New To Me Diesel Rabbit Won't Start. Ran Fine on Test Drive.

[Fatmobile]

I stopped using that fuse box.
Now I keep the stock fuse and just find a way to wire 4 separate wires to it.
It wasn't weather tight. It caused bad connections with symptoms of a bad glow plug.

[jasons]

I'm not 100% sure when the fusible link melted, but there was a time when I held power on for 30 seconds...I imagine that did it.

Rats, I worked all day making a "nice to me" wire loom from that fuse block to my glow plugs and getting everything wired up. I guess I'll see how long it lasts.

I should have this set-up finished today. I think it will be trial and error for a bit seeing how the glow plug system works.

Thank you guys for all the help.

[TylerDurden]

My pimped rigging is still ok after four years.

Duraterms should drop current draw the longer they're energised. They initially draw ~13A and quickly reduce as they heat up.

[jasons]

New glow plug circuit seems to be doing well the 3 times I used it.

I changed the oil, gear lube, air filter and fuel filter all with German parts from my local VW mechanic. Took several hours because everything was seized, but finally got it.

Drove it to work this morning. Who needs coffee in the morning when you drive a Rabbit?!

Issues:
- Temperature gauge doesn't work
- #1 fuel injector is leaking between the head and injector (not much, mostly bubbles)
- 2nd, 3rd and 4th grind really bad, unless I catch it at just the right rpm (wonder if it's clutch adjustment or synchros are shot?)
- Power steering is super hurky jerky when I turn the wheel at low speed
- Speedometer/odometer
- Motor mount bolt head twisted off in the block
- Front trailing arm bushings are shot

[TylerDurden]

Most that stuff is cheap or easy to fix.

I'd check that injector soon. Bubbles at the injector base can be from a poor heat-shield or (worse) a missing heat-shield. If the heat shield is missing, I'd check/replace them all.

If the motor mount is skewed, the shift linkage will suffer.

[air-cooled or diesel]

i put in new motor mounts in mine, i had to take down oil pan to jack engine up for front and rear pass side mounts. power steering may need a new belt and/or adjustment, its difficult the first time to adjust, you have to find 2 or 3 bolts/nuts for adjustment, could be bad mounts too. when you loosen/tighten an injector make sure you have correct pattern, you loosen/tighten towards head(opposite of each way), dont crack injector mount, or over-tighten and crack. 51-52ftlbs@injector.

[bscutt]

GM Synchro Mesh transmission (gear) oil seems to work very well in these transmissions. It made a significant difference in my son's Corrado. It may help some with the grinding. Also have heard some of the Royal Purple and other synthetic brands work equally well but have had no personal experience with those.

[air-cooled or diesel]

i went with amsoil, works real good

[jasons]

I'm not understanding this statement:

when you loosen/tighten an injector make sure you have correct pattern, you loosen/tighten towards head(opposite of each way),

I doubt my transmission grinding is fluid related. It's grinding all the gears, 2nd and 3rd are the worse, but 4th can be tricky. Down shifting is awful, unless I'm stopped. Before I changed the fluid and the fluid that was in there was nasty brown garbage. Even after fresh fluid (Advance Auto 75w90) the shifting is exactly the same.

I may change motor mounts, but I'll use a hoist on the motor.

I'll post pictures of the Rabbit so at least you can see what you've been helping me with! It may run you all off!!

Thanks again,
-Jason

[82vdub]

I'm not understanding this statement:

when you loosen/tighten an injector make sure you have correct pattern, you loosen/tighten towards head(opposite of each way),

You have to push or pull on the injectors in a direction that's towards the head. If you pull away from the head, you can crack the injector boss, rendering the head useless. The perfect way of removing an injector is 100% rotation at the injector, however, most people that use a wrench push or pull on the handle which creates the rotational force, but exerts side forces on the item the socket is on. See the pic at the bottom of this posting for an example:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=11324&start=15

[air-cooled or diesel]

I doubt my transmission grinding is fluid related. It's grinding all the gears, 2nd and 3rd are the worse, but 4th can be tricky. Down shifting is awful, unless I'm stopped. Before I changed the fluid and the fluid that was in there was nasty brown garbage. Even after fresh fluid (Advance Auto 75w90) the shifting is exactly the same.

I may change motor mounts, but I'll use a hoist on the motor.

the bad fluid isnt a good sign, but good thing these trannys are pretty good. grinding may be related to broken motor mount. maybe try draining out some fluid and adding an additive, or add flush run for a good few miles(if you can on a tranny flush?), and change again, add additive you may be able to find, or try that syncromesh stuff. etc.
so a motor mount is broken?get it fixed, if its a daily car fix it quick. if you have a hoist you can do all 3 fairly easily.
as far a what i call the injector mount or housing or boss, its rather weak for a boss, sitting out of the head in a circle and less metal than inner portion of 'boss'/mount. i had 1 that had good miles on it and fuel was $4.50+gal and i felt i was getting bad mileage, well i took out 4 good injectors (partially because of the price of fuel, at the time), to swap in 4 other good1's. well #1 i was snugging getting close to the point it was taking torque and the 'boss'(as you would call it) just gave. i had only 20-30ftlbs on it at the time, well i got about 500more miles out of that head, and needed a new head, that was a perfect head with about 500k miles on it and it was good to go for 300k or more, the valves on that head didnt have much concave wear, and cam was good. i attribute much of it to just being old and it did have a good amount of mileage on it. in the shop manual theres instructions and pic(s)on how to properly 'do' injectors.

[bscutt]

Just another thought on the grinding. Make sure you have good bushings in the linkage and that it's all adjusted properly. That may not be the problem but the plastic bushings do wear out fairly quickly and can make shifting pretty nasty.

Hope you can get it in better working order. The transmissions have gotten fairly expensive over the years. I have been lucky to find some great bargains on the three I have purchased, even after $50+ for all the reseal parts. Most expensive 5 speed I bought was $80. Cheapest was $50 which is the one I still use in my 82 (12 years since install).

[air-cooled or diesel]

on mine there are a couple of the bushings you can see, you cannt see the reverse one's, 2 or more. theres the main1 underneath right near the exhaust, the main shaft(shift). the ball & cage operation, and the bushing(s) in the shift column. anyone of them can be neglected.
oh yea, the adjustment too

[air-cooled or diesel]

Before I changed the fluid and the fluid that was in there was nasty brown garbage. Even after fresh fluid (Advance Auto 75w90) the shifting is exactly the same.

i hope when you used this 'gear oil' you checked it is the right type, we use transaxle fluid/oil. gl-4 if im right. the 75w90 sounds like the right weight, but its not gear lube/oil you use in these.

[jasons]

I used a GL-5 75w90.
Found several bolts missing on the PS pump. Got that bolted up and PS is working nicely.
Adjusted clutch cable and it's shifting slightly better now. Not perfect, but manageable. I'll probably work more on it later.
Installed a new valve cover gasket yesterday. We'll see how long it doesn't leak. It's mandatory to paint the valve cover when it's off,
right?
I need some front and parts and probably motor mounts.

I have the bumper, just doing some work. I may try to find a grill...just trying to make it reliable for now.




-Jason