engine burnt up :-(

odie · Post by **odie** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 11:46 am

well, I torched my engine today. Had no coolant and fried it. Always had water everytime I checked it. For some reason i guess the water leaked out this weekend while i was gone.

drove to work and guess I didn't notice the temp gauge until the rabbit started loosing power and I had a huge black smoke cloud behind me.

Oh it's toast.

I got a spare engine in a parts car that runs fine. I've just never pulled a rabbit motor.

Any idea on the time it takes to pull a rabbit motor? It's just me but I have the hoist and should have all the tools.

Is it possible or easier to leave the transaxle in the car or does it gotta come out as a unit?

I've pulled Isuzus, Bugs, Buicks, Porsche, etc. All pain in the ass it seems.

bscutt · Post by **bscutt** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 1:57 pm

taking my time using my lift and two trips to the store it took me 6 hours to pull mine. I find it easier to pull the whole driveline out, tranny and all. If you have the triple-square tool for the axle bolts (8mm I think), pull the axles, drain all coolant, if you have AC (working) you can unbolt the compressor and put it out of the way, leaving hoses connected. I find removing the radiator give me much more working room. Disconnect all wires, hoses, speedometer cable etc and those pesky exhaust clamps (see home made tools section, a exhaust clamp will work as a tool to get them on and off)

I use a 2 post lift, get everything unbolted except a couple of motor mount bolts, lift up the car and set it back down on 2-3 old wood pallets. Then pull the remaining bolts and lift the car up, eaving the engine and tranny on the pallets. a couple of 2x4s hold the engine upright.

using a hoist you could do the same and pick the car up or you may be successful pulling the engine out the top.

viperkepr · Post by **viperkepr** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 1:59 pm

I did an engine swap last fall, it was just me, with a little help from the wife. I used my cherry picker to lift the car and sneak the engine/tranny out the bottom. I used furniture dollies and some stategically placed 2x4s and some ratchet straps to hold the eng/trans onto the dollies. I wrapped a 3" wide tow strap around the bumper a few times and lifted the picker high as it would go. Looks kinda goofy, but effective. I've removed eng/trans through the top also, but it is a little more messin' around that way. If you do it that way, you might want to remove the intake manifold because of the rain tray getting in the way. Also, I found if you pull the motor from the bottom, you dont have to worry too much about the brake booster bumping into the motor while you are trying to get it out of there. I did the same thing putting in the replacement motor, just had the wife running the lift while I was jockeying it around trying to line up the bolts.
So with the wife's help it probably took about 2 and a half hours, give or take to get the motor/tranny in. Not completely in, but motor mount bolts and exhaust clipped on. I took a break after that, and finished up all of the electrical and driveshafts later that weekend.

odie · Post by **odie** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 2:40 pm

sounds like bottom is faster and easier. I've got to pull 2 engine and then install one. Probably a full weekend project. I'll be studying the Haynes for a while. next 2 weekends I'm gone so the car is gonna sit a bit but I can work on all the prep work (radiator, hoses, cables, axles).

odie · Post by **odie** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 4:40 pm

the spare motor is in a MK2. Does that come out better thru the top? I need to pull that one first and get it ready to go in the MK1 caddy.

Post by **Fatmobile** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 1:04 am

Sorry to hear about your meltdown.
I had the same thing happen, so I built a low coolant warning light, like the MK2s and later models have.
Yes, the MK2 engines pull out the top/front.
The radiator support is easily removed.

bscutt · Post by **bscutt** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 9:08 am

last one I pulled was a B3 Passat. similar to a MKII if I recall so it took alittle longer due to the different mounting configuration, but I still pulled it out the bottom. Had to remove the front support bar for clearance. Having never done a MKII I can't say for sure how similar that is.

odie · Post by **odie** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 1:00 pm

I'll probably pull both motors from the top. but it will be a month before I can get to it. i'm gone the next 3 weekends. I hope this is a one weekend pull and replace deal.

i'm tempted to put it on flea bay as a "parts car" project and see what interest there is. The body is straight and rust free, pretty hard to find. And I already got the replacement motor that runs right now as it is. And i just don't have time for at least month to attempt it myself. I do have other small diesel trucks to drive.

odie · Post by **odie** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 4:13 pm

any chance the block is OK and I just need a rebuilt head? I'm thinking the aluminum head failed and shut the engine down before the tougher iron would get damaged.

It always had oil pressure. All the smoking was probably the leaking oil. ANd the head would go dry of coolant before the block.

I guess I need to attempt to actually turn the engine over and check if there is even any coolant still in the block.

I just towed it home and left it. The temp guage was maxed out and the over-flow reserivour was empty.

82vdub · Post by **82vdub** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 4:42 pm

You would need to work on the motor before determining if the block itself was junk. Could have wiped out the bearings, pistons could have expanded enough to score the cylinder walls, block cracked, warped deck (where the head bolts to), etc. But, you can't determine that until you dig further into it. For me, the big question is why you pulled the head the first time to redo the head gasket? Maybe the problem really wasn't the head gasket, but something else.

The head itself is probably pretty warped. Once again, you won't know until you get it off and inspect it.

rs899 · Post by **rs899** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 6:07 pm

If you are going to go through the bottom, another easy way is to take the whole front suspension down with it in one big hairball.

Remove the small 10mm nuts that hold the top of the struts to the body, disconnect the outer tie rod ends from the steering knuckles and remove the big bolts from the lower A-arms. Hang the brake calipers. Remove all the mounts etc and everything stays together when you drop it or pull up on the body.

Rick

odie · Post by **odie** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 11:55 am

that sounds interesting, drop the whole suspension. but then I still gotta seperate the suspension from the engine....right now I can't find my manual to even read how to pull the engine, lol.

and it's gonna sit a month. My other cars got flooded yesterday so I'm busy with the shop vac sucking water outta the carpet and then i hit the road for 2 weeks.

it's been a crappy week...fried my vw motor and had the benz and convertable flooded

sideburns · Post by **sideburns** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 6:25 pm

the last one i did was in mk3, and was away from home with only a motorcycle jack for lifting, axle nuts removed, the 2 holding the a-arms, pull axles from hubs, disconnect all the regular stuff, front clip/bumper and rad out, then just walked the engine+tranny out the front. i'd rather use a hoist but it worked just fine