughly $500 CAD. I should ask if their warranty lasts more than 3 days

I'm currently exploring other options.

Option #1 is appealing at first, but I'm not in the best financial position for that right now, and it's discouraged by the fact that I can import a low km euro PD130 or PD150 complete longlock for the same price delivered to my door. The PD has better fuel economy (for the power) and more power potential. On the other hand, if I ever switch to a PD, I might be bothered by the fact that all the time & money spent on the 1.6TD swap has gone down the toilet in just 3 days. I'll be happier to have a 1.6TD again and get back on the road soon. Further, I need to work on my Jetta TDI project.

[malone]

The coolant was in fact 95% water. We were going to flush it and put in full glycol coolant the next day.

Could it be possible that the engine overheated more easily with water, since water doesn't dissipate heat well during a long sustained run? Or is EGT to blame for the cylinder damage?

[QuickTD]

Water is the best coolant to use in your engine. It has far better heat transfer characteristics than ethylene glycol antifreeze. The 2 unfortunate things about water are that it freezes and it rusts/corrodes everything, making antifreeze a necessity. Most racers use straight water or water with a corrosion inhibitor such as redline water wetter.

  I doubt that the straight water was a factor in your "meltdown". I would lean towards high piston temps as the cause. The #4 cylinder has the poorest coolant flow around it so it appears to have sustained the most damage while #1 appears relatively unscathed. When you get the next one built I would suggest that you get the pyrometer installed before you do too much 160km/h cruising...