VW diesel repair question

[illflem]

A friend of mine's 17 year old brought his Rabbit over for me to repair oil leaks and figure out what happened to his fuel economy. The oil appears to be coming out the air-filter box,which by the way hasn't had a filter in it for 20k. I have a good idea what I'm going to tell him when returns to pick it up tomorrow,just wondered what you guys think.

 

[willyslover]

HE HE . . tell him to do his damnn maintenance . . guess you better teach him a few things just like someome did us #ad
#ad


[This message has been edited by willyslover (edited 03-11-2001). ]

 

[illflem]

willyslover,he did do his maintenance,he took out his dirty filter and replaced it with a 100% free flowing one.

 

[RBrunson]

Bill, I guess some of the youngsters have to learn the hard way. Motor is probley on its last legs. I would recommend he buy a shop manual by Robert Bentley. Costs around 49 bucks. They are up there on par with the best service manuals out there. My diesel Rabbit has only 147,000 and rattling alone just fine at around 46 mpg. #ad
. The Dodge has gotten a best of 21. 5.

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Ron

'96 4x2 2500 Garnet/Driftwood Auto,3. 54,K&N,Cobra, 93 TT Terry 29L,'84 VW Rabbit diesel,

 

[Grady]

You may also find some good info in the Message Board section here:

http://www.prod.net/volkswagen/

 

[Shovelhead]

Brings back some memories.
I worked on these at a VW dealer back in the early '80 when they first came out. Seem to remember a problem with valve seals getting brittle. Also remember the compression ratio being in the neighborhood of 23:1 with cylinder pressure around 600+psi. Sounds like the rings are gone big time with alot of blow-by. jmho.
Also remember that the head bolts were supposed to be one-time use "strech bolts" even though everyone re-used them on the "quickie head gasket swaps".
I always wondered how those guys removed all the pieces of the old gasket when all they did was to remove the head bolts, pry the head up, slide out the old gasket, slide in the new. Gotta beat that flat-rate book to make money. Thats why I became a phone man. Couldn't play that game and sleep at night. (turned wrenches for 6 years for Volvo,VW,Subaru)
Ed Anderson
99 3500,QC,Auto,4. 10,Everthing 'cept leather,stock until warranty runs out.
'76 H-D FLH, '98 FLHTCUI

[This message has been edited by Shovelhead (edited 03-13-2001). ]

 

[DieselB59]

I remember my uncle had one and it tossed a head gasket and he and I took it in for the service. I guess they had a lot of this happening because we waited for it, watching the techs dance around with impact wrenches, lifting the heads off and sliding new gaskets under them and then zipping all the bolts back down and shoving them out the door assembly line style. We were back home shortly after lunch.

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Chris Timochko
AUTO WURKS DIESEL R&D TEAM
1997 5sp 4X4, Rhino Linings, Espar Heater, A. W. D. HX40 turbo, ATS 3pc Manifold, BD 4" Brake, Marine Compression, A. W. D. Custom Tuned Injection Pump, A. W. D. Intercooler, A. W. D. 370B Injection Nozzles, Delivery Valves, Governor & AFC Spring Kit, Psychotty Air, A. W. D. Water Injection, NOS Diesel Kit, A. W. D. 6" Chrome Exhaust System, BD No Smoke Valet Switch, McLeod Dual Disc Clutch, Mag-Hytec Rear Cover, Cummins Chrome Kit, Optima Red Tops, Hadley Bully Horns, Hurst Line Loc, Goodyear Wrangler AT/S 305/70/16s. 15. 50@97mph on Goodyear All-Terrain tires.
****************************************************************************
Project U96 - 1996 3500 2WD racer. A. W. D. Marine Ultra Low Compression, A. W. D. Teflon-coated Pistons, A. W. D. High Lift Camshaft, Ported and Honed Cylinder Head, Intake and Exhaust manifold; A. W. D. HX40 Turbocharger, ATS 3pc Exhaust Manifold, A. W. D. Water Injection, A. W. D. Custom Fabricated Fuel System, Race Spec A. W. D. /BD P7100 Injection Pump, A. W. D. Custom High Flow Fuel Injection Nozzles, BD Auto transmission and Custom TC, Weld Draglites, Goodyear Eagle Drag Slicks, 5" Single Stack Through The Bed, Mag-Hytec on Rear and Transmission. 11. 54@115mph

 

[illflem]

Chris,I'm beginning to think it may just be a head gasket although it deserves worn cylinders/ rings without an air filter. Main reason for thinking that it may be the gasket is that the oil problem came on all of the sudden.

 

[Switca]

There's only one place for info on VW diesels: http://forums.tdiclub.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro

Registration is free. Feel free to post questions there.

 

[Skydiver]

Bill it sounds like rings. But if still has enough compression to crank and the oil cost are not to high just keep running it. Might try going to a much thicker oil,like sae50. I've heard some unbelievable storys about how tuff these little engines are. V. W. is the only diesel avalible in U. S. car market. Must be doing something right.
Tim

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96 3500 Feline deceased. Ready to upgrade. 86K. auto,3. 54,Ext. cab.
K&N air,Star wheel spun,silencer ring hanging on a nail.
Truck looks just like the truck on left side of page 6 issue 31.

 

[illflem]

Tim,he is going to keep running it unless it's something cheap to fix. Only problem is that it's gotten to the point where it keeps on running after he shuts down(run on)Luckily it has a 4 speed and he can stall it. What do you all think about setting up a Cummins style blow-by on it,just let the oil hit the ground. Or better yet direct it into a jug and the kid can just pour the oil back in.

[This message has been edited by illflem (edited 03-13-2001). ]

 

[Skydiver]

Bill I like the idea of a reclaim jug. But it will need to have large enough hoses going in and coming out to handle the CFM flow. So crank case pressures won't force the seals to blow out. Also the vent might need a filter of some type to keep bugs and trash from coming back into the jug when engine is off. This will keep oil off the air filter resulting in improved mpg. Old story:
Mechanic once told me,A lady dented her oil pan so bad that it knocked the pick up tube off the oil pump. She drove it 26 miles with the oil light on. Then she called him the next morning told him what happened. The mech figured it was shot by now anyway so he told her to drive it the other 2 miles to his shop. Conclusion,new oilpan, pickup tube refilled with oil. He said it only smoked slightly and no knock. I think there must have been some oil splashing somewhere.
I would not mind having another V. W. diesel right now. Tim

 

[Motorhead]

Bill, the oil control ring is gone. I owned a diesel Dasher wagon for 19 years. It was a hell of a car, after I put an Audi 5 speed in it the thing would pull 100mph and at 70mph I got 44mpg! BUT... the oil rings would go and cause alot of blow by. The first engine in the car(before I modified the breather) developed a run away problem. It would start running on its own oil blowby. In doing so It RATTLED like Hell and threw out a smoke screen from the tail pipe that you wouldn't believe. You couldn't shut it down with the key, if you clutched it ,it would have reved to destruction. The only way to stop it was to put on the brakes and slow the revs down until it was back to normal. When it was running on oil, the thing felt like it had a few extra cylinders for the extra power it had. Once they start blowing alot of oil, they get worse fast. One good thing about the Rabbit is that you can in-frame them in a snap. Nothing is in the way of the pan and the head can be pulled with out removing the manafolds. If you need any further info or special tools, E-mail me. I worked on them off and on for 20 years. #ad
Chris

 

[JTBMC]

Bill, another consideration my be the turbo providing it is a turbo diesel as mine is. The oil seals failed and the turbo was sucking oil out of crank case an into the filter housing and blowing out of the tail pipe. Had the same thing happen on a 7000 ford tractor 85 HP only it didnt make it to the filter. Felt like Jed Clampet showered in black gold Texas tea, actully Rotella T. Let us know how things turn out, I'll be in Kentucky on a Horse trip for a week gotta play before Rye grass boots and comes on for mowing.

 

[illflem]

Grizz, no turbo on this oldie. Had him take it to a VW mechanic who has a 1000 psi compression tester. Two cylinders are reading less than 100, when they are supposed to read 600. I'm surprised it runs at all, but it still runs pretty good, gives me new found respect for the VW diesel engine. In fact when a deal comes around I wouldn't mind picking one up, hard to beat 50 mpg. At this point the kid is just going to drive it till it dies, the rebuild is worth more than the car. May take it a while to croke though, unless the kid doesn't keep up with the qt of oil it spits out every 100 miles. I told him to run a hose with a funnel on it from the dash to the oil fill hole, that way he can add oil on the fly every time the oil light comes on !!!

[This message has been edited by illflem (edited 03-17-2001). ]

 

[therabbittree]

hey part of your problem is there is no cam splash shield. . grab one from a 85and up 8v vw. . it is a plastic spash shield that fits undewr valvecover and blocks excess oil from hitting vent. . it was a factory fix tsb etc for the old run away diesl stories ... any how yeah they are great cars sick mileage and easy to work on . . i build and race vws . . rabbits,,sciroccos etc i have 18 now . . ha i've had over 75 since i started driving and hell im only 25yrs old. . my new project is a twinm turbo 1/6L in a '79 2dr,sunroof rabbit. . using a turbo off a mercades td as the second turbo. . kinda like practice for my cummins hehe. . its all redone new ceramic coated 40 over mahle turbo diesel pistons. . ported head and prechambers. . cut fly wheel to ring gear ,knive edged front throws of crank and ground forgeing ring on the rods,,all balance d. . should rip..... the oil breather catch can works good doing run it back to the intake that sucks and oils the aircleaner. . put a hose int a 20oz soda bottle and poke to vent holes int he upper part of it easy to check and drain thats what we do on all of ours gas or diesel. . go to. . http://tdi. abahn. bc. ca/ its freds tdi web site. . Tons of info there eamil me if ya want i have otehr links to more info. . best of luck!
later
deo
\x/ hilloflk1

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'89 w350 srw 4x4, k&n,
5" side exit exhaust,
muffler is awol, looking
for more power

 

[WCrovo]

With low comp. its a done deal. See if you can find a turbodiesel engine at a wrecking yard and reincarnate the thing. Due it correctly and you will have a great car for a few bucks. I have converted several of these and they run awesome. The factory had a kit for the oil in the intake in pre 81 diesels(even tho they all needed it) it might of been the equivilent of a TSB, The code was EU. Your engine is beyond that kit. The trans and engine from the turbodiesel bolt right in and turn that Rabbit into a sleeper.

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2001 2500 tow, camper, SWB, ETH/DEE, 3. 54 Bright white,4 wheel discs.

 

[Shovelhead]

Bill, sorry to hear that the "patient" will not have an easy fix/recovery. I guess he will either have to recycle another couple of gallons of oil daily, replace the engine, or "drive it til the wheels fall off".
An old trick for the runaway rabbit diesel syndrome was to keep on old can (top removed of course) that would fit over the intake snorkle, and when you want to shut it off, place the can over the end of the snorkle to deprive the motor of air til it shuts off. Good luck!

 

[Skydiver]

The city I work for light and power department had a diesel powered line truck drill into a natural gas main. Talk about runaway engine. I now carry a Co2 fire ext. in my personal truck.
Tim

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96 3500 Feline deceased. Ready to upgrade. 86K. auto,3. 54,Ext. cab.
K&N air,Star wheel spun,silencer ring hanging on a nail.
Truck looks just like the truck on left side of page 6 issue 31.

 

[illflem]

So he's set up with a oil collection bottle and a air filter now, lets see if it can make 100k !!!
Didn't realize till reading about it that the engine is only 90 cu in, not too much bigger than a Cummins starter motor!