Former VWDieselParts.com Forum

Pure water near hotspots in the cylinder head can flash to steam. Steam causes excess pressure and the cap boils over. As you say, test for a leaky head gasket. Hopefully there are no leaks and you can just replace the water with coolant and drive.

Inspect the wires from the alternator where they attach to the battery. Most importantly -- peel back a bit of insulation to look at the metal underneath. On my car, the copper underneath was all corroded a nasty puffy white/green, I presume from battery fumes. Just to be safe, I replaced it all the...

Best method to install the parts? (RTV will not be used!) I tested using the o-ring to hold up the thermostat while placing the housing in position... I haven't yet found a good way to do this. Usually just trial and error trying to keep the t-stat, o-ring, and housing lined up enough that nothing ...

Didn't the automatic trans diesels come with a manual fuel cutoff (since it's hard to stall a runaway automatic )? If so, maybe you could use it on a manual trans car after defeating the electrical solenoid.

I'm not sure of the materials science either, but I recall the Bentley has a caution against spilling diesel on rubber coolant hoses, as it degrades them. Viton is probably the way to go, petro- or bio-diesel.

I'm doing an '88 Jetta gas-to-diesel and will be using the original gasoline tank. As long as you replace any rubber fuel lines with diesel-compatible material, I don't forsee a problem.

I seem to recall discussions on another board about pedal assemblies cracking at the pivot point. Might be something worth checking.

It appears when I assembled the IP I put the drive in @ 180 degrees out. I thought that I would mention it so that others don't make the same mistake it had me scratching my head for several days. Make sure you tell any mechanics or future owners, or they'll really be scratching their heads! Once I...

My Fox has an oil light that "falses" and I have heard many tales of the buzzer buzzing when oil pressure is fine (i.e., it lies). I agree the bet bet is to get a diagnostic pressure gauge and test the actual oil pressure to determine if there is an electrical or mechanical fault. As for t...

The mark can be difficult to spot. Here's a close-up:

The flanges are pre-loaded against the circlips to pre-load the internal roller bearings the flange stub runs on.. Not on all cars. My Rabbit doesn't, for example. If I'm not mistaken, I believe the presence of a green thingie between the flange and the transmission signals a spring-tensioned flange?

The way I noticed it all was when the plastic pipe connecting the cylinder head coolant hose to the heater hose broke. It got warm but the gauge did not show much over normal. I'm afraid I have bad news. The temperature gauge sender is in that head-to-heater flange. When it broke, it stopped measur...

rabbit_man wrote:I about flip out when I have to let the tire shop people drive it into their shop, it's weird/uncomfortable/upsetting and sad watching it drive without me sitting in the drivers seat .

Me too!!

I believe the top of the gasket is marked "OBEN" (it's German).

tollertdi wrote:Don't understand about shimms. Don't have any.

My Fox (longitudinal engine) has shims for the A/C, but so far as I know, Mk1s do not have them and just swing the alternator on the bracket to tension the belt.