Need help, my rabbit is dying

[NintendoKD]

Ok, I can do all of the maintenance on the car just short of machining, so here goes.  The problems started when I bought the car for $700.00 , I should have known that it was too good to be true.  I got a third owner 80' vw rabbit diesel L in pretty darn good shape too and the engine ran to boot.  I have had the car for a week and the original owners have disconnected their lines "no I did not stalk them"  I should have known that something was fishy when they told me to meet them at a grocery store.  Anyway, about five days into this now and there is oil in the coolant, an obvious leak around the water pump "upon closer inspection" so I am guessing a bad head gasket.  Got some odd idling/ engine dying spontaniously, checked on here and re-checked my lines.  I had air in my lines but that was an easy five minute fix by cutting the line and re-attaching.  Once that problem was out of the way the engine ran great for a couple of days, keep in mind that I had no idea that the water pump needed to be rebuilt or that there was oil in the water yet.  I changed the oil, and put in a new air filter "noticing the crappy hooks didn't seal right once re-installed"  filled her up, and went home.  To start this car the gentleman before told me that the toggle for the glow plugs was broken and he rigged it to a clamp that you can touch to the battery for about five seconds to get the engine started in the morning.  This worked great except it heated up and always worried me.  One day the engine stalled and the dash lights, clock and everything else in the car wouldn't work.  I got home, and trouble shot the system as only I can and tried everything and after nothing worked out of complete and total defeat and suffering I removed the fuze box and... something popped.  Put in the key and voila, the wiring harness had been hacked all to hell because at some pont in the vehicles life the A/C had been removed and wires had just been pulled, cut, and were every which way from right.  After some routine maintenance, and changing out a busted taillight, and installing two batteries in the rear of the vehicle "set up for 12V but for higher current output".  The starter would no longer work like an idiot I thought that it was a battery problem and tried to jump it with no success.  The starter works but you have to jimmy it just rght to get it to start just one time then the whole process starts over again I'm thinkin solenoid, but cannot be sure until I have it tested.  After this I started the engine and took her for a test drive, and boy what a drive it was, it seemed like the car had been given new wings, but this was shortlived as when I returned home the engine stalled.  I started it back up only to the sound of what I can only describe as a monkey wrench dancing inside my engine wth ringing and banging veeeerryyy loud!  I turned it back off and began investigating, that's when I found my bad water pump, I know there is an oil problem because after just a couple of days after filling her up wth oil I not only have oil pressure problems but oil in my cooland.  I need help  I need a new master gasket set from somewhere, I have a brand new thermostat, adn I need to change the head gasket cam and crank seals, and seals for most of the other components of the system "I like to play it safe"  I also nee dto rewire the whole car, so If someone has an e-bntley manual and can send me the necessary page sit would be awesome as I don't have a bentley for this one yet.

thanks,

Kevin

P.S. this thing is doing something extremely annoying, When I wromt this post I wanted to stay at t he part where my text was but this stupid thing kept taking me back to the beginning. I must apoligize about my spelling but as you can see I can't go back

[Rabbit on Roids]

wow man, that rabbit is really giving you the finger. i hate it when they do that. and that really sucks it doesnt run right. im kinda thinking its probably gonna come down to replacing the fuel pump.

[NintendoKD]

Is that really what is wrong?, I want to be sure before I go crazy and dissassemble her.

[NintendoKD]

maybe it's not a head gasket? no unburned smoke except at initial start and that is minimal and not black.  I just dont know rod, bearing, mainbearing? piston, glowplug, valve. or somehting in the head?  What sounds like a monkey wrench dancing in the engine sounds like it's also coming from the exhaust.

[maxfax]

Welcome to old VW diesel ownership!!!    It's not always this bad.. Sounds like you just got someone else's mess to clean up...

THe oil in the coolant is a head gasket..  Unless it was recently replaced and there is residual oil in the cooling system.. From what you have described so far I'm betting it hasen;t though...

I would get to the bottom of the noise first and foremost!!   Do not run it anymore!!!!  First thign to check is the timing belt..  Make sure it didn't jump..   Spin the engine over by hand and see if you can hear/feel anything...  Next thing would be to drain the oil and look for signs of metal in it..  Metal means bearing failue which probably means the engine will need to come out of there..   You coudl pull the pan and do some initial inspections..   

If nothing turns up in those checks probably you next step would be to pull the head and see what you got in there...

[arb]

Welcome to old VW diesel ownership!!!    It's not always this bad.. Sounds like you just got someone else's mess to clean up...

THe oil in the coolant is a head gasket..  Unless it was recently replaced and there is residual oil in the cooling system.. From what you have described so far I'm betting it hasen;t though...

I would get to the bottom of the noise first and foremost!!   Do not run it anymore!!!!  First thign to check is the timing belt..  Make sure it didn't jump..   Spin the engine over by hand and see if you can hear/feel anything...  Next thing would be to drain the oil and look for signs of metal in it..  Metal means bearing failue which probably means the engine will need to come out of there..   You coudl pull the pan and do some initial inspections..   

If nothing turns up in those checks probably you next step would be to pull the head and see what you got in there...

Add to this advice you can pull the valve cover and oil pan to get a fairly good look at the internals while the engine is in the car. Deffinately don't run it any more with that sound.

[NintendoKD]

good advice, changing the oil is muuch cheaper than replacing the engine, I'll do it and see what I can see.  Ho wwill I know if the belt jumped, and more importantly, THEY CAN DO THAT!!!???   The valve cover comes off soon, is there supposed to be oil in the intake, I just replaced the oil filter and it is soaked.  Sorry about all of the questions but rabbitownersclub is too slow and there are more members/enthuziasts here.  I am also a diesel noob but still learning. 

Thanks,

Kevin
P.S. my other cars are an 01' MR2 Spyder, 54 plymouth savoy, suzuki reno, mazda MPV, 78'rabbit VR6 MID engine AWD project...... yeah, I think thats it

[maxfax]

Belts can indeed jump, but it's usally due to either failure of the belt itself, or failure of a related component (tensioner and such)  Generally if the belt did jump there will be some visable damage, or it'll be really loose..  PLan on chaning it at any rate, these are an interfereance engine, By the sounds of it who knows when it was changed last, plus the leaky waterpump was probably bathing it pretty good as well..

Check out http://vincewaldon.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=28 for the timing procedure, that should give you something to reference whether the belt is right...

How much oil is in the intake??   A little is normal, alot (as in puddles) is excessive blow by..  In later years they started putting a plastic oil baffle under the valve cover (when they introduced hyro lifters I believe).. This will help with oil in the intake...

[NintendoKD]

Sweet! you are the best brother, I don't have a bentley yet, so procedures are going to be a BIG! help.  There are nice puddles, but what causes it, and is it bad?  I have a baffle for a gasser, will it work? will hydro lifters from a gasser work? I have those too, and if I have to take off the head, then I might as well change to hydro lifters, better, right?  The belt has tension and everything appears to work properly since there are no plugs "like a gasser" there is no way for me to see if the TDC is good with the cam's timing without removing the head, or is there??? Any way thanks for all of your help so far, tis is good stuff.

Thanks,

Kevin

[maxfax]

The puddles are basically engine oil blown in the intake through the breather by the blowby gasses.. Some oil in the intake is normal since a diesel has no intake vacuum for a typical PCV system..  Alot of oil in there usually means the rings are getting bad..  Although the baffle will help this out..

 Another thing that can cause this is a vacum leak between the vac pump and booster, or the booster itself..   The vac pump exhaust is routed into the crank case..   If there is a leak in the vac system it will suck more air in which in turn will leave more air to exhaust out... This extra air pressure in the crank case pushes more gasses and oil out the breather..

Alot of oil being blown into the intake can be VERY bad as it could lead to a condition known as "engine runaway"..  These darn little buggers will run on darn near anything, engine oil included.. IF the engine oil is being blown in the intake from the breather you have no control over the engine speed (diesels vary their engine speed by the amount of fuel injected)..  So lettng off the gas or shutting the key off will not stop it..   Kind of a vicious cycle, the faster the engine runs the more oil it blows out, the more oil going in the intake the faster the engine runs..   Not pretty!!! The only way to stop one at this point is to dump the clutch and stall it..

I believe the gasser baffle will work fine, but you can't put hydraulic lifers in a solid lifter head..   There are not provisions to get oil pressure to them...   The mechanical lifters are pretty much trouble free..  I think the interval to check the clearance is 20K miles..  I generally do it when I change the timing belt at 60K since I have the V/C off anyhow...   Although I rarely have to adjust them...   It has also been debated that the solid lifter engines make more power..  I can;t say either way on this, but I can say I have fewer headaches with them...

The only way to check the cam position is to remove the valve cover, no need to pull the head for that though...

[NintendoKD]

Not sure if I'm going to need it yet but where can I get a maser rebuild kit for this thing?  What I mean by that is when I rebuilt my inline 6 for the 54' plymouth I got all of the engine seals, piston rings, pistons rods, bearings...... basically, everything I needed to rebuild the engine from just the block and head.  Does anyone do that? or will I have to shop around? "most bang for buck" is the objective here.  If not could you point me in the right direction here?  My wife has been through this with my other cars and is not too happy about one more, so the little I spend the better, to the point of low quality components "that I just can't do"  No junkyard in my area has this engine or any diesel for that matter.  Also, If I need to dissassemble the engine are there any mods I can do while it's out ex. holes for increased oil flow, removing excess material, etc. I would like to do what I can to keep from having to take this thing out again and avoid the machinist at all costs as well as preserve the originality of the car "in the event I ever do wish to sell......NOT!"

Thanks,

Kevin

[maxfax]

I know what you mean as far as a complete rebuild kit...   I've never specfically bought an entire rebuild kit but I'm sure they are out there, that or one of the vendors would probably work with you..

AS far as vendors who sponsor this forum there is:

Performance Diesel - Get in touch with "burn_your_money" or "Giles@performancediesel"
We also have Myke_w

There is also vwdieselparts.com , http://partsplaceinc.com/

I know I am gonna hear it for even mentioning this one but there is also emiata.com aka dieselvw.com aka a few other websites.. Commonly refered to as "Prothe" which is also his handle on ebay..  The reason I'm sure I'll hear it is that some of his parts are of questionable quality and origin..   His rebuilt injection pumps have been historically crap.. I've bought pistons and some other odds and ends and felt they were fine, I believe it was Smokey eddy got one of his heads and it was okay, not great but better than nothing..   His prices are hella cheap, I'd like to say his customer service has been improving..  I guess I would say use your best judgement and ask around for testimonials of his parts before you jump at a deal...

A little note about piston rings, the Top Line rings have not worked well for me, I believe it was Zukigod that had problems with their pistons as well...  Grant and Goetze have always worked well for me..  There's another brand out there that I can;t think of I've heard good reports about..

If you are gonna go at it whole hog, send the head to a machinist and have it pressure tested, and most likely it will need re surfaced..  A valve grind may not hurt pending on the condition..

I'm guessing you have a 1.5L..  Oversized pistons are near non existant...  These early engines also used 11mm head bolts that were trouble to say the least..  Inspect around the head bolt holes on the block for cracks, if it's questionable have it magnafluxed..    You will need head studs with the 11mm stuff..   No if's ands or buts.. Not only does it prevent repeat head gasket failures, it prevents the block from cracking..  The 11mm bolts were a bit too short and only thread into the block about a half inch..  Not near enough for the compression...

Inspect the intermediate shaft bearings closely..  Especially the one out by the pulley..  These have been known to chip away...   Check out the FAQ, myke_w has a great write up about improvements that can be done on the main bearings..  I used clevite bearings on my engine that do the same thing already..

Have the injectors tested or plan on replacing/rebuilding them..  Generally it's said they are good for 50 - 60K miles..  The engine still may run okay with worn injectors, but you'd be amazed at the power and economy of fresh ones.. 

Replace that timing belt AND tenstioner..   Rather cheap comparted to the expense of a failed belt...

I'm sure there have been some things I have forgotten, hopefully someone will chime in and add that..  I know I;ve seen some other vendor names tossed around as well..

Speak up folks!!!  It's 3am and I'm outta cigars!!!

[arb]

There is also vwdieselparts.com , http://partsplaceinc.com/

I live near these guys. 30 years ago, they were _the_ place... now, the owner has sold the parts place inc business to his daughter. So far so good. Problem is he still owns the bone yard next to the shed he moved his daughters business into. He charges her a steep price for the parts he supplies to her (New and used). As a result, most of that you see in their catalog is no longer available and the prices are going to be steeper, not to mention the customer service has fallen on the floor.

Family Feud.

The last master rebuild kit I bought was through JC Whitney, but I don't know if they still can get them. NAPA might be a good choice.

[NintendoKD]

wow lotta information, good stuff, I have one "leaky injector"so good idea to relace them.  They appear as if they have never been relaced 205,209 on the ODO and I still haven't tracked down the original owners, o find out maintenance history, which would help.  Head studs, from ARP I imagine, dimensions mentioned, I can check the block and head for warping etc. Have one of those straight ege thingy's that machinists use and a flashlight to check for dimples etc.  I want to avoid the machinist at all costs because there is no quality machining here in the desert anymore, and The only guy around's work is questionable and exspensive at best.   I can clean the valves and determining whether they are good or not is pretty easy I know a guy with a valve grinder and can do 3-angle jobs on my own.  I can alo port the head "although veeery time consuming" I have done it before and can do it again, polish the exhaust, What I really need is a Bentley, all of the dissasembly, reassembly ino clearances, head stud torque specs etc.  Is there anyone that has a spare?  I promise I'll give it back "with only a few greasy fingerprints" JK.

Thanks soo much you guys,

Kevin

[Rabbit on Roids]

you wont find head stud torque in a bently yo...