Which way should this part be pointing?

[TylerDurden]

Handy tip:

Jack the right wheel up and put the tranny in 5th gear, use the wheel to turn the engine.
Put tranny in neutral before running engine.

[82vdub]

Don't forget to loosen all of the hard IP lines (both ends) and re-tighten them. This "relaxes" them, so that they don't crack from the stress of being rotated while the ends are still stationary.

[DieselAlltheWay]

Tyler, that was a great tip. My battery thanks you for it. And I'm sure the starter too.
82dub, that too was a timely tip. I had pushed the IP as far as I could (about 3mm) and it clearly was putting pressure on the lines. Did what you said, loosened all 8 points and hope it relieved the pressure.

Well gents, have to say that things are looking up. It started right up in the morning (around 18C) once the glow plugs did their thing, started in the first try. Took the car around the block SLOWLY as brakes are virtually useless after having sat for so long. I noticed this in the past, it always does this when not moved for a while - could use a tip on how to improve this, if there's something I can do. Anyway, it was great to finally drive the thing again, even if for such a short spin.

I'm concerned about the idling. it goes up and down and I took a vid to share this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5PvQuSh5S4

It seems to improve once engine is hot but still there. What's causing this up and down swing? Could it related to timing? When I give it some gas it becomes consistent, only happens at idle. There's still white smoke while cold, which too seems to improve when car is hot, although it's still there. When this car run in the past it didn't produce this much white smoke. Not sure if I have a lot condensation in the tank after parking the car for so long but isn't this what the water separator is there for? So the timing may still be a bit of a question mark, even after my fine tuning. PS: I moved it a whole 3mm from where it had been set by the mechanic. Anything short of that didn't seem to improve things much. At the time I didn't go further as the solid fuel lines didn't let me but if you guys think I should tilt the IP even further, I can try that too, as long as it's safe to do so.

Before taking the car on the road I'd like to get your input on this crude video. I can take a better one if you guys think it would help determine what the deal wit the idle is.

This has been a great learning experience. You folks here sure know your stuff.

[Fatmobile]

Glad to hear it's working out and you are getting more comfortable with setting the timing yourself.

I think you can advance it some more.
It it's too advanced the rattleing will scare you into backing it off some,..
before any damage is done.
You'd have to run it quite awhile with it being uncomfortably noisey before you could do any damage.

[DieselAlltheWay]

Will do. If I get the chance to, will be doing so in the morning. Like you said, it's really simple to do once the fear is out of the way. So yeah, should be interesting to see how much further I can push it without it getting scary. I also found that adjusting the IP with the engine running to work well as i can see it live the diff it makes.

And your guess was right, it definitely needed to be advanced. With the motor running going from where it is now to where it was (where I had it marked with a pen) made a huge difference. Wish I had loosened the fuel lines the first time around and had pushed it up an additional 2mm or so. But it's all good, this isn't a bad job to tackle.
Hope this that thread help others in a similar boat. Aren't we all with a diesel and all its timing woes?

[TylerDurden]

The surging of the idle is often due to the mounting bolt at the back of the IP (by the injector lines) being loose.

Relieving the flex-stress from the lines after turning the IP is critical. They WILL crack from stress over time, if not done.

The brakes should be ok sitting for a year or more... if they aren't, there is likely a leak to fix.


Tuning these little 'ol diesels is good fun, mostly for the benefit of >45mpg-us. Tuning for >50mpg-us is a little more challenging.

[DieselAlltheWay]

New video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4TXb3s4Vxc

This shows a few things:
- how moving the IP further up helped reduce the up/down inconsistent idling, diminishing smoke.
- how it's virtually touching the solid fuel line. Due to this I was unable to rotate the IP further up, wish I could get another 2mm out of it to test but that ain't happening, short of filing a bit of the metal casing, something I'm not going to do just yet.
- shows the continued up/down sound of the idling. It has improved since yesterday, but you can still notice a bit of it happening. Is this something I should look into or is it no biggie? Doesn't seem as bad when car is hot and at times it doesn't even sound that way, sounding consistent. I'm inclined to think this is not a big deal but you specialists tell me. And yes, the back bolt in the IP is tight.
- shows the cabrio across the street and the wife's GTI (for bragging rights, of course!)

As is I think I have achieved the sweet spot, at least as much as I can due to the solid line preventing me from rotating the IP any more. I'm sure I could file the top of the IP plate to get an extra 1 to 1.5mm space without compromising its integrity but not sure I want to bother at this time. After all it does sound decent and the smoke is virtually non existent. Wife was standing in the house by a window and could hear it after this latest adjustment and said it sounded great. She ought to know, for several years she drove a turbo diesel mk2 Jetta. Sure a huge improvement over the way it was when the mechanic set the timing by spec (that was some 5mm retarded from where it now sits).

And credit goes to Fatmobile for his encouragement and all the others that provided some key, useful tip (never knew I could rotate the sprocket by having the car in 5th gear and rotating the wheel - what a time saver).
Now I need to install the cluster before I can drive the car, the cluster is from the wife's old 88 MK2 Jetta TD and has a tach instead of the annoying Rabbit's clock. It takes a bit of finicky work to get it in place. Once that's done I can switch the insurance from the Cabrio and finally drive this gem again.

Still very much a work in progress but very close to being drivable now. Will be posting pics of it when I make more progress.

[TylerDurden]

The IP can be moved further (to advance) by moving the sprocket one tooth in relation to the belt. The IP should be moved the same amount and direction, to maintain the current timing. Then a bit more adjustment can be made.

I would do this even if I didn't want more advance, considering how close the IP is to the lines - very hard to get at the CS lever, glow plugs, injectors, etc.

[Fatmobile]

So you even tried it with the engine running.

I'd move the belt a tooth on the sprocket too.
That's a little more tricky than setting the timing but not too bad.
Mark the belt and gear then loosen the tensioner
pull the belt off the sprocket and move it over a tooth.
There are probably more details that others can add,..
followed of course by: turn the engine by hand, 2 revolutions before starting.

Like Tyler mentioned it will be much easier to change glow plugs later, with the pump pulled forward.

Surging can also be caused by missing bolts behind the pump.
The ones that hold the bracket to the block or bracket to bracket.

[DieselAlltheWay]

Good to know that there is a solution to this, instead of filing a very sensitive part and risking disaster.
Not to mention the benefit of later replacing glow plugs.
However this is well beyond my area of comfort. But a snap for the mechanic, once he has the time to address it. Guess for now I'll just get the car running and when all is there, drive to his place for him to take a listen, in case there's a cylinder hitting the wall or something out of whack. Will also keep an eye on the mileage. If these 1.9L engines are more economical than the 1.6 (at least that's what I've been told) then I expect to get 17 or higher km/l (770km on a tank full, or 41mpg). These are the numbers the 88 1.6l Jetta TD got. So if my mileage is a lot worse than I guess further fine tuning to be in order, meaning doing the teeth jump job.

Quick question: is it common for these cars to blow the wiper fuse? Mine keeps blowing up, it's the 20A. Likely a short somewhere, although it works fine when the fuse is intact. Wondering if there's a common place to start or if I just need to start at the wiper motor and work my way back. Anyone else had this issue?
Sorry if this is considered improper as I'm kinda off topic here from where this post originated.

[TylerDurden]

I'd check the windshield for leaks... very common right over the fusebox. Cover the fusebox with plastic until any leaks are sealed.

Then I'd remove and lubricate the wiper gearbox and linkages - binding components will spike motor current.

[DieselAlltheWay]

New problem:
Oil pump doesn't seem to be working. At least that's my guess based on the following:
Did an oil change, drained all the oil first. Then as I removed the oil filter there were no drips and the inside was virtually clean (not dry but clean to the point the filter can be re-used). Not a good sign. The oil and filter were changed 1.5 years ago and has had less than 4km on them.
So I put the plug back and added a litre of oil and started the car for 5 seconds, this without the filter in place. The paper towel I had sitting in front of the oil filter hole was dry.

What do you folks figure? Oil pump not working? That's a $85 part that I rather not replace in case there are other things I could try first. If the pump needs replacing, is this a straight forward process?
To recap, the engine is a 1.9 from a 94 Golf TD. Thanks

_______________
UPDATE
Since posting this I primed the oil filter, basically filling it to the very top slowly a process that took several minutes to allow for the oil to soak into the paper inserts. Installed this very full filter in place and started the car. After some 30 seconds turned it off and removed the filter. Put a paper towel in place of the filter and started the car, run in front of it and as I looked, the paper towel was clean and there was no oil at all coming from the hole. Put filter back, run car for another 30 sec then off and started to unscrew the filter, hoping to see oil sipping from around the rim. Nothing. Tightened it back and this time I let the car run while I started to unscrew the filter. If the pump was working I'd expect some oil to drip as I turned it a few times. Still nothing. Am I to assume the pump is gone or are there other tests I could run first? Maybe something electrical? Possibly a wire out of place? Wouldn't know where to check, don't even know where the oil pump is located.

[Quantum-man]

No oil pump, bad brakes, probably no vacuum because your half shaft is probably not moving, or worm on end isn't

[82vdub]

As Quantum man said. The timing belt on these engines spin's the aux shaft, which runs the vacuum pump and oil pump.

[DieselAlltheWay]

Thanks, that's a start. The timing belt was replaced prior to parking the car 1.5y ago and the timing was just done 2 weeks ago. So what does all this mean regarding this shaft? Wondering what the process would be to fix this. Is it as simple as dropping the oil pan (did I say simple? Try messy) or does it require removing the timing belt? Cause if the latter I'll need to contact the mechanic, which could mean waiting for a long time. Crap.