VWDiesel.net The IDI, TDI, and mTDI source.
General Information => General => Topic started by: gamber on May 21, 2007, 09:33:14 pm
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Been interesting to read what has transpired here - I have just finished living it! It all started when just after purchase of the car three months ago, I elected to perform my usual changing out of all the fluids - engine, tranny, brakes, coolant.
Since I was changing the coolant, felt it was perfect timing to change out the lower rad hose and the thermostat. Shortly after this my temp gauge started climbing.
Temp running at 7/8 consistently and no fan coming on. The only thing I did not change was the rad termoswitch & the WP. Purchased a WP and elected to hold off until I exhausted a couple of options. Have not got around to the termoswitch - yet.
I cannot stress how much troubleshooting occured. Belts, changing thermostat again, second flush of the system, vacuum purge of air (vacuum lift I believe it is called), expansion tank cap, etc, etc.
The answer - OVERFILLING the expansion tank. The expansion tank is no longer transparent and though I could see the MIN mark, I could not see the MAX line or its level relative to it.
Long story short, too much coolant resulting in too much pressure, resulting in 7/8 temperature at all times!
Reduced the coolant level, and all is good - stable at the half way point.
Next job, get the rad termoswitch in place.
What is your rooking mistake the rest of us can learn from?
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I don't know if this qualifies as a "Rookie" mistake, but the more I work on my car's timing, the more I'm finding that I might have installed the Cam Plate backwards. Great.
So I suppose that qualifies as a "Rookie" type mistake because I didn't know enough to put it in the right way. But maybe not. Because I kinda was opening the Injection Pump. Not really a rookie thing to do. :P
Cullen
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I'm sure I will have many more since I am a beginner tinkerer. One of the first rookie mistakes I made was to let the inner CV joint bend enough while changing the outer CV boot to let the bearings come out of the race. It took a good hour to get the bearings cleaned, replaced into the cage and inserted back into the race.
Moral of the story, don't let the inner CV joint bend while the outer CV joint is free unless you plan on repacking the inner joint!
:x
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Oh, I have an even better Rookie story.
Went to Valve-o-lube (Valvoline Instant Oil Change) and asked to buy a bottle of gear oil so I could top off my transmission in my Jetta (Gasser). The guy I was talking to said, "Oh, I can do that, just buy me a pop from the machine, and I'll get you topped off!" So he promptly opens the Timing inspection hole and pours a half a Quart of gear oil all over my clutch. (I didn't know what he was doing, and since he seemed to know what i was doing I let him do it.)
So I drove home with a badly slipping clutch (it was only a mile) and thought "If I let it sit for a few hours it will be fine!" Well.... It was... Kinda..... In the end it turns out that the guy was the manager, and he personally paid (In cash) for the parts to replace my Clutch. (Should have milked him for all the money to have a shop do it too, but I wasn't prepared to do that.) I found out 2 weeks after this was "resolved" that he had been fired, and that Valvoline has a policy to NEVER touch a VW tranny, which is also displayed prominently as a warning when they enter any VW into the computer to check Oil weights.
So the Moral of the story is to never, ever, goto an Oil Change shop to get your VW Tranny topped off.
Cullen
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Oh, I have an even better Rookie story.
Went to Valve-o-lube (Valvoline Instant Oil Change) and asked to buy a bottle of gear oil so I could top off my transmission in my Jetta (Gasser). The guy I was talking to said, "Oh, I can do that, just buy me a pop from the machine, and I'll get you topped off!" So he promptly opens the Timing inspection hole and pours a half a Quart of gear oil all over my clutch. (I didn't know what he was doing, and since he seemed to know what i was doing I let him do it.)
So I drove home with a badly slipping clutch (it was only a mile) and thought "If I let it sit for a few hours it will be fine!" Well.... It was... Kinda..... In the end it turns out that the guy was the manager, and he personally paid (In cash) for the parts to replace my Clutch. (Should have milked him for all the money to have a shop do it too, but I wasn't prepared to do that.) I found out 2 weeks after this was "resolved" that he had been fired, and that Valvoline has a policy to NEVER touch a VW tranny, which is also displayed prominently as a warning when they enter any VW into the computer to check Oil weights.
So the Moral of the story is to never, ever, goto an Oil Change shop to get your VW Tranny topped off.
Cullen
i'm still surprised that you managed to get the car home with a qt of oil in there.... never touch a VW tranny... how stupid is that??? business down the drain there... unless there is some huge liability issues...
i had mr lube change my tranny fluid... the stuff that came out was disgusting!!! and they had the proper oem synthetic tranny fluid too... pretty cool!!!
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worst mistake on my daily driver was something done by someone else and passed on to me unknowingly.
Do not ever use vice grips on the nose of the camshaft (the pulley mating surface) to rotate the camshaft (before installing the pulley). This is a critical taper fit. No pins or keys....... If the pulley spins free of the cam, squiggly valve stems..
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Luckily I have none on my IDI. (knocking loudly on wood) On my previous engine, I didn't put locktite on the bolts that hold the guides in place for the rollers for the roller cam. Driving close to home, the engine starts running like crap, so I limp home. Antifreeze is low, oil is this goopy mess and very high. The guide lifted up, roller fell sideways and the cam pushed it through the block into the water jacket. I was able to weld the hole up and drove for 5 more years until my IDI swap. The engine was never quite the same however.
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So I was looking at the flexable rubber brake hose that runs to the front brake caliper. Both sides rotting out. I bought 2 new ones. Go to take the first line off, can't get it to loosen where it connects to the body. What the hell? Well, if you get frustrated and put a big enough lever on the ratchet you can turn anything. A 3 foot pipe will turn it! By the way, that line has a nice star shaped end that sits in a nice star shaped cut out to keep it from turning :oops: Now it is a nice round hole :x
lesson? Read the book before you start to work.
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It was the middle of winter and the heat didn't work on my brothers chevette. I got tired of freezing so I decided to flush the heater core. Not the best job to do in your driveway in the middle of winter. So after a few hours I get it all back together and still no heat. WTF. Confused I look at the heat selector and notice it is at the coldest setting. Did I ever feel stupid.
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This concerns the 1.6D;
Put the damn "T"-bolt in the waterpump before you bolt the alternator bracket on.
I'm not sure if this will remind you before the AC is bolted down,... I knew about it and have forgotten it before but that didn't stop me from doing it again today.
Hopefully the last time :lol:
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Not that I have asmuch experiance as all the others, but every once in a while I seem to forget to do up the the camshaft bolt after timing. When I hand crank it over I hear a soft *clunk.* It sure is a pain getting things to line back up again after :x . It felt worse when I did this showing someone how easy it was to time the VW :oops: .
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I forgot to fill the fuel filter with fuel when installing.
Garry
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I knew the rear wheel bearings were bad on my 86 Golf. Very easy job. Jack the left wheel up took the bearing cap off (left the wheel on) took the nut off but could not get the wheel off. Tried to adjust the brake adjuster, couldn't. Pulled and yank, hit with big hammer and got it off. wrecked the springs and shoes.
I discovered that the parking brake was on.
I am a Master ASE Cert. Mechanic with over 30 years exp. Go figuire
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:lol: :lol:
"big hammer/ big lever"
common thread in this post. :lol:
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well i have one from back when i first started wrenching on rabbit diesel engines! at the time i did not know how to get the cam timing gear off! so i called my friend he tells me "hit it off with a hammer" so being the ironworker that i am i grab the smallest hammer i got witch is a 4lb beater and i give it a whack ! clunk it falls off! but also so did the piece up to the first bearing block stayed withed the gear ! broke clean off the end of the cam,ruined a good cam and learned a good lesson to leave my 4lb beater at work for now on !!
Duane
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After I did the head gasket on my 90 Jetta, I was screwing with the timing belt try to get it back on. Had a hell of a time getting the cam sprocket on right so it lined up with all the other pulleys. So after an hour or so of frigging around, I got the belt on, all tensioned up, and then it hit me.
Crankshaft wasn't at TDC, because per the bentley, I had turned it backwards till all pistons were equal hight before installing the head. :(
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I like the rebuild the relay plates on the older VW's.
Open up, take apart, remove the insulating "Film" and solder a 14 ga wire on top of the trace and cover with a new layer of "Film". Relay plates have a pretty close relationship with each other........Yep after a few months, viberations wore through the "Film"(nail polish) and kind of melted the whole damn thing. The only thing that saved the car was that I had kept the original fuse links and added a few more for some of the othe circiuts.
Moral of story?
FUSES AND MORE FUSES!!!
The wiring is a bit thin one these cars, boosting the size in one area can cause problems in an other.
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This concerns the 1.6D;
Put the damn "T"-bolt in the waterpump before you bolt the alternator bracket on.
I forgot again too... but while trying to sneak it in, discovered the hole had not been drilled-out at the factory, it was still drilled for tapping.
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ThSNO9ig0kI/UMlLHo4yqcI/AAAAAAAAA28/illA9peVmXY/s640/IMG_9175.JPG)
Expect suppliers to make mistakes too. :-\
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That hole is not suppose to be threaded.
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leaving the lock pin in my injection pump and starting the car... well trying to womp womb..
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That hole is not suppose to be threaded.
Ja, sorry to not be more clear, the housing should be drilled out large enough for the t-bolt (like the cover is).
There are more stories since 2007... search the board: "rookie mistakes".
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My rookie move was thinking that in order to rebuild the IP I needed to have it set on the bench in the horizontal direction that is in when running. Got the back bolts off and was easing them off knowing there was some spring tension on that whole mechanism and had it just about undo when the whole innards come tumbling out as I ease back the head. Did not know that dis assembly was a "on it's nose affair"
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One mistake I recently made: taking the power-steering belt off my 91 Jetta and still expecting the waterpump to turn properly (like earlier versions)... The 91 ECO has the elaborate two-sheave pulley... the outer sheave drives the waterpump and PS, the inner sheave just relays power to the AC compressor and alternator. If the PS belt is off, the waterpump won't spin worth spit.
(http://api.vwheritage.com/_img/med/34357300_01_med.jpg)
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Once upon a time I forgot to tighten the injection pump mounting bolts (later 2 piece pulley style) and they backed out and promptly demolished the pump gear. Thankfully, the car shut off while still keeping the cam and crank in time so it was a "cheap" repair.
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leaving the lock pin in my injection pump and starting the car... well trying to womp womb..
BEEN THERE! Forgot to remove the pump lock.. Sheared all the lugs off the timing belt around the crank pulley. Thank the lord baby Jesus the cam shaft stayed at TDC. Funny thing? It was probably my 1001st time doing a timing belt.. and I didn't turn it over by hand...
That is literally the only dumb thing I have done that I can really think of.
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First diesel head I ever put on one of these I took the injectors out and didn't know the heat sheilds were one time use. I got it running and continued to tighten the injector until it snapped the boss to try and keep it from leaking. It didn't work.
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I posted about it on a couple of forums, but mine was I think an incorrect torque on the pressure plate bolts doing a clutch/tranny job. I believe I used a little chart on the back of the box and it said 22 ft. lbs and 1/4 turn. That didn't work so well. I had less than an hour of running time on the driveway while I tuned things up and all of a sudden I heard some scraping and before I could even think about doing anything the engine just came to a dead stop.
A few bolts broke clean off and ripped out most the threads on one crank hole. Pressure plate holes were elongated, etc.
I ended up taking a dremel to the high spots and cleaned things up. Used some jbweld to fill in low spots and reinstalled another clutch in the car and ran it like that! Car was daily driven and it lasted a year until a family member overheated the car. That engine still sits on the shelf in pieces :)
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Mistake #1 purchasing a high mileage rusty car.
Mistake #2 Attempt to fix said rusty car with various metal patches
Mistake #3 replace darn near everything on said rusty car
Mistake #4 Not pay attention to proper torque for various bolts
Mistake #5 Overtightening timing belt and causing an oily mess :(
Mistake #6 Too many project cars and too little time. Two solid projects are more realistic than 3 or 4....
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I was cleaning my car and dropped a penny in the cigarette lighter. Burned the whole center console the wire cluster up before i could put out with a fire extinguisher. Moral of the story is keep a phone charger in the cigarette lighter but now my socket is relocated to the side of the cigarette lighter.
But im finally finishing my turbo engine swap and gonna tow prime it today so stay tuned for another rookie mistake. Hopefully wont be major.
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Rebuilt my AAZ. Engine turned freely on the stand. Installed flywheel and clutch, mated engine to trans, and installed the drivetrain in the van. Try to turn engine over w/ starter, does not budge. Remove drivetrain from van.
Long story short; the new flywheel bolts I got were ARPs, and a bit too long.
They passed thru the flywheel & crank flange into the block and locked the motor.
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tried for all my life why I couldn't get a IP i had just rebuilt to get the timing to set. Spent at least 3 hours scratching my head because I couldn't get it above 33[ there's the hint].- I was using a standard dial gauge- not the metric one I had used for 30 years
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I got an engine re-installed and timed-up. As per "best-practices", I turned the engine over a few times with a wrench: a 1/2" drive with long extension, so I could see into the engine compartment from by the right fender.
I heard a metallic rubbing sound...
I kept turning, trying to determine the nature and location of the sound. Lots of sounds to ignore: compression passing rings, belts squeaking, etc. I took off the lower timing cover to check the clearance by the crank hub... all good. I had also just replaced the failed new IM shaft seal (the thin type (http://www.vwdiesel.net/forum/index.php?topic=32531.msg300355#msg300355)) and was pretty sure the pulley went back on properly, but that metallic sound was about the same as the IM pulley tone. That checked out ok.
I was about to pull off the TB and spin each pulley solo, when I noticed the shifter linkage was not in the neutral position...
I had been turning the engine earlier with the right wheel off the ground and still had the tranny in 5th gear - the brake rotor was turning and rubbing the pads. I didn't even notice the axle turning when I was next to it, I was so focused on the engine.
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I have done it twice, left the ratchet on the crank bolt after timing and turning the starter
Droping the engine and transaxel in and bolting it down then cant get the drive shafts on.
And the classic, timing with the cold start out.
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How did you manage to bolt an engine in so you couldn't get the axles on?
Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2
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How did you manage to bolt an engine in so you couldn't get the axles on?
Usually you need to unbolt the control arms to fit them in with the engine package already installed.
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I got the drivers on ok but the passengers was one the floor when i got the engine in and it wouldn't squeeze the shaft past the oil pan iirc. I disconnected the control arm from the ball joint to get it to clear. Pita
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I used wire coat-hangers to hold the axles up while lifting the engine out, rolling the car around (sans engine) and dropping the engine down. While re-installing, the right side axle needed to be a bit higher than normal, once the engine is close to the mounts. The left was hooked onto the coolant tank bracket, the right was hooked onto the AC line bracket.
A pan under the tranny & engine would have been good during removal: gear-oil poured out of the inner c-v joints (failed flange-caps) and some remaining coolant came out of the waterpump.
I also should have printed a picture of the engine before removal and put it on the rain-tray, to remind myself which order the hookups/cables all went for re-install. (AC over throttle, throttle over cold-start, etc.)
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Don't grind the pin for the timing piston down to try to get more movement for advance, as it will break easily.
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This one i see a lot. Mixing green coolant or universal mix all coolant with g12
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Don't check the timing belt tension while the engine is running
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Don't try and unscrew glow plug retaining nuts while you've got injectors out. Injector holes love to eat nuts!
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Don't stick your finger in the flywheel timing hole while the engine is running. I thought the plastic plug was still there. Luckily the skin grew back.
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Don't try and unscrew glow plug retaining nuts while you've got injectors out. Injector holes love to eat nuts!
I've got what i think is a late AAZ breather assembly on my 1.6TD. I started out looking for just the 'puck' to plug into the port on a G60 valve cover and ended up with all the plumbing - plumbs right into an AHU air inlet, turns out.
Anyway, this includes a neat cup-shaped fitting for the breather port on the block.
Dropping an M8x30 bolt and washer down that because i neglected to stuff a rag in it gave me the gumption to re-seal my oil pan and windage tray with RTV.
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This concerns the 1.6D;
Put the damn "T"-bolt in the waterpump before you bolt the alternator bracket on.
I'm not sure if this will remind you before the AC is bolted down,... I knew about it and have forgotten it before but that didn't stop me from doing it again today.
Hopefully the last time :lol:
Done this atleast 15 times, but i think i got it right atleast once:-P
I've seen the "crank engine with pumplock in place", but worse: turn the engine by hand with a socketwrench on the crank, then try to start the car with wrench still in place... resulted in a broken pulley, wich again resulted in some bent valves...
I once used 5mm longer bolts than i should have on the oilpump for my mTdi in a Caravelle. (Euro vanagon) this resulted in no oilpressure because of the gap between the pump and block. Because i had the wrong sensors i did'nt find out, (never suspected a problem here).
Was pretty amacing, the car ran for about 10-15km (with overheating, and ruining two good turbos) before i found out.. (the second turbo failure made me realice that it might not get oil) the oilfilter was still dry...
Fixing this problem and the car ran fine, but with a lot of sound from the lifters, before i ***ed up with replacing the lifters, camshaft and camshaft holders.
Cam siezed and belt broke. When pulling the head no valves was bent, so I'm sure a hone, and new cam and cambelt would do the trick, but at that point i found out that DI isn't for me, and swiched back to IDI...
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Now i know what the extra t-bolt in my parts box is for!
I don't have a lower timing cover that fits, though, so it is kinda moot. I guess now that it looks like i will be deleting power steering i might be able to find one, but there is a chance i need those pulleys for AC next summer
.:Sent by pneumatic tubes
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Oh gosh there are a lot ;) most of them are well documented here haha.
A small one: finally got frustrated with my valve cover leaking, bought a tube of "the right stuff", meticulously cleaned the valve cover and block, And then basically glued my valve cover on. Only to look over and see that stupid little plastic oil saver.. Pulled it apart and cleaned it up and promptly got distracted and did the same thing... It turned out it was the camshaft seal leaking lol.
Big mistake: bought a turbo with no bolts holding the exhaust housing on.. Thought they were just extras mounting spots for something else(vacuum can was 2 of them and I didn't notice the other 3 missing .) , car all together for the first test drive. Built a little boost. Woo. Okay let's try it for real, 7 psi POP!!! "Oh no. . . well there goes that."
Fortunely nothing seemed to be damaged except my pride :(
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Not on a vw but good rule of thumb.
I was doing a valve adjustment on an e30 and left a 1/2 drive ratchet on the crank to turn over the engine to adjust each cylinder. I was in a rush, but forgot the ratchet and cranked the engine. Furthermore, the ratchet spun around scoring my radiator and knocked my waterpump, which began puking pretty much immediately.
Anytime you are ever cranking an engine over, always remove that damn ratchet when you aren't under there turning the engine, or get a buddy. I know this can happen to a lot of cars because especially the e30 has a slightly tigher fit and isn't too visible, so we can get lazy at times.
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oh yeah.
I have what i am pretty sure is late AAZ PCV plumbing, big cup shaped fitting on the block for plastic plumbing to seal into.
had the plumbing off because i had the valve cover off. Neglected to stuff a rag in the fitting.
dropped an M8 bolt and washer in it.
after i took the fitting off i was able to find the bolt and washer with my finger and, knock them into the windage tray. i guess if i hadn't had a windage tray they would have fallen into the pan.
it gave me an excuse to drop the pan and windage tray, and thus to reinstall them with black RTV.
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2 weeks out of tech school I had a 97 TDI passat come into my bay for a timing belt service. This was my first timing belt job without an instructor leaning over my shoulder. I got it all together, burped the coolant and I was off on a test drive. The car did great and I was pretty happy with the work done. That is until about 10mos later when the customer called the shop saying "I went to start my car and it just cranks really fast, kinda like its not getting fuel or something". I immediately had the sinking feeling that it crashed a head. He had it towed in and sure as $#¡+ there was no compression, I didn't torque the bolt for the intermediate shaft pulley and 8k miles later it finally decided to let go. Lesson learned, everything has a torque spec for a reason.
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I got two!
#1. I bought a pump from 8v-of-fury and got screwed because I gifted the money instead of paying for goods or services. He sent me a junk pump, and therefore screwed a college student out of $400.
#2. Forgot a ratchet on the crank bolt and cranked the motor over. It hit something, frame maybe? Idk, but it hit hard enough to break that bolt loose. Had to order a new bolt and retorque it.
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i had at an early time learned to use a block of wood when jacking up and using stands; a small block of a 2x4 will work. dont use tire jacks unless you get a flat, another thing after jacking-up release handbrake, i reapply brake, or use a wheel stop. the block of wood helps not wearing out jack points or going thru the undercoating/paint. i spray mine every year or so with good undercoating.