No, I'm not on crack! I'm fixing that derned cracked 11mm block....

[maxfax]

600 Miles down..  400 till retorque!!!      It got up to about 45F today so I took it romping through the junk yard..   Pushed it pretty hard a few times to get out of icy ruts..   Temp hold good, no coolant loss, starts good down to 18F..  I really wish I would have put a block heater in this car though..  Instant heat woudl be sweet..   Next engine I guess..   Power and economy seem a bit off..  I haven't played with the timing yet, I'll do that at the retorque.. COuld be the cooler weather too..   I still notice some oily residue in the expansion tank....  Very little in comparison to what it was before all of this..  Might still be residual oil in the system..  I did run it for quite some time with it spewing oil in there..   I may drain the coolant again and give it another good flush...

[ToddA1]

Good job....  the results so far seem promising.  I can only imagine that they'll be plenty fine for a generator/welder.

600 miles so far? Wow, you drive a lot; I can see why you burn alternate fuels.

-Todd

[maxfax]

I feel that even if it's still getting a slight amount of oil in the coolant it will be adequate for my plans..  Heck I drove the car for about 2 years when it spewed it much worse..  I did come up with an idea just to see if I do still have this problem..   I have some of that U/V dye that one can dump in a trans, power steering, or engine oil to check for leaks..  Theroetically if it is new oil going into the coolant, with the dye it should glow under the black light...


The alt fuels are a blessing on top of the great diesel milage..  I have a 32 mile drive to work, couple that with several service calls, and a drive home it doesn;t take long....  Once upon a time my DD was a 79 Lincoln with a 460cid..  What a great ride that was, but it was rather costly too.....

[gribur]

I just bought a 95 golf TD, and have a question.  What is the cause of the cracks in the block? Is it fairly common in diesel engines?  Yes i am new to this, just wondering.
thanks

[rabbitman]

Block heaters don't quite give instant heat, if you use it on a warm day then it might but then of course it's not necessary. With using the block heater, at 0F it takes about a half mile at most for the heater to start blowing heated air.

[maxfax]

Gribur,

The earlier VW diesels (pre 1982ish) used smaller headbolts than the later engines..  The bolts were a bit on the short side..  Couple that with a weak block to begin with and you have cracks, sometime lots of them..  Any VW diesel made after 1982ish used larger stretch bolts and didn;t have this problem..   If you'd like more details on this check out
http://www.vwdiesel.net/forum/index.php?topic=21948.0


Rabbitman,

 All depends on the block heater..  The wussy little thing that VW used doesn;t do too much for instant heat..   But big assed tank style heaters will...    I can't remeber the make or model, but I had one on my old Torino.. I went to the AP and told them to give me the biggest monstor they had.     If I'd park that car with the defrost on, plug in the heater, enough heat woudl radiate from the vents to keep the ice off the windshield..  And the heat was pretty much instant even in the neg temps.. Granted it wasn;t hot, but it was quite a bit warmer than the ambient air..    At the time my drive to work was 6 miles.  It would just be getting warm when I got to work.. Now think big cushy vinyl seats in 10F weather..  Seat covers woudl have probably been simpler, but it helped my average mpg's big time and paid off.. 

I'm actually planning on using the heater from the Torino on the Rabbit..  Generally it'll be overkill, but with the aux electric water pump and such I'm hoping to warm the WVO a bit with it and hopefully switch over from diesel sooner...

[NintendoKD]

can I get a part no. on that heater and where to get it, I will need it for my build.  The reason I say this is that my 1.6 disp. aaz head IDI MONSTER will have low static compression and I will need an alternative for cold days.  Good job on the repair, I hope all is well.

Thanks, and Merry Christmas,

Kevin

[maxfax]

Here is about what I used..   I know it was a Zerostart like this one..  I'll bet about the same model...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ZEROSTART-1000W-120V-engine-pre-heater-block-heater_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem2ea9f59e15QQitemZ200419941909QQptZLHQ5fDefaultDomainQ5f100

[rabbitman]

 :o1000w would easily do it. Here's what I've got, not sure how many watts this or mine is though.....
http://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/1982/volkswagen/rabbit/fluids-fs-manuals-fs-misc/block_heater_kit.html

I can start up at -50F with this and 100w oil pan heater.

[maxfax]

1000w was definitely overkill for the Torino, and will be hella overkill on the Rabbit..  But if it can help warm up the WVO I'm all about it....  I've been able to start this car down to -18F with no heater..  It wasn't happy, but it did it..  Normally we don;t see much below the teens so that bugger ought to keep it nice and toasty..    Just not sure how I want to mount and plumb it yet...   It's getting kinda full under the hood... 

[NintendoKD]

not to get too off topic here, but I plan on using both the oil pan heater and the 1000 block heater in my it was gracious of you to go out of the way to give the info on the 1000W one but hows about the oil heater too please?   just a thought but you could do the plumbing in the cabin "since it's for heat anyway" you could make it easy to de-install and the wiring could be pretty simple that way too.  Also use an simple egg timer to the time before you leave for work and viola! instant heat without having to leave it plugged in all night.   good luck

[maxfax]

The thing with that particular type of heater is for it to work properly, the inlet needs to be as low if not lower than the lowest part of the cooling system..  Now since I have an aux electric water pump This probably wouldn't be as crucial..  I may actually mount the WVO heat exchangers under the passenger dash so they aren't out there under the hood exposed to all the air blowing though..  ..

I'm not sure exactly what type of oil heater Rabbitman is using..  The most common ones I have seen are magnetic and jsut stick to the bottom of the pan..  You must remove them before driving of course....

[rabbitman]

http://www.warehouseautoparts.com/Specialty_Line/Kat/Kats_24150_Silicone_hotpad_oilpan_heater.htm

Mine doesn't have the sticky backing though, this one's 150w but 100w would work fine.

Napa, carquest any of those should have 'em or at least be able to get 'em.

[maxfax]

900 Miles in as of yesterday..  Still some goo in the expansion tank, but no signs of the fluorescent dye.. Even if it still is getting new oil in the coolant, it is MUCH slower than it was..

So I was taking a spin to Lewistown in it yesterday.. Probably about 30 miles..  Of course this was 30 miles with a stong head wind on the highway, and a few decent hills..   I was pushing it pretty hard..  Since my confidience in it has grown I was actually watching the road more than the temp gauge..  I was just about ready to get off at my exit and glanced at the aftermarket temp gauge that takes it's reading from the neck for the upper rad hose..  250 F !!   Factory gauge is slightly below the first red mark.. 

I shut her down, coasted off the road..  Felt pretty sure it was toast.. Took a look under the hood, the heater hose was leaking where it slid on the valve..  More inspection revealed, I FORGOT TO TIGHTEN THE CLAMP! Yep, it held for 900 miles like that..   Stuck the hose back on, and tightened the clamp this time..  Fortunately I was not too overly confident that I still had several jugs of water with me..   Fired it back up, topped off the cooling system..   GOLDEN! I managed to put another 100 miles on it from then..   I'll be doing my retorqe tonight or tomorrow.. 

Still gotta toy with my timing some more too..  It starts well, but still lacks the power it had...  THe milage is down about 7mpg too...

[8v-of-fury]

So i Think after holding up 900 miles, this goes from Epic Fail.. to a normal Fail??

Good work Brett