Glitter in the 710

[maxfax]

Or better known as metal flakes in the oil..   Friend of mine just picked up a '00 Jetta (ALH??) at auction..  Can't remember the mileage for sure, I think it was in the 160K range..  Since it's an auction car there's no history whatsoever on the thing, and most likely the thing was at auction because of what's in the story below...

 Anyhow, he drove it about 60 miles to get it home..  Checked the oil and there was metal flakes showing up on the dip stick.. (don't ask me why he didn't check this before he bought it)  He changed the oil and drove it around locally for a bit checking the oil on a daily basis.. After a week or so of this he started driving it to work (120 miles round trip) and continued checking the oil on a daily basis but saw no signs of glitter on the dipstick.. After about 3000 miles he decided to change oil, and low and behold it was sparkly..  Dunno if it could have been some residual crap left in the engine or not, but at that point he parked the car..  He made mention that it did consume a quart of oil over those 3k miles..

I took a listen to it tonight..  No abnormal noises, no oil pressure issues as per the factory warning system, and it runs as it should..  Haven't stuck an oil pressure gauge to it yet...

IIRC, the ALH doesn't have an IM shaft so I'm guessing main and rod bearings would probably be the best area to start looking..  Any other thoughts/suggestions if I can't pawn the job off on someone else?

[rallydiesel]

Depends on what he wants to do with it. He could just run it as is if you just wants the car for a short while. If I was keeping the car, I would pull the head and oil pan and check everything over.

[the caveman]

As with any TDI with an IP [not sure about PD's and CR 's] I would suspect a piston . Besides almost every one with engine issues, two that i saw which ran out of oil ,had main and rod bearings that were still okay, but had at least one piston worn.

[maxfax]

Depends on what he wants to do with it. He could just run it as is if you just wants the car for a short while.

I told him about the same thing..  He did stop driving it as to not cause any more damage, but I'm not sure how far he wants to go with it..   I got the feeling that if it were a matter of dropping the pan and throwing bearings at it it would be okay, but if it's something heading towards a major tear down he may just pass it along... I'm thinking at this point he'd just like to have an idea of what he may be potentially dealing with...  At the least he seem to be on the same page as me as far as it would be better to fix this engine up properly than to take a chance on a used mystery motor...

As with any TDI with an IP [not sure about PD's and CR 's] I would suspect a piston . Besides almost every one with engine issues, two that i saw which ran out of oil ,had main and rod bearings that were still okay, but had at least one piston worn.

This was my thought as well.  I did pop the V/C off and have a look around this afternoon, didn't notice anything out of line up there..  Didn't notice much for glitter up there either.. This has me thinking the issue is closer the bottom..  What would you think the chances are of pulling the injectors and looking around in there with the borescope and seeing something?  Or dropping the pan and having a look up from the bottom?

[the caveman]

The last ALH that I suspected had a bad piston, I wanted to look with a borescope, but didn't have one at the time and the car got sold. I have since bought a scope,but never had the chance to see if it would go into the cylinder far enough to see. Besides the piston can be worn on it's side and so you wouldn't be able to see if it's damaged anyways

[R.O.R-2.0]

i would drop the pan, or cut the filter open. you have a filter cutter?

[nathan_b]

i would drop the pan, or cut the filter open. you have a filter cutter?

it's called a hack saw

probably no glitter on top end because metal is not going through filter, therefore never making it above the oil line.

[R.O.R-2.0]

i would drop the pan, or cut the filter open. you have a filter cutter?

it's called a hack saw

probably no glitter on top end because metal is not going through filter, therefore never making it above the oil line.

filter cutter is like a big tubing cutter. it doesnt make metal shavings like a hacksaw.

every filter you cut open with a hack saw will have glitter..

[rallydiesel]

The ALH filter does not have a metal shell. You can cut it will heavyduty scissors.

[maxfax]

probably no glitter on top end because metal is not going through filter, therefore never making it above the oil line.

That was my thought.. So fortunately (or unfortunately) everything up top is probably ok..

 I have a 6" tubing cutter at my disposal, but Rallydiesel wins the prize as I can cut ALH filters apart with my pocket knife.. I'm pretty sure the filter is gonna have glitter in it since it seems to be everywhere else down below..

He's gonna get the pan dropped and give me a call to have a look..  Considering the symptoms and suggestion of a piston I'm kind of leaning that route.. Maybe I'll be able to see something in the bottom of the bores..  If not, rod and main bearing bolts are all TTY right?

Best case, maybe someone was just a really major prick and actually did dump glitter in the thing!

Thanks so far everyone!

[R.O.R-2.0]

oh yea, i forgot alh is just an element, not a cartridge!

[maxfax]

Finally back to this little demon..  The guy towed it over here last week and I finally got around to dropping the pan and checking out the filter..   Don't really know much yet though..  Bottom end looks fine..  Can;t see much of the bores up in there..  The glitter is magnetic, so I guess now it's off with it's head to see what can be found....

One thing I gotta comment about, who in the hell had the bright idea to put those 2 oil pan bolts closest the fly wheel in there like that??? 

[maxfax]

Pistons look good, bores look good..  Pulled the cam and lifters out of the head and they all look peachy..

Maybe someone really did dump some steel filings in the oil..

[rallydiesel]

One thing I gotta comment about, who in the hell had the bright idea to put those 2 oil pan bolts closest the fly wheel in there like that??? 

Yeah they suck. I use a long ball-head allen to get at them. Even so, you have to rotate the flywheel to get the channels in it to line up so you have space to get at the bolts. This really sucks when you have a G60 flywheel that doesn't have the channels!!!! 

[maxfax]

Yeah they suck. I use a long ball-head allen to get at them.

That was may weapon of choice...  I was, however, getting a bit worried when the first one I used broke off..