I just got a killer deal on two diesel rabbits. both 84s, been sitting since 95. One is rotted with 169k on it, the other is also an 84 with 133k on it! The largest rust spot on the 133k one is a hole the size of my pinky on one of the doors (the rusted one has that door with no rust!) In anycase. What would you suggest I do to get these engines going again. They turn over just fine, sound like most other diesels I've owned... The 133k one's glowplug light stays on for probably 20 seconds, whereas, the other one goes off in the usual 7 or so seconds. What are the usual steps to take to get an engine like this running/to determine what I should do before pulling the rusted one and swapping it into a clean shell, and putting the silver one on the road? Thanks.
If I were you, I would drain the entire fuel system (Tank, injector lines, replace filter, prime with ATF), fill pump with ATF, make sure you have good clean DIESEL in the tank itself, ensure the glow plugs are operating, and crank it over at 10-15 second intervals 4-5 times to prime the system. Then cycle the plugs, and give it a go. It'll probably smoke like a pirate, and skip, miss, thrash, etc for the first few seconds/minutes of running.
After you do that, run some Lubro Moly Diesel Purge through the injection pump. Probably two or three doses will clean it out good.
purge dpes amazing things to vw diesels, with my old engine it had 180k and i ran that prge through and it smoothed out alot
Diesel purge comes in a can (16 oz or so) and is made by LubroMoly. I believe the directions say to detach both the fuel inlet hose and outlet hose from the pump and stick them into the can.
After that, I think you're supposed to fire the thing up and let the engine idle through the entire can until it runs out. I'd imagine it'll smoke quite a bit while you're doing that. Others can add more details, I'm sure...
I just bought my first can of it the other day and I'll be trying it soon on my TD..
for sure change the timing belt. i had a diesel truck i got for $75 that sat for a bunch of years. i got it running and in less than 30 mins the rotted old timing belt sheared and bent a bunch of my valves.
old timing belts are literally ticking time bombs waiting to happen. they give no warning and the consiquences are harsh.
a timing belt and a new tensioner are pretty cheap. its worth it to do.
can I get this diesel purge here in Canada? or no?
I'd pull the fuel filter fill it with good diesel. than put the fule line into a 5 gallon bucket so its sucking good diesel. If its been sitting for 11 years its probaly lost prime so I would pull the air filter and spray some wd40 in it. diesel will run on wd40. than get to crankin, you may even need to spray the wd40 in it when your cranking it over.
That way has always worked for me. I wouldnt' invest in a timing belt untill I was sure everything else was fine.
just my $0.02
Coop
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sour diesel sour bubble pics
can I get this diesel purge here in Canada? or no?
I haven't had any luck finding it out here in BC in the local shops, let us/me know if you do find a local source for it... thanks