Former VWDieselParts.com Forum

I was looking for a place to introduce myself so here goes. I am a VW hoarder and my 17 year old daughters first car is a 92' eco. She decided 7500 miles is a ok increment for Oil checks and it bit her in the butt.

who ever did the timing belt last did not torque the crank or cam properly and they both loosened up last winter during that super cold spell we had here in the upper midwest. (low oil in addition to super cold)

Short story long: the intake valves made contact with the pistons for a quite a while before she mentioned that the car doesnt run right.
It is back in time and back on the road. I am struggling with fuel draining back and drippy injectors (my fault) but I should have the return hoses changed shortly and the injectors tightened back up as well. (could not find my 27 deep socket)
I wish i had snapped a photo of the 3/16" deep divots in the Pistons from all four intake valves being beat around. It took a die grinder to clean up the pistons.

Hello from WI.

Mike

Welcome,..
inch and a 16th will fit fine, if you have a 12-point deep socket of one of those.
Great project car to start with.

Great success today. Did some forum diving last night and was reading about other folks experiences, and came across a debate about heat shield reusing. l o n g P a u s e.... as my brain caught up..... I don't remember seeing the heat shield when I swapped the head after the pistons played ping pong with my intake valves. sure as heck I ran the car 200 miles with out them .

I used a CV ball and a head bolt washer to recrimp or perhaps uncrimp them and installed the shields and new return lines and wow this baby is back. It now runs better than it did in the last two years that my daughter has been driving it. during the test run the brake pedal felt a little limper than normal and Yeah for me this debacle is now sporting new brake lines.

Up next HVAC.
Blower motor is a squealer.
The freon either needs oil or is a touch low. the compressor pulls in and makes cool air just not COLD air that I will eventually need.

Oh yes and front wheel bearings..... they can wait.

Blower motor is changed. I found this link helpful as I had a four speeds when I started the swap and wound up with only high after changing the motor.... http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?2665283
Radio shack only had 10 amp fuses but they are holding.

Got crazy and changed the front left (drivers ) wheel bearing. Unpleasant as it should be. the worst part was the back side snap ring. stuck !

The Bonus part today was as my daughter struggled with the glove box I became bored and fixed the dome light. Go figure fuse 21 was missing. (dumb) now the clock works too.

The maintenace list is growing short and I could not be happier..
Thanks for all the posts they were a tremendous help getting me off the couch and under the hood. I own four VW Diesels and never found this web site.
Mike

I'm not sure how you got along without us

Yeah, it gets more fun as the problems on the list become smaller and are easier to fix.

The only nagging thing left for this car is a GP relay that does not cycle properly. The plugs shut off (as the belt quits squeeling and my test light (cheater) shuts off together) but We (daughter and I) need to count the time. Seat belt light when it is warm out. Seat belt light + 10 secs around 30 F. ect....

I have a bently and I have tried changing the relay from another known good eco Die... I get confused in the manual as my car seems to vary from the bentley in regards to the Wiring diagram. My car appears to have a temp sensor yet the diagram says it is integral to the relay.

I will figure it out. I need to search the forums I am sure I will find some info here.

Mike

The temperature sensor is not integral to the relay. There are two temperature sensors on the Diesel. One runs the gauge, one runs the glow plug relay.

The glow plug relay has a timer chip in it which will keep the glow plug light on for X amount of seconds depending on the input from the temperature sensor. The light is no actual indication whatsoever of whether or not the plugs are on or functioning. Its an indicator light to let you know its ok to start the car. The glow plug relay will typically stay on 30-45 seconds before going out on its own.

Normal behavior is between 7-18 seconds depending on temperature, start engine, and 3-4 seconds after start relay shuts plugs off.

If I tow start the car the LED will stay on for ever. Literally it blows the fuse.

If I turn the key on and not start the car..... same deal it blows the fuse.

If I manually time the cycle (the seat belt light is about 8 seconds ) and then start the car, the LED goes off when the car starts and the plugs stay energized (test light) for a longer when cold, shorter when hot, time period.

that second part makes me think the temp sensor is intact and working. I am going to need to get intimate with the bentley manual again. I am working from memory and I ran into a snag last time I dove into this.

Are both the temp senors together on the upper coolant flange at the head. Upper radiator hose, at the head? My flange has two, two wire sensors. one the gauge, one the relay perhaps?

Mike

Well here we go again.

My daughter went north to chill out at the cabin and cut the grass.

checked the fuilds and sent here on her way.

3hr trip, No issues.

Day 2 " well I was running to town to get a ??????? and now I have two neutrals"

She says: It sounds like a card in the spokes where 5th is supposed to be. Damn I should have checked the gear lube. I asked here over the phone to manually put it in fifth and then rock the car. she did and reported the same noise. I am hoping that the gear lube I had her dump in the vent tube finds its way to the sticky fifth gear syncro. If not she will be driving home in fourth or jumping into my Quantum "which is insured, but the collector plate is not back yet"
Damn
Damn Damn.

I love to work on this car.

Update: She drove it home. (4th gear) that 5th is definatly gone. What a drag there was no indication it was going the gear lube was not even low. Can't wait to get in there and see what went. I am guessing a bearing on the main shaft as I can hear a rattle with the clutch out at idle. that is the first trans failure I have ever had. (And I rally race these 4.20 RP trans in a 190HP 2.0L gasser)


Mike

Good chance to upgrade to a trany with a better highway gear.

I was intending to go with the older 3.89ish diesel trans.

I like the gear set in the Eco.

Have you (or anyone) tried the 3.67.

I am thinking to put together a 2Y gear set with a 3.67 RP.

My other recipe would be the 2Y 1-4 and eco 5th with the 3.96? RP

4.2 is a bit deep for interstate running but the pull off the line (and up through) is fun.

Mike

She is still driving it daily....... Stubborn as her mother.

I haven't tried a 3.67 in a diesel.
I might try it with a CHE trany, with the bigger shaft, from a MK3 gasser I worked on.
But have heard good things about bolting one beside a 1.6 TD.

Seems to be plenty of power there for taking off.

I have a link to a web site in my computer at home that has all the gear ratios of all the trans.

I had that trans in the rally car and took it out in favor for a ACN I can't remember right now what the difference was but I think it was a taller fourth.

there has to be some reason VW went with low gears in the final drive. I think it was so the masses dont burn the motors down with heavy fuel burn?

I want to try something different, I am going to try a 3.67 one what the hell.

Mike

Then while the trannies out swap the .75 fifth gear for a .71. Your rev's will go to 2200 a 60mph. You will have to shift a bit more but non-thing radical. Gain 5 to 7% mileage and 20% loss of power in 5th. The .71 is in the older trannies. It only takes a hour or so the swap the gear out if you can find one.

I used this site to ID the various trans.


http://www.zelek.com/diagram_charts/diagramlist.htm

Tomorrow I will wander around the shop and see what trans I have.

If I find one of the O2O trans that have the .71 I may consider the swap.