looks like the franken is getting parked for the winter.......

[mean88]

Been driving my 1.6motor 1.9 head for a few months now on the fresh engine...Has gotten a best of 56MPG so far.  Im running a mercedes t3 with wastegate bolted shut, a front mount inter cooler, and a turned up pump with governer mod.  Heres the thing. This thing is pissing me off.  It starts ok when its 70 degrees out side with only a little sputtering and white smoke.  Now its 20 degrees out and it will start, but it takes alot of glow plugging and cranking, only to run crappy for a while.  I have the pump advanced into clacky territory which helped alot.  Now before you say it I KNEW IT WOULD BE HARDER TO START than a standard setup.  I put a brand new block heater in it and that worked great for about a week and now it doesnt work.  So ive just been starting it cold by glowplugging the crap out of it with my manual switch. 

Since I planned on pushing the boost levels I used the new arp stud set and an aaz steel gasket.  I couldnt seem to find a 1 notch gasket available anywhere when I got the steel aaz gasket.  I am pushing over 30psi after the intercooler.  I am wondering, is there a decent 1.6 1 notch gasket I can use that wont puke on me if I crank it up once in a while???  The larger bore holes in the aaz added to the 2 notch I think is really hurting me here.........thoughts?

[8v-of-fury]

Run the 1.6 gaslet and dont push 30psi. Why do you need to push such a high rpm? I doubt there is any power gain that high is there?

[monomer]

Starting issues?


How old is the starter? If it don't crank fast, you'll have a problem no matter how you run the glowplugs.


The engine that came in my rabbit was rebuilt by the PO. Botched. Only one cylinder with 400+ PSI. I still managed to start it in a michigan winter. Starter was like-new.

[mean88]

This is my daily driver car for work.  I rebuilt it because of the awesome fuel economy, and I figured I would throw some extras at it while I was in there.  The car sees 0-5 psi most of the time.  I dont race it or anything.  The starter is practically new.  My glow plugs were ok until the last day or two.  Now it sounds like it is starting on 2 or 3. 

I honestly dont like running the engine so rattly.  Makes me nervous.

[mean88]

Over 33psi my turbo starts to shutter and my boost gauge starts bouncing frantically.  I just really feel safe with a steel gasket.  Any thoughts on a 1 notch ahu gasket for tdi?

[wdkingery]

I ran straight BATTERY CABLES for glow plug wires. Read: BATTERY CABLES. This really helped. Turns out my original wires were being their own glow plug and not letting the glow plug do its thing. Really helped. Also, get a crappie magnet style block heater.. Just sticks to the back of the head.. They work good.

[8v-of-fury]

Battery cables might have been realllly overkill. They only pull 8 or 9 amps each. 10g each would have been fine.. but if you had the cables why not lol.

If it is still starting when it is 20F You have a great starting system and great glowplugs. Normal 1.6's and normal 1.9's start rough at 20f too. I wouldnt complain

[Blocksmith]

If it is still starting when it is 20F You have a great starting system and great glowplugs. Normal 1.6's and normal 1.9's start rough at 20f too. I wouldnt complain

I'd listen to whatever a Canadian member has to say regarding cold starts

But on a more serious note, I guess what interests / perplexes  me is not so much that your system has issues at 20 degrees, but that the block heater no longer helps? 
I would initially suspect compression, but you said it's a fresh motor?  What's the status of the injection pump, injectors, and lines? My father has an n/a D24 Volvo that ALWAYS fires RIGHT up, even in sub-freezing temps---and by 'fires right up', I mean like on the second or third revolution of the motor. I've never seen anything like it. I'll admit that this is nothing more than speculation on my part, but I have always been convinced that it has much to do with an injection pump that is working well (never leaked, etc, while both 1.6TD jettas I've had experience with had /have developed leaky IPs due to ultra-low-sulfur diesel  , and they've both had serious issues whenever a cold start is necessary). You mentioned that it helped if you advanced timing--are you sure you're getting enough fuel? Also, I wonder if perhaps the cold weather is causing the fuel to gel even ever so slightly, making it harder for the IP to do its job, and therefore perhaps leading to a slightly fuel-deficient scenario until the motor and engine bay in general warms up a bit?

Keep in mind I don't have nearly the experience of other members on this forum--just throwing some ideas out there.

[rabbitman]

I can start at 0F pretty easy with my bunny, just cranks a second or two longer.

I think my best was -15F after sitting for 4 hours then idling for 15 minutes and them sitting for 5 more hours. I'd say the engine was awful close to -15F, it took a lot of cranking.

Compression a couple years ago were in the 400-420psi range, so a fresh (and stock) motor should start real easy at 0F.

How much compression does a fresh rebuilt franken usually have?

Blocksmith, I think by "doesn't work" he meant the block heater failed and doesn't get hot anymore.

[theman53]

As much as I would rather eat my own vomit I got my 1 notch metal aaz gasket from...gulp...swallow...gulp...the dub doctor in Athens. I did buy mine from Myke W and not the current owner whom I wouldn't recommend but you sound desperate. I don't trust the new guy, but Myke was awesome. Others have dealt with the new guy and had good results I am biased so don't go off what I say...which I am trying to say as nice as possible as my last words on this subject were the only negative thing I have had on this forum and almost got banned for the first offense.

99% of my troubles with the block heater were not the piece in the block but the cord to the piece in the block. But if you have the heater installed already either failure is easy to replace in car. Just cold if outside and wet if you don't drain the block.

The TDI gasket will NOT work, no precup area in the TDI head gasekt.

[Blocksmith]

Blocksmith, I think by "doesn't work" he meant the block heater failed and doesn't get hot anymore.

99% of my troubles with the block heater were not the piece in the block but the cord to the piece in the block. But if you have the heater installed already either failure is easy to replace in car. Just cold if outside and wet if you don't drain the block.

Sounds like the simple fix (or at least the next step in troubleshooting ) might merely be to replace the block heater, then, if that indeed turns out to be the problem... though I'm not sure what he could do for any cold starts away from home base....? I suppose anything rigged up to run off a timer and battery, even an auxiliary battery, would be a PITA at SOME point (if at no other point than when something shorts out and drains the battery--don't ask me how I know this . )

[Alcaid]

You are running a Franken with a too thick head gasket, complaining about starting issues at 20F?!? 

By the way, your turbo is surging up high so better make that wastegate do it's job before your turbo detonates.

[mean88]

You are running a Franken with a too thick head gasket, complaining about starting issues at 20F?!? 

By the way, your turbo is surging up high so better make that wastegate do it's job before your turbo detonates.

If you read the original post I KNEW frankens arent the best starting wise.  I dont push my car to max boost much at all so the wastegate is staying blocked.

Im just wondering if it is worth the time/money to put a 1.6 1 notch in.  I generally plug my car in at home and at work so thats not the trouble.  Before I did the overhaul I had a tractor tank heater on the engine which worked real good but I had to open the reservoir for the coolant or it wouldnt pump.  I may just drive the old ford aspire to work for the winter.  Having my car plugged in all the time is a PITA, and since the franken setup the engine doesnt heat as good as the old stock head/block did.      I also dont relish the idea of driving my rust free car anymore in the winter salt.

[mean88]

I had thought about an intake grid heater.  Anyone tried this?

[theman53]

I would get the 1 notch aaz gasket if you are going to change or leave it alone. I know Giles was selling parts other than his pump rebuilds, maybe you could get a gasket from him?