Carnage Pics: The Death of Smokey Eddy's Jetta

[Smokey Eddy]

I know this car SO well now. I realized that i took the whole front assembly, radiator, all the stuff infront of the hole, the battery, the hoses, the IC hoses, the sensor wires, the hard lines, the GP wires off in probably less than an hour...

anyone else feel like they know their car back to front upside down and backwards?


I just realized why that piston is so clean! It smacked the head so hard all the soot just fell off!!!
OR....

when it broke free the injector probably sprayed a couple more times and it cleaned the piston and then dripped down into the oil pan...

[truckinwagen]

I know exactly what you mean by knowing your car, I can rebuild a motor in an afternoon...

your motor looks pretty good, considering what happened.

I would venture to say that new valves, lifters and guides would make that head like new again, ready to be slapped on another short block.

good luck, keep us posted.

[Smokey Eddy]

for all the valves? or just the two that got smacked? The cam is fine. No damage.
i was just going to see if the two that got smacked damaged the guides.  if the valves still move freely in the guides im not going to change them [ for the other 6 ] .  I can assume that the two that got hit are bent somewhere/stuck in the guides.

good time to change stem seals too.

[VW Smokr]

Just caught this thread & saw the carnage. Bummer, Eddy. (My ex-neighbor did that same vented block trick, a couple of days after I adjusted his valves & pump timing... he got too power-hungry & over-revved an 'unknown' engine.) Hope you can get yours back on the road reasonably, and soon.

OTOH thanks for the heads-up on the rod bolts. How many miles did those rods & bolts have on them? That's scary; I've never changed the rod bolts on a VW diesel rebuild. So ARP is the hot ticket for the bolts/nuts? Any part # come to mind for a 1.6L, or will ARP just know which are needed?

It's not assembled yet, but my new 1.6 has already been balanced, so crap, there's some more bucks to dig in the pockets for. I'm guessing a good automotive machine shop can do the pressing, right? I'll probably ask the aircraft engine shop to do that when they do the re-balance (it couldn't be far off with just the bolt/nut changes?). The turned-down intermediate shafts are just to smooth out higher rpm operations, right. Can't see how one would have helped your engine survive any better.

Thanks for posting the graphic warnings and (hopefully) sweet successes.

J.R.
SoCal

[745 turbogreasel]

They are very small and hard to see, but there are diamonds in here.

[Smokey Eddy]

VW Smokr,
they don't have to be ARP if you're running near stock numbers. They are just torque to yield so you can't re-use them.

You dont have to get a shop to press them in either. I'd be more than comfortable hammering them into the rod caps my self.
They are just splined bolts. no biggie. Mine actually moved freely once i had the nuts off them with a light tap of a hammer.

new bolts will not offset the balancing of your crank to pistons.  one would hope the new bolts would have the same mass as the old ones.

745 turbogreasel ,
isn't it crazy how CLEAN that cylinder is?!??
I couldn't get the pistons that clean for the life of me when i had it apart...
the cylinder walls are smooth as GLASS too...

[vanbcguy]

Hey, just reading back through from the beginning - to me it sounds like you must have had problems with your IM shaft first?  Given that you lost brakes and got your oil buzzer before the WHUMP....

Got any carnage pics of the big end of the fried cylinder?  I'm wondering if you lost oil pressure and seized that rod to the crank or something... Either way, BRUTAL.

For what it's worth there's a few VW diesels in the auto parts section of Craigslist right now too... Saw one of the VW wreckers out Langley way has multiple AAZ's right now.

[Smokey Eddy]

Yes i did see that. Also some TDI's. Very tempting but for my budget I've asked Tyler to send me his. It has everything in it and just needs the crank nose to be machined - which i have a friend who can do for me at his work.

Yes, oil pressure does sound like a culprit here. For sure. I think the IM shaft must have siezed or something. I'll see how freely the other rods move when i take the block out this weekend. I'll look for "blueing" too to see if things got hot and starved of oil.

There was still lots of oil up at the cam though but that doesnt mean it was under much pressure...

This was probably a combo of two things. low oil pressure just influenced it to happen quicker.
but... upon a second thought... if the rod siezed to the crank then the engine would have just stopped turning. it would have stalled on idle which it did not. it idled fine.
Up to the throwing of the rod i did notice higher boost & egts. Maybe there was a lack of oil going on.
I always thought/hoped the IM shaft was gear driven.
but ... if the con rod cap was backing off the bolts then maybe that noise was piston slap and the higher egt and boost was me compensating the lack of power from 1 cylinder not firing properly?

dear god... try to imagine what would be happening inside the cylinder if it had even 1mm of loose travel up and down... the compression would be SO high. it would be piston to head kind of compression but without the swirl chamber. Maybe thats why its so clean... it got burnt off

[theman53]

The IM shaft is driven off the timing belt. The other end has the gear that drives the vac pump which drives the oil pump. Take out your vac pump and see if the slot is gone/almost gone. That could explain a little.

[Smokey Eddy]

If the IM shaft wasn't spinning wouldn't i smell burning timing belt? or do you think it would be smooth enough not to melt the belt?

[theman53]

I had an 84 that the belt rubbed the cover so bad it almost wore it to nothing and I never smelled the difference. I only got lucky because I heard it hitting.

[Smokey Eddy]

Ahhh
yeah the im shaft must have siezed up. sigh.
I guess that is something we should all be aware of now. if you have no power brakes at all as in ... nothing what so ever. It could be a much bigger issue that a leaking brake booster or leaking hose from the vacuum pump to the booster...

I thought i was getting low oil pressure (the buzzer and light) because the IM bearings were worn so i didn't think much of it, just planned to replace them that week which was actually just this last tuesday - wasn't soon enough. I also just thought the intermitant braking was a leaking hose because it would come and go right so i didn't think it was a siezed IM shaft... sigh
literally only takes a few km at little to no oil pressure to royally ... stuff up

The stock VW diesel intake manifolds bias airflow to cylinders 2 and 3. This causes cylinders 2 and 3 to have a more lean air/fuel mixture than cylinders 1 and 4, thus producing higher egt's in cylinders 1 and 4 compared to 2 and 3. The other problem that we and other tuners have noticed, is that under big fueling and high boost pressures the number 2 and 3 connecting rods bend while the number 1 and 4 connecting rods escape unscathed. The extra biased airflow from the stock intake manifold increases the peak cylinder pressure on those inner two cylinder and bends the rods prematurely, while also causing extra strain on the rod bearings and crankshaft.

[fatmobile]

Since the I-shaft pully runs off the back of the timing belt,
 hagar suggested some belt dressing on the back of the belt.

That vacuum pump is pretty reliable when it comes to driving the oil pump,
the diaphram type can let loose of the oil pump shaft.

Still couldn't hurt to take a look at the slot the oil pump rides in.

[vanbcguy]

That, and the condition of the IM shaft bearings... Cooked, OK, etc?

[Smokey Eddy]

I've been at work most of this week (which is good, i need the hours) and im also waiting for my friend's hoist to lift the block completely out with. I don't really feel like laying on my back under the car fighting with the oil ban bolts if im going to have it on a stand by the weekend.

I'll be sure to let everyone know. Don't be surprised if there aren't any IM shaft bearings to show because the IM shaft is in about 15 pieces on the side of the highway in the grass somewhere...