83 td with rebuilt 1.5na Needing more help

[RabbitJockey]

No heat shields? No wonder it ran like ***.  Hey everyone needs a beater an aba mkiii is the ideal beater car too

[Snowyroads]

almost bought a Ford ranger.... God help me. The jetta will be my 3rd mk 3 and my seventh vw ive owned. She says reverse doesn't work. Wish me luck. Thanks to my 96 golf, I can do a clutch/ transmission job in a days time.
I'm just a diesel guy at heart but everyone needs tat feeling that only beating the shiz out of a car provides

[RustyCaddy]

Edit: bought the car from a guy who spoke terrible English but he had 6 vws

Huummm...Adam had a shop in Seattle with a couple of guys from Kosovo working for him; their English was not so great.

[Snowyroads]

A bit of an update:

So im still fighting the car every step of the way. I feel like im getting somewhere at last but nothing seems to be the cure all.

I do believe my pump was 180 out.  I had the injectors rebuilt. Shop said all 4 were bad. The car would start but absolutely tons of white smoke and poor running.  Turned the IP 180 degrees and tried again. I had it set to .88mm as it is a 1.5D pump. After a lot of cranking, and the cold start pulled out, I was getting one surge from the engine as it roared to life, then died.  But with dark grey smoke this time! 

After a bunch of confusion and some reading as to it being a yellow dot pump. I do believe it is such but im not sure. Its a 107A pump.  I timed the pump to 1.15mm this time and tried again. The exact same results. About 20 seconds of cranking over and it lives for one good surge and dies.  Same dark grey smoke. 


2 things also to mention and yet to be tried. The car was running with the white smoke on 3 month old diesel.  So im going to try and use fresh stuff in a jerry can and see what i get.  And trickle charge my battery back to full capacity. And if that gives me nothing, well Im going to try one of the other two pumps i got. Another 107A pump the seller gave me.  Or the TD pump that was on the 1.6TD that was in the car when i got it.

Is there something that usually goes hand and hand with that cranking issue? I know ive read others describe that exact symptom of  a single surge of energy and then death.

One last thing: Is there a trick to loosening the bottom IP mounting bolt, behind the alternator bracket? Like a U-joint and 3in extension? I have to pull the alt, bracket just to change the pump timing at current point and time. 

Thanks for all the replies thus far.  I will get this damned car up and running or die underneath it in a horrible crushing death.  Those cheapy autozone jack stands have terrible welds 


Pics and a video update soon

[theman53]

I would say the old diesel and the deal of if it hasn't been running there is air. I have had mine that would blow white smoke for almost 10 minutes of driving. Plus it has not been running so with the air in the lines/pump it is a cold engine which doesn't burn fuel well. If you take the nut off the IP and look at the keyway when the engine is at TDC for the #1 cylinder compression stroke the key way will be pointing approx 10 o'clock. If not it is 180 out. There are two TDC's one compression one exhaust for a cylinder, so make sure that you have the correct one.

[Snowyroads]

I tried finding the keyway and even pulling the pulley from the pump with no such luck.  I bought the wrong puller for the tug job 

After more reading, I am pretty convinced I just have too much air in the system. Ill bleed the air from the hard lines on saturday and see what it gives me first. 

Even after i do all this work and the motor runs properly, i still have a list a mile long of things to do before i even attempt to drive it. Like the headlights.

I had to look up in the bentley to even see how to operate the headlights.  The headlight knob in the cabin does not pull out towards the driver like the glow plug knob.  It does rotate left and right (as if to dim the dash lights) and clicks at far left turn.  But After convincing myself last night that i just wasn't pulling hard enough, i yanked it clean off the metal rod. I may be pulling the dash to remedy this biz but do all rabbits have that same knob that pulls out?  Is there a high beam option? the turn signal switch didn't click when i pulled back on it

[theman53]

You don't need to pull anything but the nut off to find the keyway on the IP. Take the nut off and look at the pump. There is a slot cut in the pulley for the woodruff key. That is what needs to be pointing approx 10 o'clock at TDC.

[8v-of-fury]

After a bunch of confusion and some reading as to it being a yellow dot pump. I do believe it is such but im not sure. Its a 107A pump.  I timed the pump to 1.15mm this time and tried again. The exact same results. About 20 seconds of cranking over and it lives for one good surge and dies.  Same dark grey smoke. 

Dark grey is a good sign, means there is definitely fuel getting in to the cylinders and it is more near proper combustion than white or black smoke. Also the timing of 1.15mm is a good spot, leave it there. Whether it is a yellow dot or a used 1.6 pump, that high of advance will help with a lot of issues.

2 things also to mention and yet to be tried. The car was running with the white smoke on 3 month old diesel.  So im going to try and use fresh stuff in a jerry can and see what i get.  And trickle charge my battery back to full capacity. And if that gives me nothing, well Im going to try one of the other two pumps i got. Another 107A pump the seller gave me.  Or the TD pump that was on the 1.6TD that was in the car when i got it.

Yes, probably not the issue with the fuel.. but get some new stuff and run it from the jerry can with separate fuel lines, both running in to the jerry can. Charge the battery up, and when you attempt to give it a go again get another vehicle there with it running and booster cables. I wouldn't even think about priming/filling a pump with battery power alone.. never gonna happen and have enough juice to turn it fast enough when you eventually get fuel up there.

Is there something that usually goes hand and hand with that cranking issue? I know ive read others describe that exact symptom of  a single surge of energy and then death.

Empty fuel pump, pretty much the only thing.

One last thing: Is there a trick to loosening the bottom IP mounting bolt, behind the alternator bracket? Like a U-joint and 3in extension? I have to pull the alt, bracket just to change the pump timing at current point and time. 

1/4" socket wrench with a short 13mm on the end of it, never had a problem on several 1.6's 1.9's and TDI's.

I tried finding the keyway and even pulling the pulley from the pump with no such luck.  I bought the wrong puller for the tug job 

There is a way to tell where TDC is without removing the nut or the pulley.. Your smallest hole on the injection pulley should line up with the hole behind it in the pump bracket;



After more reading, I am pretty convinced I just have too much air in the system. Ill bleed the air from the hard lines on saturday and see what it gives me first. 

After you get the fuel lines in to some fresh fuel, crack the nuts on the injectors and crank it over until you get fuel at the connections.

Even after i do all this work and the motor runs properly, i still have a list a mile long of things to do before i even attempt to drive it. Like the headlights.

I had to look up in the bentley to even see how to operate the headlights.  The headlight knob in the cabin does not pull out towards the driver like the glow plug knob.  It does rotate left and right (as if to dim the dash lights) and clicks at far left turn.  But After convincing myself last night that i just wasn't pulling hard enough, i yanked it clean off the metal rod. I may be pulling the dash to remedy this biz but do all rabbits have that same knob that pulls out?  Is there a high beam option? the turn signal switch didn't click when i pulled back on it

Rabbits should just be a pull and push headlight switch. But I do not know, I have never driven a Rabbit. Only Jetta's for this guy

[damac]

I tried finding the keyway and even pulling the pulley from the pump with no such luck.  I bought the wrong puller for the tug job 

After more reading, I am pretty convinced I just have too much air in the system. Ill bleed the air from the hard lines on saturday and see what it gives me first. 

Even after i do all this work and the motor runs properly, i still have a list a mile long of things to do before i even attempt to drive it. Like the headlights.

I had to look up in the bentley to even see how to operate the headlights.  The headlight knob in the cabin does not pull out towards the driver like the glow plug knob.  It does rotate left and right (as if to dim the dash lights) and clicks at far left turn.  But After convincing myself last night that i just wasn't pulling hard enough, i yanked it clean off the metal rod. I may be pulling the dash to remedy this biz but do all rabbits have that same knob that pulls out?  Is there a high beam option? the turn signal switch didn't click when i pulled back on it

my 79 german rabbit has a rocker type switch in the dash that seems to only fit it.  all the other switches from rabbits i got the from the junkyard don't mate to the cluster mounts but were also rocker type switches.

i got an 83 gti dash from somebody and it has that different type of headlight switch with the knob.  its connector is different on the harness side to from what i can see.  when i get some time i hope i can swap this entire setup into my rabbit with an mk2 cluster and call it good with some aftermarket gages i have.

[scrounger]

If it starts it probably has enough compression. Probably is something fairly simple like valve or injection timing.  Lots of good advice here.

[JamesT]

The headlights do have a high/low beam switch in the stalk, but it isn't relayed, so you won't hear a relay click. Sounds like your headlight switch is buggered.
Also, the glow plugs don't have a knob, that's your cold start advance.