What are my options?

[TurboTwo]

Hi my name is Brandin, I frequent some forums, but it's my first time posting here.

I have a 1993 Jetta 1.9TD, and it has some major problems.  Currently it does not run and I'm pretty sure it needs a new head, but I'll start from the beginning.

I was on a road trip and about 150k into the trip I noticed my engine had a loud irregular sound coming from it, and seemed a little down on power. I had checked all the fluids before we set off, so I just kept going.  A couple hours later we were even more down on power, could barely accelerate past 100km/h, and had thick black smoke when we did.  Eventually the oil light came on, and we shut it down on the interstate outside some hick town in Minnesota.  I checked the oil level, and it was fine.  After speaking with some guys at a repair shop they told us our only hope of getting it fixed was in Fargo, and that we likely had a cracked head and driving it probably wouldn't break anything that wouldn't already need to be replaced.  We rented a car and went on with our trip.

A few days later we tried driving it back to Fargo, and 5 miles outside Fargo it completely quit on us.  It won't start, but the engine turns over.  We towed it back to Canada, and pulled the valve cover off.  Several parts inside were broken and flying around in the head, the cam is severely gouged, and there's damage to the head itself.  When I drained the oil pure antifreeze came out for a couple seconds before any oil did.  

So my questions are, how likely is it that there's bottom end damage?  Which parts from the head can I safely re-use?  How much does a TDI crank fix typically cost?  How much do rebuilt/used heads typically go for?

Thanks

[TurboTwo]

Anybody?

[4KTD]

Hey there... that sucks.  Maybe you should just get a used engine and slap it in.  You might need a new head, a rebuild place won't accept your old head as a core if it's that badly damaged.  Sounds like you lost oil pressure and the head gasket.  Where you you live in Canada (near Winnipeg)?

[burn_your_money]

Pretty much 100% sounds like the crank pulley problem. You are probably looking at a new complete head, new pistons, machining the crank nose and depending on the block specs, maybe an overbore.

Where in Canada are you?

I know it is too late now, but you should not have listened to the mechanic. When you got to his shop you probably just had a few bent valves and a worn crank nose.

Pretty much every AAZ motor will die from this, unless the crank issue is taken care of.

How many KMs are on the engine?

[Patrick]

It's possible the whole engine is junk. If that antifreeze ran through the oil pump and bearings the crank will be toast, probably the intermediate shaft too. Better start looking for an engine, it will be cheaper than fixing what you've got. You can put in another AAZ, or a 1.6 will fit too if you run across a decent one.  I.6 won't have near the horsepower though.

[Dirtrag2]

another one bites the dust due to Gasser mechanics general lack of knowledge on how diesels run  :roll:
depending where you live a replacement can be had cheaper than fixing yours. Montreal is pretty much the VW diesel capital of Canada.

[TurboTwo]

Montreal is pretty much the VW diesel capital of Canada.

Haha, sounds about right! JK!

Yeah I'm in Winnipeg.  Used engines seem scarce and very expensive around here.  How much work is it to swap in a 1.6?  I really don't care about hp, that's what my MR2 Turbo is for :twisted:

So basically what I'm gathering is that there's very little point trying to rebuild what I've got.  That's disappointing.  I guess maybe I'll just browse the FS section here and keep an eye out for an engine.  Or maybe I'll just part it or scrap it.  Tough call.

Thanks for the responses guys and girls (if there are any on here)!

[burn_your_money]

I've swapped in a 1.6TD into a MK3 before, it's not too bad.

[TurboTwo]

I guess the next step would be to pull the oil pan and inspect the bearings?

[Smokey Eddy]

inspect everything.
If bits were flying around anywhere i'd say check everything except for tranny and cv's
That is such a sad sad tale  :cry:
sounded a bit like my coolant dump + over heat on the trans canada until you said the part about broken bits.