Looking for advice N/A 1.6?

[Mathius]

So I'm new here, and looking for some help.
I bought a 91' Golf with an N/A 1.6 (404,000kms), and it wasn't running when I got it. It had been sitting some time..
I managed to get it running with some basic maintenance, but I'm having a few issues.
Now hang with me here cause my Diesel knowledge is kinda weak.

First off the cold start cable is busted. I scored a new one, but is there supposed to be any tension on the lever?
Pushed all the way down it kinda klicks in. Then klicks again to a medium idle. But can go higher...
Is this the correct setup? Is the cable supposed to sit a bit slack with it pushed all the way in?

Second question.
White smoke at cold start up.. (I'm kinda aiming at bad glow plugs). I replaced all the return lines, and burped the system after replacing the filter as well. The motor seems to run great, way better than when I first got it running.
But cold starts are brutal!! It coughs, chokes, and misses for about 30 seconds to a minute. It clouds up half the block with cold smoke, and vibrates terribly.
The injectors seemed fine, but I have no means to pop test them.
Is this just a simple glow plug issue?? Or could I have a bad injector giving me grief? Seems to run fine after it starts to warm up.
I will admit that the fuel in it is older than me, and could be an issue as well.
I also belive this car was run on bio-diesel before it got parked.

I'll start with that stuff.
Can anyone offer me some help?

[colby]

Replace the glow plugs, thats a given.

That car should have a slightly different cold start lever setup which is 2 detents. High idle, and high idle + advance. White smoke is unburnt diesel fuel, replacing the glow plugs should help with that. If the cold start lever on the pump is going all the way in, and all the way out (with the lever), seems like its adjusted correctly.

I'd run some diesel purge (made by lubro moly) through the pump and a big canning jar with some custom made rubber fuel line (one inlet, one return) and run a whole can through that pump. It'll run on the diesel purge alone, and I've had good success with it. We did it on a mercedes 5 cylinder turbo diesel and the lubro moly turned black the minute we hooked it to the pump and started to run the engine so the pump was a filthy beast inside.

If you replace the glow plugs, diesel purge the pump, etc, and cold starts are still brutal, its probably time to investigate injection timing. I'd also recommend replacing the timing belt, and the 3 oil seals on the front of the engine (camshaft, crankshaft, intermediate pulley + green oring on carrier). If the belt breaks, your engine will be trashed. Pistons will hit valves, and it won't be good.

Get Bosch duraterm glow plugs, they are great plugs. On my car, I also ran the glow plugs to a starter solenoid that was triggered by the glow plug relay to deliver more juice to them. Some prefer to run an individual wire to each plug to a fuse block in order to ensure no current loss through the bus bar and crappy stock relay setup. The starter solenoid worked well for me, and as a bonus, you can also hook a 12v LED up to it so you can tell when the plugs are actually getting power (since the dash light is only triggered by a simple timer that doesn't actually tell you when they have power, or if they do). Feel free to replace the stock 50 amp metal strip fuse with a MAXI 50 amp or something you can get easily.

[TylerDurden]

Welcome,

I concur with the above and will add a couple of suggestions.

Get a Bentley manual, timing belt and tools to set the timing. No point in putting work in, if a bad/old belt kills the engine in a month.
Clear lines from the filter to IP (injection pump), and from the IP to the return line. (Air infiltration is a common source of grey/white smoke.*)
Get a diesel compression tester and eight injector heat shields. Knowing your baseline compression can reduce a lot of guessing.**

* Retarded timing causes grey/white smoke, but air in the system can retard injection causing the same result... injection pressure is ~140bar and any teeny air bubbles act like a spring taking more time to squish down and push fuel to the injector.

** Never turn an injector by pulling the wrench toward the front of the car, the bosses can crack easily. Turn the wrench handle toward the cabin, and if you want extra assurance, put a universal joint on the injector socket.

TD

[Mathius]

Thanx guys.
Ya I was actually gonna take it to a local Vee Dub mechanic, and get the injector timing sorted out.
I was kinda thinking it had been messed with as part of the bio-diesel mods? If anything they probably would have advanced it..
The belt on it actually doesn't look to bad. But I did buy a new belt for it, and it doesn't leak a drop of oil.
I need to get some clear lines to keep an eye on air in them, and I'll look up that Lubro moly stuff.
I also will scope out a few glow plug circuit mods. I'm thinking they might be screwed? But I can hear the solenoid kicking out after the light turns off..

It seems to have really good compression, but I'm just guessing. Want to go threw all the easy stuff first, and trouble shoot.
I gotta do all this on the extreme cheap. I don't have much money, and hardly payed anything for the car.
Plus the wife is still pissed off at me for buying it... lol
I love mk2 Volkswagen's though.
I really want to drive it.

Its in decent shape.
Not bad for $300

[TylerDurden]

Lol... once it's running well you'll get your 300 back fast in fuel savings, then save more over time. Get yer lady something nice with the extra coin.

For what a mechanic will cost to figure the basics out, you can probably get all the stuff you need to tune the beast and much more. It can take time to dial it in. Once you're getting ~45mpg-us, a tankful takes >450miles to burn.

This ain't rocket science, but it has its fun little puzzles.

TD

[Mathius]

So here's another question?
I can tell the fuel screw has been adjusted.. I think it's getting to much fuel, it rolls coal!!
If I turn the fuel screw all the way open, or closed. (Either or) how many turns should it be to put it in an optimal range?
Or is it something you should just do by ear??

[TylerDurden]

It doesn't take much turning of the max fuel screw to get soot or get little power. I'd shoot for as little soot as you can stand power-wise... zero soot may feel like zero power. Easy enough to back off on your right foot until there is no soot and see how it feels. The max fuel screw does the same thing.

Timing and fuel are pretty much all you have to work with tuning on an NA (once the injectors are matched for pop). Could be the PO cranked up the fuel to compensate for poor timing or low compression.

[Mathius]

I think the PO was a bit of a dumb ass..
He had the fuel cranked to purposely roll coal, thinking it was cool. He was just a young kid, and it was his project car. But he never got it running...
That being said, I cranked it way down. It still puffs soot, but is way better. I had to adjust the idle way up to keep it running.. lol (it was about 2 turns from wide open)
I am actually kinda surprised. People are always saying what turds these motors are. But I find it kinda peppy!
It can hold its own, and keep up with traffic..
But I ordered some liqui moly diesel purge, and new heat shields. I'll get some clear lines, and a inline filter on Tuesday. Then see how it runs after the purge?
I have 2 spare glow plugs (new in box) that were in the car. Maybe the PO knew they were shot?

On another note, is there a seal kit I can buy to replace the seals mentioned before??

[Fatmobile]

Do you still have the water separator hooked up?
It's by the RR wheel.
Problem waiting to happen.

You can save some money by adjusting the timing yourself. It's a trial and error project anyway and most mechanics don't have time to set it right.
Just make a mark where the pump meets the bracket, usually by the top front mounting bolt, and move it a pencil width and try it again.

Pulling/pushing the cold start lever right after a cold start will help you see if it is timed close. The cold start lever advances the timing. It gets a little more rattly when pulled, if set right.
Clear lines (even between the injectors) will tell you alot.

[Mathius]

Do you still have the water separator hooked up?
It's by the RR wheel.
Problem waiting to happen.

You can save some money by adjusting the timing yourself. It's a trial and error project anyway and most mechanics don't have time to set it right.
Just make a mark where the pump meets the bracket, usually by the top front mounting bolt, and move it a pencil width and try it again.

Pulling/pushing the cold start lever right after a cold start will help you see if it is timed close. The cold start lever advances the timing. It gets a little more rattly when pulled, if set right.
Clear lines (even between the injectors) will tell you alot.

Thanx bud.
Your full of all kinds of good info.
Yes the separator is still on it. I haven't looked to much at removing it yet?
I got some clear lines to go from the return line to the filter. Was told you can only use the fabric covered hose for the injectors, cause nothing else lasts on them?
As for timing.
I actually ordered a timing setup for it. It was the same price as getting it done by a mechanic.
I also ordered a Bentley manual.
I'm hoping I can get all this stuff figured out. My daily driver only gets 10mpg. I really need this car, but so far I've put a lot of money into it.

[TylerDurden]

You can do this.

I'm an idiot and even I can do this. There is plenty of help from IDI advocates all over the place.

An average driver does 15,000 miles/yr. That's 1500 gallons of gas a year at 2.25/gal = $3,375/yr. for your current daily-driver.

With the Golf:
Divide that by four = $843.75. You'll have +$2500/yr in your pocket (less some upfront costs for belts, gaskets, oil, brakes and shocks).

Just watch the oil level like a hawk and you might put the ring job off for a couple of years. Get an engine heater and drive year-round.

Life in the slow lane is not glamorous, but it builds zen and your 401k .

[Mathius]

You can do this.

I'm an idiot and even I can do this. There is plenty of help from IDI advocates all over the place.

An average driver does 15,000 miles/yr. That's 1500 gallons of gas a year at 2.25/gal = $3,375/yr. for your current daily-driver.

With the Golf:
Divide that by four = $843.75. You'll have +$2500/yr in your pocket (less some upfront costs for belts, gaskets, oil, brakes and shocks).

Just watch the oil level like a hawk and you might put the ring job off for a couple of years. Get an engine heater and drive year-round.

Life in the slow lane is not glamorous, but it builds zen and your 401k .

I like your math skills on that one.. lol
But it is true. There is money to be saved driving these little turds.
I never even thought that this car would run. I originally bought it to do a 12a FWD rotary swap. (I have all the stuff to do it).
If the motor piles up, or the rings go. That plan is still on the table. I could sell the diesel, and almost break even on the swap.
I just want to play with the diesel till it dies. If it dies??
I could put the 12a in something else to?

I'm just gonna have to see what this diesel does after I run some diesel purge threw it?

[TylerDurden]

If your compression tests look good (>350), it is likely already re-ringed and the sky is the limit on how many miles are left (with care).

Ring job is not bad... hell like said above, the money you save can pay for work like that, which continues to pay dividends.

[Mathius]

So I got bored, and bought some clear fuel line today.
It's doesn't look like I'm sucking air from the pump. But the return lines wouldn't fill?
I let it run for about a half hour, and they still only filled about halfway.
It was forcing air threw the line to the filter. It would burp air every now, and then. But seemed that the injectors were pushing air themselves?

Is this normal?
Should I fill the return lines with a syringe, and see if more air gets trapped.. Why would it be sucking air from the injectors??
Or is this normal..

[TylerDurden]

Air in the little injector lines is totally normal.

There isn't much fuel flow through those lines, it's mostly the fuel that slips by the injector guts as the fuel lubricates the moving parts.

The air in the small lines may be accumulated over a longer period of time. Air in the pump gets whipped into microscopic bubbles by the whirling pump guts and those microscopic bubbles can get pushed to the injectors and get injected or work their way out the sliding injector guts.

What is key to look for, is a fine mist of bubbles in the big line returning to the tank when the engine is running, or a large bubble after sitting overnight. That indicates air in the IP. A clear line from the filter to the IP inlet is also good if you see the mist in the return.