VWDiesel.net The IDI, TDI, and mTDI source.
General Information => Troubleshooting => Topic started by: Rising on August 13, 2012, 05:41:23 pm
-
Hello again everyone!
Sorry ive been absent for so long. Just after I got everything up and running on the rabbit after doing the headgasket and timing belt change, everything was running great and I was buzzing around in my rabbit content as can be.
But then I left for two months on a trip and while I was gone a friend of mines Jeep transmission went out and while he was getting it fixed I told him he could borrow the rabbit. He works about an hour and a half away.
So anyway for two weeks he used the rabbit with no problem. And in fact I was darn proud of the little Guy making that big commute with no issues. He said all tthe guys at the airforce base freaked out and wanted rides in it and stuff.
But the last day he had it someone hit it in the parking lot and tweaked both frame pieces towards the passenger side. But it also snapped the tab off the bottom of the radiator and caused a leak. He didn't notice any of this at first. And so he started to drive it home. And after a little bit he said he was running close to out of gas and looked down and noticed the temperature getting pretty high so he pulled over and waited for awhile and tried tto start it again and it wouldn't. So he had the car towed home.
Well anyway after that incident the car simply won't start. I pulled the lines off at the IP and fuel was squirting out while it was cranking.. and then again at the injectors. The car turns over fine so I don't think he melted it down. It doesn't make sense to be glow plugs since he tries it while it was hot. And the only other thing I can guess is that it lost compression somehow. Can anyone give me some direction?
I'm pretty discouraged since I just put my cars engine back together and finally got it running and fixed the front end. And now basically everything I did is undone :(
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2
-
Crap. Lesson one, never lend your classic car to a friend. Especially after you put so much work in to it. Now clearly it is not fully his fault, but are you getting reimbursed for the problem he escalated?
Runs fine while over heating, then ***s it down and a no go after wards? Makes no sense here. However if you have fuel at the injectors and nothing at all has changed, an overheat may have caused a warped head and loss of compression.
-
It sounds like a headgasket at the least but a warped head would be highly likely as well. The block would be cracked/scored to all nonsense as well.
Sorry :(
-
offer guy a beer... as he pops the top.. with all your might.. kick to the sack.... once he on ground.. goto it.. then with straight face ask if his balls feel better... cause your ass still hurts from the plowing he just gave... and forgot the kiss and reach round...
-
Id kick dudes ass.
-
This is why I only lend out my BEATER. not something you put so much time and effort into. Nobody 'borrows' my GTI!
-
He is not being straight with you. He got it super hot. Hot enough to take the tension out of the rings. Low compression, my friend. Tell the guy to pony up. Good chance rings will make it run again. Probably not as well as it once did. Most likely the guy never noticed the problem until the car got slow as it was dying.
If I were you I would drag start it to see how bad the motor is. You can get them to start with 200 psi compression if you drag them far enough.
And NEVER loan a car to anybody. They seem to think that if you loan it to them you must not car what happens to the car or you would not have loaned it to them. Thats why I never sell a car in time. Every one I did sell on time has been totaled or repo-ed before it was paid off. For the same reason.
-
It probably didn't show hot on the gauge as there wasn't water there for the gauge to register. It had to wait until the temp of the air in there got hot, which takes a long time. Usually, nothing is good in that situation.
-
It probably didn't show hot on the gauge as there wasn't water there for the gauge to register. It had to wait until the temp of the air in there got hot, which takes a long time. Usually, nothing is good in that situation.
ive heat seized an engine full of coolant.. the gauge doesnt register a change in temps..
-
you siezed it with EGT, not running it out of water. Similar but different. I bet if your EGT were the same and you had no water that engine would not be running without an overhaul.
If there is no coolant where the sender is the air will have to heat before the gauge pegs. Gases take longer to heat up than liquids, so it would be really cooked.
-
Ahhh yes... the news i somehow knew was coming but still had hope wasn't true. ::)
I really felt sick the moment he started telling me... But he definitely would've loaned me his car if the situation was reversed. He offered to pay for the damages but I turned him down. I know that may sound stupid but that has to do with my personal beliefs. He really didn't know any better since the gauges are worthless and he didn't notice the damages. I was ticked at first but I'm over it so now I'm just deciding what to do with the rabbit.
I guess the next step is a compression test or trying to drag start it and see what happens. But even with those results I'm almost positive it is compression like you all say. Therefore the engine is most likely toast. With the front end being redestroyed after I just fixed it. I'm wondering if it might be time to cut my losses and buy something that isn't totalled...
The only other thing I can think is trying to find a cheap running engine to swap in. But it would have to be pretty far on the cheap scale since I spent almost all of my project money actually fixing the car the first time before it all got undone again... What do you guys think?
-
talk to crazyandy... he will give inspiration... seems he keeps paying 2x on each thing he has done trying to build his... id have been on rooftop by now if it were me...
-
i think, that if my friend burnt my car down, i would make him pay for a new engine.. thats just me.
i dont have thousands of dollars to rebuild my car, that is now totaled, AND BLOWN UP..
either that, or find a new friend..
-
I have to agree. If you borrow something it is your responsibility to return it in the same condition. If it would have been his, would he have driven it until it would not move another foot? It did have gauges and idiot lights that he ignored, after all.
-
I have to agree. If you borrow something it is your responsibility to return it in the same condition. If it would have been his, would he have driven it until it would not move another foot? It did have gauges and idiot lights that he ignored, after all.
While I must agree on a general principle, I believe in grace. My God has forgiven me so I forgive others. But even still I have to correct at least two misconceptions that seem to be floating around this thread:
1. He stopped the vehicle when he saw that the temperature was getting pretty high. It did not stop itself. As far as I am concerned if I would have been driving it I'm not sure I would've noticed it either, and since someone else is at fault for damaging the vehicle I am not going to lay on him the misfortune of paying for two cars (remember his car was in the shop when this happened) when he didn't do anything irresponsible with the vehicle.
2. He offered to pay for the vehicle. He is not some deadbeat who everyone should be screaming at for him ruining my car and just saying "Tough luck". He apologized vehemently and insisted on paying to put a new engine in the car for me. I Turned Him Down. As far as I'm concerned the matter with him is settled. I'm sorry if I painted him in a horrible light I was extremely frustrated at the time of writing the first post. But I must emphasize that, not only do I believe that he handled the situation with a reasonable amount of care, but he tried to pay to fix the problem that he created unintentionally. So I don't need any more posts telling me to go kick him in the nuts over this. I put myself in this situation. So call me a fool if you must but right now I'm just trying to figure out how to get out of it ;) ::) Now back to car stuff.
Update:
Today I finally returned home from another trip and had a chance to play with the rabbit. I took it out and had my dad pull it behind his truck to see if it would start. With a little convincing, it started up and ran rough. I had to provide some throttle to keep it going at first but after maybe 20-30 seconds it idled with the cold start lever out. Now remember before I loaned the vehicle out it already had a little bit of trouble running and idling when cold since I did my Headgasket and had only roughly timed the engine. After letting the car run for about a minute at most, I shut the car back down and tried to start it with the starter. It fired right up again. This is making me seriously consider my glow plugs as a partial culprit (at least for not starting at all) since when I tried to test one i couldn't get even a bit of heat out of it. I thought it might just be my testing ability at first. But after watching a few Youtube videos I was doing everything correctly I believe.
So my questions are these:
1. The engine seemed to run fairly ok after it warmed up even a small amount. So I'm curious if this engine is salvageable? I guess the only way to know for sure is to do a complete tear-down/rebuild to which i ask my next point.
2. How hard is it to rebuild one of these engine? I'm a fair shadetree mechanic, did my own headgasket/timing belt jobs , replaced my transmission ect. But i've never torn an engine completely down. Though I've been wanting to try my hand at it sometime anyway, so even if i decide to scrap this engine i'll probably tear it down and play with it to familiarize myself with it.
3. Cost/benefit analysis of tearing this engine apart and trying to replace some parts and get it up and running again vs. buying a used engine and possibly even a td since i'm looking to turbo this car anyway. (keeping in mind that I'm not exactly broke but not rich either considering my wife will probably kill me if i have to put much more money into this car, but i'm positively made of time since i'm out of a job right now.)
4. Anyone know what size compression tester fitting works on these engines? I've got a compression tester that has an 18mm and a 14mm fitting but both are too big for the glow plug hole i believe.
That's all for now. I think the rabbit still has a pulse (I drove it back into the drive way :) ) but it's going to take some work to get back on the road... any help from you guys would be greatly appreciated! Everyone has been really great and supportive of my endeavor from the beginning with this little guy and I even appreciate all of your outrage over the situation! I just hope I can get this guy back on the road! ;D
-
I would change the oil and drive the sucker if it still runs.
-
diesel only.. has adapter for injector on idi... glowplug on tdi... cannot use gasser one...
-
diesel only.. has adapter for injector on idi... glowplug on tdi... cannot use gasser one...
Ahh gotcha. Looks like ill be making a trip for one tomorrow. Might pick some glow plugs up while I'm out. Any suggestions or are they all pretty much the same ?
-
Bousch Duratherms only. Do not use autolite, NGK, or others. You will do the job 10x as much and some have been known to break off under normal operation and go into the engine.
-
I think you cold pull the pan and look up into the bores. if you see aluminum from the pistons transfered to the cyl walls, it will be a pretty major rebuild.
If not, and the cooling system passes a pressure test, you might just need some glow plugs.
If you unplug the glow relay, , and run a jumper cable from battery + to the glow bus bar, there should be a significant spark as you make contact, if not, all your glows are dead.
-this isn't a definitive test, they can draw current, but still not work, though in my experience 90% of the time, they draw no power if dead.
Also, add me to the 'smoked a a motor at low gauge indicated temps' club.
Alt/h20 belt was slipping, the water just wasn't moving. I seized at a tick above half.
-
Time it properly, test and replace the glowplugs and just drive it. If it runs and gets good mileage, thank God and keep on trucking. If not, then think about rebuilding it.
-
I am in the corner with the compression tester in place of the injectors and throw on new GP's. That will tell you where the trouble lies with all cylinders, both from the overheat and potential damage from the over heat. You say you did a HG. Did you have enough time and miles on it to reset the head bolts to spec after 1000 miles? I just redid them on my head replacement and was surprised at how much they went down after driving it some.
I like the forgiveness motto you have. Perhaps that will be given back to you someday or you may find there is little wrong with what you have and getting all nasty on a friend would have been a bit much if it really only needs GP's and some tuning. You do need to find the basic problem that started all this. That is why I would go for the compression test.
My 2 copper pieces.
-
just keep driving it. its already damaged.
if it gets better, cool..
if it starts getting harder and harder to start, then its screwed.
-
Okay thanks for all the suggestions!
I went to my local box auto parts store and they didn't have any compression testers for diesel. Highest gauge went to 300 haha. Didn't have any Bosch glow plugs either. Next best thing was Beck/arnly at 30$ a plug. Went online and found Bosch duratherms for 8.00 a plug.
I have some bad news though. Well for one thing the car only starts when pull started and I can't get it to start without dragging it. So it isn't like I can just keep driving it. On another note I didn't notice until I had the hood up while cranking that it is spraying water out of the radiator cap while cranking. So I'm guessing there must be a pretty significant amount of compression going into the coolant system. So I cancelled my order for the duratherms.
Yes I did recently do the headgasket. And I drove about 1500 miles and then did the retorque. Then my friend drove it a couple thousand more. I think I'm gonna pull the engine apart next week.. try to see where the compression is leaking. Probably a cracked block... so I'm in the market for a new engine or a Honda wwhichever is cheaper..
Anybody got an extra engine
::)
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2
-
Sadly not near Virginia.. :(
-
Sadly not near Virginia.. :(
Hows Canada this time of year? Haha. Seems to be the only place that has a decent supply of idi diesels :(
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2
-
On another note I didn't notice until I had the hood up while cranking that it is spraying water out of the radiator cap while cranking. So I'm guessing there must be a pretty significant amount of compression going into the coolant system.
Nah man, thats just a little boost leak :(
-
On another note I didn't notice until I had the hood up while cranking that it is spraying water out of the radiator cap while cranking. So I'm guessing there must be a pretty significant amount of compression going into the coolant system.
Nah man, thats just a little boost leak :(
Hahaha. If only I had boost and that could be even remotely true!!
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2
-
Sadly not near Virginia.. :(
Hows Canada this time of year? Haha. Seems to be the only place that has a decent supply of idi diesels :(
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
Limp it up here.. We'll do a m-tdi i a weekend ;). So many idi up here!!
-
Oh believe me if it was possible to keep the coolant in it long enough to do some limping i'd be considering it ;)
I'm going to try to do some more investigation this week. Possibly pulling the head tomorrow to check the gasket and look for some cracks/warping that could be causing the loss in compression.
I had a couple ideas depending on what I find:
1. I read somewhere that if there is a crack in the block it may be repairable via this stuff called marine-tex i believe. It's sort of an epoxy/jbweld type material with some metal shavings or something of the like mixed in. A lot of people with boats and ships have used it with some good results. I'm not sure if this is something that is possible. But is there anything else that might save a cracked block? My dad keeps trying to convince me to pour a can of bar's leak in there to see if that would fix it up, but I don't think the water will even stay in it long enough to pour something in once i start the car again. Even a temporary fix would help me until I can find work again and find some more money to replace/rebuild the engine.
2. There is an 82 jetta on the vortex for sale right now that was used on a farm and is pretty beat up suspension/body wise but allegedly has a good running motor. The guy wants around $475 for it and he's pretty near by. Do you guys think it would be worth looking into buying it and parting out some of the other extra's? 475 for a n/a diesel seems pretty high. But if i could sell some parts or get some money for the shell it might be worth it?
3. The last idea that comes to mind is the one I'm most afraid of but might make the most sense. There are several running rabbits in one piece painted one and with nicer interiors than mine that can be had for under $2000. My car is far more than totaled. The front end which already was home repaired by me is now basically ruined again, and the engine is most likely gone. As much as I hate to admit defeat and lose all the money i spent working on this rabbit, do you think I could get any money for it as a whole project or by parting it out? And then just wait and jump on a fully functional rabbit? ::)
These are just my thoughts right now. I'll play with her some more tomorrow and let you guys know if I find anything that would help point me in a good direction..
-
Okay so I got it running again yesterday to see if it was possible to maybe pour some bar's leak in it or something as a temporary fix. So I figured i'd post the video. Seems exactly the same as when i had a blown head gasket except now i'm seeing some smoke coming from the passenger side of the engine down by the head gasket. Could a headgasket get blown enough to have smoke come out of it and lose enough compression to not start? or is that the nail in the coffin? Just curious? I'd hate to throw away a good n/a engine if I don't have to. But I might have a bare td block and head soon so I guess this is all just an experiment for me anyway. any thoughts?
http://www.youtube.com/embed/uof3gTbpCnQ
sorry for the shaky camera work ;)
-
Oh believe me if it was possible to keep the coolant in it long enough to do some limping i'd be considering it ;)
I knew one gent who figured it out.
He had a hole cut in the hood above the coolant bottle.
Just before getting under way, you'd flip a 5 gal drinking water bottle onto the hole, and stick another on there when it ran out.
-
Hey, just letting you know that if the head ends up being warped, I have an 11mm NA head that might not be warped. And manifolds if they somehow got cracked too.
And CRSMP5 is right, I've been down a hard road on my AAZ build. Hopefully its just the top end that messed up. I'm with the forgiveness crown on this one, like you; never got mad at my machinist for taking 5 months overall on my crank, and got it back yesterday with a perfect nose weld! So good grace will come back around to you. At least your friend will be eager to help if you need an extra set of hands. :)
-
Oh believe me if it was possible to keep the coolant in it long enough to do some limping i'd be considering it ;)
I knew one gent who figured it out.
He had a hole cut in the hood above the coolant bottle.
Just before getting under way, you'd flip a 5 gal drinking water bottle onto the hole, and stick another on there when it ran out.
I think I would have paid to see that haha.
That's just a better way to live Andy. No sense in stressing: ) won't get your engine back together any sooner ;)
As for the head, I just picked up a turbo diesel block and head that I will be using in this rabbit. I am debating on whether to run them n/a right now or throw this vnt on them!
The big need I have now is an engine hoist. Unfortunately I might have to wait awhile to pull this engine until I can find one.
Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2
-
Do you have a garage with exposed trusses? Buy one of these (http://www.harborfreight.com/1-ton-chain-hoist-996.html (http://www.harborfreight.com/1-ton-chain-hoist-996.html)), throw a couple 4X4's across 3-4 of the trusses, put a chain around them and to the chain hoist and out she'll come. I've done a Ford V8 like that, so the VW block should be no issue.
-
Do you have a garage with exposed trusses? Buy one of these (http://www.harborfreight.com/1-ton-chain-hoist-996.html (http://www.harborfreight.com/1-ton-chain-hoist-996.html)), throw a couple 4X4's across 3-4 of the trusses, put a chain around them and to the chain hoist and out she'll come. I've done a Ford V8 like that, so the VW block should be no issue.
ive got a 4 ton electric hoist in my shop..
makes pulling engines a breeze..
i can pull an engine with one thumb.. simply hit the UP button!
-
Yeah those are nice setups! Unfortunately no. The garage I have access too is a cheesy enclosed carport basically. So no exposed truses and lots of shotty workmanship anyway. But I bought an engine lift off Craigslist and I'm gonna sell it to recoup the money.
The engine is already swapped out actually I just forgot to update this thread.
I do have a small diesel leak from the return lines at the pump. Does anyone have a good source for the tiny diesel fuel line between the injectors and from the pump to the return line? Local auto part places don't have anything that small and look at me like I'm crazy...
Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2
-
Yeah those are nice setups! Unfortunately no. The garage I have access too is a cheesy enclosed carport basically. So no exposed truses and lots of shotty workmanship anyway. But I bought an engine lift off Craigslist and I'm gonna sell it to recoup the money.
The engine is already swapped out actually I just forgot to update this thread.
I do have a small diesel leak from the return lines at the pump. Does anyone have a good source for the tiny diesel fuel line between the injectors and from the pump to the return line? Local auto part places don't have anything that small and look at me like I'm crazy...
Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2
go steal some vacuum lines off a mid 80s or early 90s japanese import.. they all had MILES of vacuum lines to pirate..
all my diesels get toyota vac lines.. Carburated hondas are a GREAT place to find vac lines.. they had like 75 vacuum lines, no joke..
jap import vac line fits WAY TIGHTER than the fabric covered junk, doesnt get hard, or soft, or susceptible to heat or cold..
-
Hmm this is a good idea... I'll have to go take a peak once this hurricane passes... :P probably not a great time for junking.
I picked up some vacuum line that was slightly smaller at my local auto shop.. it worked for a couple miles... then it got real loose and now my leak is way worse... gonna have to put the old ones back on till I can find another solution.
But in other news this new engine runs awesome! It feel so good to be back driving the rabbit. Even if it has a funny looking front end and is a little leaky ;D
Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2
-
Good to hear you are back up and running!
-
got a hobby shop that deals with nitro powered planes/cars/trucks?? my tdi came with what looks like "nitro fuel line" for a rc car.. with bio and all else it still no leak... and they were reused!! i just wanted to see what bio and diesel would do to it... ill use it way more often now...
-
That sounds like a great idea! I think the stuff they use in those little engines is fairly corrosive... I have a bottle of model airplane fuel I have left over from my r/c days I use a solvent for over spray haha. I bet it does great. I'm sure a hobby website could probably get me some fairly quickly...
Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2
-
The 1/8" urethane, from motorcycle shops, fits between the injectors.
It fits very tight at first, hard to get it on all the way so I just get it to fit over the barb and after it warms up they slide the rest of the way on easy.
I like clear lines between the injectors, it has made it easier to figure out problems,.. I had an injector stuffing air back into the line recently. It also shows air leaking in when engine is shut off.
-
Will you do me a favour? If you find yourself bored in your carport, will you take the head off the old engine? I'd love to see what's going on in there!
-
Yep I'm actually going to be taking the head off Thursday or Friday to examine it for ORcoaster. He might want it. But I'll post pics for everyone ;D
Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2
-
Alright guys analyze away!
I'm not too sure what i'm looking for but it didn't seem like i could find any reason that compression would be leaking into the coolant passages. The headgasket seemed okay. Head seemed okay and the block had a few scratches but i'm not even sure those weren't there before. Seems like the is a bit of water corrosion/rust on the valves for cyl... 4?
Anyway i'm not too sure what i'm looking for but if you guys give me some more places to look/take pictures i'd be happy too. Honestly i feel a little weird having taken this whole engine out for possible just a bad gasket...
another interesting note: the head bolts for the center two bolts were extremely tight, and the others seemed alot looser. I'm not sure if that could be warp-age but i thought it might be relevant info.
(http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/6996/img20121101114721.th.jpg) (http://img440.imageshack.us/i/img20121101114721.jpg/)
(http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/7440/img20121101114726.th.jpg) (http://img824.imageshack.us/i/img20121101114726.jpg/)
(http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/7194/img20121101114730.th.jpg) (http://img22.imageshack.us/i/img20121101114730.jpg/)
(http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/2822/img20121101114735.th.jpg) (http://img341.imageshack.us/i/img20121101114735.jpg/)
(http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/1092/img20121101114738.th.jpg) (http://img132.imageshack.us/i/img20121101114738.jpg/)
(http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/3283/img20121101114841.th.jpg) (http://img593.imageshack.us/i/img20121101114841.jpg/)
(http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/8890/img20121101114944.th.jpg) (http://img210.imageshack.us/i/img20121101114944.jpg/)
(http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/7079/img20121101114958.th.jpg) (http://img191.imageshack.us/i/img20121101114958.jpg/)
(http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/14/img20121101115003.th.jpg) (http://img10.imageshack.us/i/img20121101115003.jpg/)
(http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/3499/img20121101115009.th.jpg) (http://img255.imageshack.us/i/img20121101115009.jpg/)
(http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/7042/img20121101115013.th.jpg) (http://img825.imageshack.us/i/img20121101115013.jpg/)
(http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/61/img20121101115128.th.jpg) (http://img254.imageshack.us/i/img20121101115128.jpg/)
(http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/1272/img20121101115133.th.jpg) (http://img713.imageshack.us/i/img20121101115133.jpg/)
(http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/2083/img20121101115137.th.jpg) (http://img12.imageshack.us/i/img20121101115137.jpg/)
(http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/7752/img20121101115141.th.jpg) (http://img7.imageshack.us/i/img20121101115141.jpg/)
(http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/2339/img20121101115300.th.jpg) (http://img839.imageshack.us/i/img20121101115300.jpg/)
(http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/1851/img20121101115308.th.jpg) (http://img705.imageshack.us/i/img20121101115308.jpg/)
(http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/2995/img20121101115721.th.jpg) (http://img100.imageshack.us/i/img20121101115721.jpg/)
(http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/641/img20121101115752.th.jpg) (http://img545.imageshack.us/i/img20121101115752.jpg/)
-
That's the first time I've seen a VW IDI diesel head that doesn't have cracks between the valves! I reckon you should have just gotten the head skimmed and put a new gasket on!
-
I think he just got it hot with the loss of coolant, the head was loose and the gasket went pop. That made it hard to start but your dad got it going by pulling it. Then it would start when hot. At least once. There does seem to be some scoring on the pistons but not like it is toast. How many miles on this beast?
Any takers on the lower block? If not I might hit you up for some of those parts. You sure you want to scrap this out? Looks more like a head gasket replacement with new head bolts could have had you up and running. Your buddy would have been out very little as he did offer to pay for the fix.
Just my analysis on the pictures.
-
Only 115xxx on the motor. Very low mileage.
I already took the time to swap a td block into my rabbit. So I don't really even need to keep this. And I feel safer with oil squirters and a little tougher alloys. But with a few extra parts this could probably be a running engine in no time at all. I would prefer for someone to benefit from it as a running engine after some love.
Although I do wish I'd have taken the time to pull the head before I got the td engine... would've saved me a lot of effort but at the time it seemed like there was a high probability of a cracked block or worse. Oh well you live and you learn right?
But if it doesn't go as one unit then I'd hate for it to just sit and rust and I have literally no where to store it right now...
Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2
-
That's the first time I've seen a VW IDI diesel head that doesn't have cracks between the valves! I reckon you should have just gotten the head skimmed and put a new gasket on!
Only VW diesel head in existence without cracks between the valves! I'll start the bidding at $5000! Own this one of a kind rare engine part.
Haha;)::)
Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2
-
This story is really similar to my 85 jetta td engine that a family member overheated back in april. They drove it after a coolant hose burst AND even after noticing the flashing low coolant light. They knew that meant trouble and to pull over but wanted to drive just a bit longer until bam the car locked up. Steam was coming from under the hood with what little was left.
I limped it back home slowly and had to pull over allot to put more fluid in it because it was spitting it out. It actually cold started ok but it spit air into the reservoir constantly.
Upon breakdown I found a hint of coolant on 2 cylinders and like yours I have NO cracks on my hydro head. I crudely have put a straight edge to my head and can't fit a feeler gage anywhere according to bently specs. I have not taken this to a machine shop yet.
Head gasket didn't even really look torn apart to my eye. When I broke the bottom end down further though at first what I thought was oil sludge looks to be darkened metals on the pistons and crank. Don't see gouges and haven't cleaned things further. Not sure if its damage or overheated oil?
I have learned to just run a used engine that performs well until something happens. On the rebuild front I can get one going for a pretty good price but then all the little stuff you need to replace adds up. I have another turbo motor I will rebuild when I get time and even though I got the pistons I have to have the motor bored and that head checked over so the cost is still going to approach $1000
-
Aww come on you are ruining my one of a kind selling scam! Haha.
But yeah it sounds pretty similar. In the end I figured I'd have more money rebuilding it than I would replacing it. And if I were to ever build one up I'd want to do it right with some good stuff and I'd want it to whistle. So I'm sure costs would add up quick!
Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2