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Date:         Tue, 5 Sep 2000 14:22:18 -0400
Reply-To:     Nate Wall <NWall@ENVASNS.ORG>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Nate Wall <NWall@ENVASNS.ORG>
Subject:      Re: [Audi-VW-Diesels] YIKE! Lost 3 qts oil in 30 sec,
              messy eng. compartment...
Comments: To: tobin.copley@ubc.ca
Comments: cc: Audi-VW-Diesels@egroups.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

My guesses:

1. Oil filter "O" ring let loose, but you indicated you removed the filter and everything looked o.k. Was it a Fram oil filter?

2. An oil galley plug (pressed into the block to fill hole caused by machining the oil passage) let loose. Jake Russell on this list had this happen (immediately following a rebuild, I think)

--Nate

>>> Tobin Copley <tobin.copley@ubc.ca> 09/05/00 01:54PM >>> -------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~> Find out Anything about Anyone! NET DETECTIVE 2000 Use the internet to investigate anyone! http://click.egroups.com/1/9016/17/_/523453/_/968177135/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------_->

Hi gang,

Blew something in my diesel vanagon yesterday, and lost nearly all our oil in just a few seconds, coating the engine compartment with oil spray, and leaving a 200m trail of oil down the road in the process.

I'm getting a tow truck over to the island here this afternoon, and I'll have my mechanic on the mainland look at it and give me a diagnosis. If any of you clever people want to take a stab at guessing the problem, I'll post the names of the guessers with the follow-up (if you want).

I'll post a follow-up on this when the problem has been identified. Hopefully,the following description, when combined with the follow-up, may help someone out in the future.

A description of the problem follows. (For the record, I'm hoping it's a problem with--or related to--the oil cooler).

Vehicle: -------- 1982 vanagon westy, 1.6l NA DIESEL engine, <10K miles on engine rebuild. Castrol GTX 20/50 dino oil, last oil and filter change 500 miles ago.

The failure: ------------ Following a cold start in 70 degree F ambient air temperature, drove up a steep hill at moderate load (2nd gear @ 20 mph). During the upshift to 3rd gear at the crest of the hill, oil light blinked on of 1/4 second, went out for a little less than 1 second, then came on and stayed on. I turned off the engine less than 3 seconds after first blink of oil light. No untoward engine noises were heard at any point, although valve clatter was *perhaps* a little louder than usual while the engine was shutting down. No bangs, clunks, hammering, lurches, power loss, or any other "expensive" symptoms.

After rolling to a rest at the side of the road (less than 1/4 mile from starting point), I saw the following:

- Dense trail of oil on road heading back over the crest of the hill (walking back home later showed oil trail started about 50 yds from my driveway, but without a pronounced starting splat or anything. Volume of oil loss along trail appeared to start heavy and decrease in volume only in last 1/3 of trail--coincides with decreasing remaining oil volume just before oil pressure warning triggered?)

- Underside of engine area heavily dripping large volumes of oil. Oil dripping from all over right side (FIF) of engine.

- Removing the engine compartment cover, entire right side (FIF) of engine compartment heavily coated in oil, with spray concentrated to forward portion of engine compartment. Appeared to indicate a high pressure, high volume spray of oil.

- Hard to determine the source of oil with the engine not running and given the copious oil everywhere, but my guess is oil was coming from the oil filter area.

- Oil filter was still threaded firmly to oil cooler. Removing the oil filter did not reveal any obvious splits in filter. Filter still full of oil. Dipping my finger into filter, the oil did not feel gritty or otherwise contaminated. Oil temp at failure could be described as luke warm.

- No obvious holes in the case under filter area were visible.

- I did not not check oil level at the dipstick, as I had parked on a steep downgrade and the dipstick reading would be wildly inaccurate.

- Left side of the engine compartment, and rear of engine (injection pump, timing belt) completely unaffected by oil spray. One modest sized drip on the alternator, one small spot on the battery.

History: -------- Less than 10,000 miles on rebuild. Oil and filter changed every 3000 miles or less. Oil and filter changed less than 500 miles ago. Bosch or Mann oil filters and Castrol GTX 20/50 oil used exclusively. Engine has run smooth, strong, and cool since purchased last February. No noticeable leaks in the filter area previously. Engine has consumed little oil since purchase, averaging less than 1 litre added between oil changes. Most of between-change oil loss due to (likely) rear main seal leak, which lightly spots driveway, dirties transmission/motor mating area, and speckles rear hatch with oil droplets on highway speed drives. Engine will push bus to over 65 mph, and can cruise at 65 mph on level ground comfortably. I always cruise no faster than 62 mph, usually a little slower. I never push the bus up hills, preferring to fall back to either 38 mph in 3rd or 22 mph in 2nd to avoid labouring the motor. (Remember, this is a diesel transmission, so gearing is lower than in gas-powered vanagons). ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tobin Copley Bowen Island, BC, Canada 49deg 23'N-123deg 19'W

'82 Westfalia 1.6L NA diesel ("Stinky") '97 son Russell ============= '99 daughter Margaret /_| |_L| |__|:| clatter 1995: 'Round US, Mexico, Canada 15,000 mi {. .| clatter! 1996: Vancouver to Inuvik, NWT 7,400 km ~-()-==----()-~ Previous buses: '76 westy deluxe (Daisy), '76 westy standard (Mango) http://www.sfu.ca/~tcopley/vw/


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