Last night I bought myself a 79' Rabbit diesel 4 door...
Apearently I forgot the basics to buying a car, and wish I would of came accross this forum before i made any purchases lol.
SO...
Its in pretty good shape as far as looks wise. Clean intrerior good paint very little rust. She fires right up and drives like a dream.
I noticed the oil was low when i bought it but didnt think it was serious. The old owner was a little old lady so i figured she just didnt know what she was doing. Then tonight I get working on it. Added oil and once i could actually see it more than a tiny drip on the stick i could tell there is water in it. Then I pull the coolant cap off and its just gross in there too, foamy grey nastyness. It doesn't smoke at all while driving and runs good. So I didnt suspect a bad head gasket(if its that)... idk so anyways I guess what im asking is what should my next move be? Is it common for this to happen?
Thanks for all the help,
im just a little frustrated at this point.
The cold pressure-in-the-reservoir test may be telling. If no pressure builds in the first minute of running, you might flush and refill oil & coolant... Maybe somebody simply screwed up.
I got a diesel that recently had a head replaced. The PO forgot to tell me to re-torque the head and it leaked/overheated. I torqued-down the bolts to spec and it was fine after that.
Have a nice day.
'91 Jetta ECOdiesel TD - clean & complete (less motor/tranny) for sale
White-grey nasty gunk on the oil filler cap could be the sign of a headgasket but more often than not this time of year is just normal condensation if the car hasn't had much highway driving to burn it off.
Fingers crossed!
Vince
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
2001 silver TDI Jetta Malone Stage 1.5 , 2001 blue TDI Jetta SBIII 216s Malone Stage 3
1970 Bay Window bus
Gone but not forgotten: 1969/1971 Beetles, 1969/1974 Westies, 1979 Rabbit, 1986 TD Jetta, 1992 gas Jetta, 1994 TD Jetta
Ok I did the cold start test and it doesn't build any pressure when I start it. Ill try flushing out the cooling system tomorrow. What oil is recommend for these engines? And how much?
I don't know about the moisture needing to be burnt off, the temperature here stays between like 80° f and the low like 40° for the low. Spoiled here in southern California lol
Use a diesel rated oil. I like Shell Rotella (I use the synthetic but the regular is fine). I believe it's 4 quarts with a new filter for the 79 1.5L engine.
The moisture will burn off if you take trips of 20 miles or so. Short trips don't let the oil heat up enough to burn off any moisture.
A diesel has enough cylinder pressure to pressurize the cooling system, if there's a crack in the block or head or a bad head gasket. The cold coolant pressure test you did was the first thing to try. THen flush the cooling system and freshen the oil and see how things go from there.
Also, since this car is new to you, change the fuel filter and check the timing belt. You will need a Bentley repair manual if you're going to wrench on the car yourself. These are interferrence engines and if the timing belt goes, so do your valves.
Everybody else lists their cars here - but not me.
Congrats on the 79' purchase. I also have a 79' 4 door. It came with the 1.5 and the GC 4 speed. The GC 4 speed is an around town transmission , If you have it you will find it wound out at 65MPH but it really makes the car quicker around town. I ended up putting a GP in it for better milage on the highway.
Like Vincent said about water in the oil...It will accumulate on the oil filler cap, creamy substance that is hard to miss on the dip stick or cap and even in the blow by hose.
I don't know exactly how long my car takes to pressurize the system but it should pressure up in a few minutes.
Good luck with it.
Thanks!
Yea its a pretty cool little car.
I was wondering about that, I took it on the freeway once and it did seem pretty wound up. I don't want to push it. Is 65 alright to cruise at or should I look into getting that other trans. I didn't get a chance to work on it today. But im hoping to get it done tomorrow.
The foamy black stuff isn't just on the cap, its pretty much coated on the walls of the reservoir and alot on the cap.
Ill see if I can post pictures and see what you think.
The foamy black stuff isn't just on the cap, its pretty much coated on the walls of the reservoir and alot on the cap.
Ill see if I can post pictures and see what you think.
K... that's new information.
Headgasket...either leaking now, or did so in the past and the PO never quite got all the oil out.
Vince
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
2001 silver TDI Jetta Malone Stage 1.5 , 2001 blue TDI Jetta SBIII 216s Malone Stage 3
1970 Bay Window bus
Gone but not forgotten: 1969/1971 Beetles, 1969/1974 Westies, 1979 Rabbit, 1986 TD Jetta, 1992 gas Jetta, 1994 TD Jetta
But, if you do decide to do a headgasket on a 1.5 or a 1.6 with the 11mm head bolts, your wife, wallet and mind will thank you many times over if you spend the extra money and install head studs. Many of these 11mm blocks have been ruined because $100 was saved over the cost of replacement head bolts. Ole 82 has a new set or ARP's sitting in my office waiting for me to go out in the garage and replace the head gasket, and it's a 12mm motor.
Everybody else lists their cars here - but not me.
