Tech FAQ Thread

[v8volvo]

A couple quarts of ATF (auto trans fluid, any type) in the tank works also. Has saved my butt at least once.

I must say, you'd be far better off running kerosene as a stop-gap fuel. Kerosene is sold in many of the same types of stores, and is cheaper. Best is to of course pack a gallon of fuel in your trunk in a small canister. I've a one-gallon red plastic tank. Every few months when I fill up, I'll pour it into the main tank, and then refill the small tank from the pump. This keeps the fuel fresh, just in case (never had an issue with running old fuel).

-Josh

I also found out the other night, that if it is late at night, all the gas stations are closed, and you aren't quite sure if you are going to make it home, you can go to the 24 hour food store and buy a gallon of veggie oil and make it home without having to walk Ran just fine, fired right up the next morning, and made it to the gas station to fill the tank with some of that yucky dino fuel...

[libbybapa]

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[dieselsnowmobile]

Here is a checklist that I made up and will follow when looking at a VW Diesel car. I sort of got screwed the last time buying my current Jetta because the guy had drilled holes in the radiator cap to protect the head gasket and I did not see it till after it was long bought and paid for. So the head gasket went bad. I thought I would share it to everybody and we can all edit it and refine it as needed. This is just a guideline to know how much work the car really will need and how much the guy selling you the car is telling the truth. Some of these are obvious and some are redneck test.

Most Important things to check:
1.Before starting the car, pop the hod and be ready to take radiator cap off or look to see if holes are drilled in the cap. Start the car, immediately take the radiator cap off and place hand over the hole and see if it is pressurizing. If it is, head gasket is bad. Radiators take time to pressurize when normally warming up.
2.When test driving car, find a level place to park the car. Shut the engine off. Put the transmission is fifth gear. Try to push the car forward. The car has to be hard enough to push that leaning at a 45 degree angle your body weight alone will not move the car. The car can move a little, but it has to be hard to do. Do it so that all four cylinders go through this test. If the car is easy to move, than the rings are bad.
3.While parked with the parking brake on and engine running, put the transmission in fifth gear keeping the clutch depressed. Rev the engine up to about 3000 rpm and slide your foot off of the clutch to pop the clutch as fast as possible. Listen to how fast the engine dies. If it dies slowly, the clutch is bad. If it dies really fast, then the clutch is somewhat good.

Things to check while test driving:
4.How the car steers and braking handing.
5.Notice how the vacuum on brakes feel.
6.Stomp on accelerator and let off and notice slack in transmission or noises in transmission, like main bearing out. Also, shift really fast to test synchronizers.
7.Notice handling as far as shocks
7.5 Look for smoke out of exhaust, and note the color.

Less Important Things to check:
8.Rust on body, suspension, and on floor boards.
9.Leaks on any and every fluid.
10.Check clutch pedal level, make sure there is slack on the top of the pedal.
11.Tire wear (can indicate alignment, wreck, or shocks gone bad).
12.Look at VIN and make sure it has not been defaced
13.Check oil, notice any water or strong diesel smell to it.
14.Close and shut all doors and trunk.
15.Move vent level on all settings and feel air at each spot.
16.Test the heat, notice if any cool air is coming out at the same time as the heat. The foam on the vent doors may have fallen off.
17.With hood up, engine running and parking brake on, put transmission in first gear and let up on clutch slowing and see how much engine moves (engine mount test). If it moves alot in one direction, an engine mount may be bad. A bad engine mount can cause dints on the hood from the engine.
18.Let engine idle to get hot enough to see if radiator fan comes on.

'89 Diesel Jetta NA 1.6 L (444,500 mi)

[Op-Ivy]

Drive Axle Flange Seal Replacement DIY/Homemade tool

viewtopic.php?t=6352

Enjoy



-Matt

[vwkook]

Gearwrenches (the ones with the switch) make a great tool for putting the 5mm (global moderator says 8mm ) nuts on glow plugs. (when injector lines are installed) They are tapered so the nut will not slide through. Use a thin piece of cardboard to hold the nut in place and then slide it out when nut is positioned on the stud.

[ajt3nc]

This is a link to a very detailed heater core replacement how-to with pictures.
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3581605

[libbybapa]

IS MY HEADGASKET BLOWN?

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[CoolAirVw]

Here is the IP disassembly and reassembly thread...

viewtopic.php?t=6694

[TonyB]

This link is to an excellent PDF file of of the workings of the Bosch VE injection pump and injectors.

http://etc.gnarlodious.com/Vanagon/Bosc ... _Pumps.pdf

TonyB
Jacksonville, FL
81 Dasher 1.6na

[Corlebra]

IS MY HEADGASKET BLOWN?

...When shut down, the pressure from the cooling system can push coolant into the cylinder. If that cylinder is on the intake stroke or compression stroke, the next time the engine is cranked over it will hydro-lock if the amount of coolant in the cylinder exceeds the combustion chamber size. If the cylinder is on the power or exhaust stroke when the engine is shut down, then the coolant will be expelled out the exhaust system when the engine is cranked over.

Andrew

This is what happened to me. High pressure in my hoses, lose of power and extremely smokey white exhaust. after pulling it back in the shop, you could actually hear the water seeping into the cylinder. When i hand cranked it you could hear air being pushed into a coolant passage, by the next day when it cooled down i could BARELY hand crank the engine over.

Good write up

[Quantum-man]

IS MY HEADGASKET BLOWN?

...When shut down, the pressure from the cooling system can push coolant into the cylinder. If that cylinder is on the intake stroke or compression stroke, the next time the engine is cranked over it will hydro-lock if the amount of coolant in the cylinder exceeds the combustion chamber size. If the cylinder is on the power or exhaust stroke when the engine is shut down, then the coolant will be expelled out the exhaust system when the engine is cranked over.

Andrew

This is what happened to me. High pressure in my hoses, lose of power and extremely smokey white exhaust. after pulling it back in the shop, you could actually hear the water seeping into the cylinder. When i hand cranked it you could hear air being pushed into a coolant passage, by the next day when it cooled down i could BARELY hand crank the engine over.

Good write up

Fascinating. Not that I would ever try to create a disagreement, but it seems to me this must be one hell of a rare event
How can it be that a head gasket can develop a leak that is so bad that it can allow water to seep across under a maximum of 20psi, yet a hot gas with 50x the pressure AND 1/50th of the viscosity, doesn't do the usual thing and push the water out of the cap, or blow the rad hose up like a balloon? Failure on a short journey, or topping up a known problem perhaps

[libbybapa]

And finally, leakage between a coolant passage and a cylinder will result in pressurization of the expansion tank when running due to the high compression of a diesel engine. Some coolant may make it into the cylinder on the intake or exhaust strokes, but usually not much by the time pressurization has caused a slew of other problems such as burst hoses, burst expansion tank, extreme over-heating. When shut down, the pressure from the cooling system can push coolant into the cylinder. If that cylinder is on the intake stroke or compression stroke, the next time the engine is cranked over it will hydro-lock if the amount of coolant in the cylinder exceeds the combustion chamber size. If the cylinder is on the power or exhaust stroke when the engine is shut down, then the coolant will be expelled out the exhaust system when the engine is cranked over.

Here's the whole paragraph, Mark, so you can see it even after I delete the source. When the engine is **shut down**, there is not any pressure in the cylinder and usually about 14-15 psi in the cooling system. I have seen two VW diesels that were hydrolocked from a leaky head gasket, so is it rare? Probably, but "one hell of a rare event"? I don't know. Now, because I find that you actually do like to try to create disagreements (through ambiguity, omission and even outright falsehood) and continuing discussions with you hasn't ever benefited me at all, I will opt out of this conversation at this point and delete my previous post so as to eliminate it as a source of further prodding from your nonsense stick. Good luck with your pro-volking.

[Corlebra]

IS MY HEADGASKET BLOWN?

...When shut down, the pressure from the cooling system can push coolant into the cylinder. If that cylinder is on the intake stroke or compression stroke, the next time the engine is cranked over it will hydro-lock if the amount of coolant in the cylinder exceeds the combustion chamber size. If the cylinder is on the power or exhaust stroke when the engine is shut down, then the coolant will be expelled out the exhaust system when the engine is cranked over.

Andrew

This is what happened to me. High pressure in my hoses, lose of power and extremely smokey white exhaust. after pulling it back in the shop, you could actually hear the water seeping into the cylinder. When i hand cranked it you could hear air being pushed into a coolant passage, by the next day when it cooled down i could BARELY hand crank the engine over.

Good write up

Fascinating. Not that I would ever try to create a disagreement, but it seems to me this must be one hell of a rare event
How can it be that a head gasket can develop a leak that is so bad that it can allow water to seep across under a maximum of 20psi, yet a hot gas with 50x the pressure AND 1/50th of the viscosity, doesn't do the usual thing and push the water out of the cap, or blow the rad hose up like a balloon? Failure on a short journey, or topping up a known problem perhaps

For the record, mine was gushing from my rad cap from the higher than normal pressure. Also when i got it, the coolant cap's seal was gone which probably didn't help out.

[wdyasq]

My first post here but, my 'necessary' tool in the diesel tool box is the outboard boat fuel pump bulb. You can fill filters and pumps and delete air. When I was wrenching diesels all of the time, I had a bolts for the pump air/fuel bleed that had a fitting for a vacuum line attached. I'll guarantee I can get ALL of the air from a fuel system with a vacuum pump. UNLESS, it is the air past the pressure pump on a very small diesel and it develops an 'air-spring' in the line between distribution pump and injector and the injector never 'pops'. One has to partially disassemble an injector in that case.

Ron

[Josh]

I tried this on my last vehicle refresh, and the nylon hose leaked badly. I replaced it with stock rubber hose, and the problem was gone. I wouldn't again bother trying to use nylon air brake line.

Info posted by Sharkey:

If you want to put an end to replacing the injector return hoses, don't use the crappy rubber hose.

Instead, go to an industrial tubing and hose jobber and purchase a length of ¼" nylon air brake line. It's about $.50/ft. This is rigid tubing, but it fits perfectly over the barbs on the injectors and return banjo on the pump. It's unaffected by petroleum diesel and Biodiesel. ~And~ it comes in colors, black, red and blue!

One warning: This stuff is one-time use. If you attempt to pull the tubing off to remove an injector, etc, either replace the tubing, -or better- cut the length long when you first install so you can trim the end and use a fresh bit of tubing on the barb next time. I've been using this stuff for a few years now and I'd never go back to rubber (mostly because the Biodiesel turns rubber to goo really fast!)