Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2002 23:20:24 -0400
Reply-To: Jeff Strickrott <jstric01@CS.FIU.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jeff Strickrott <jstric01@CS.FIU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Update: Bad Valve Issues/Question, Opinion sought.
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Hi Again:
Thanks for all the helpful input. Can't trust all that the shops say. I
redid the compression check today with a better compression gauge (old
one had a leaky valve) and observed the following:
#1 130-140 psi, possibly carbon built up?
#2 120-125, 130 after 10 crank cycles,
#3 120-130
#4 100-110, 115 after 10 crank cycles, 130 after I added some oil, so
a leaking piston ring.
What is a good way to reduce/remove carbon?
I have no idea how the other shop was reading a 100 psi? Bad gauge, poor
battery condition. They must be hurting for money to suggest that the
heads needed to be redone. I had not received the total estimate, but
they wanted at least $464 for new lifters (VW parts price, no labor) and
given the cost of rebuilt heads (from Bus Depot), the shops labor rate
$50 per hours, and $150 to RR the engine, I would guess somewhere in the
neighborhood of $1000-$1200. For that amount it would be worth it to get
a rebuilt long block from Bus Depot and put the engine in myself.
Anyway, I readjusted the timing, it was off a little after I put in the
new coil and wires. I did not think the new parts would affect the
timing, but anyway it is now at 7.5 BTDC. The vacuum improved a little
and I am now at 15.2 inHG. Still not at the 16-19 inHg others report. I
am awaiting the throttle body to air distributor gasket so maybe that
will help.
I am going to learn how to adjust the valves this week. Any suggestions?
I think Stan Wilder had some thoughts on this and I will search the
archives.
When I first started the car today to do the test, it sounded like one
of the vales for cylinder #4 was sticking. After the engine warmed up
this went away and now I do not hear it anymore. I am in the process of
doing Stan's suggestion of running Marvel mystery oil through the system
to help flush the crap out and hopefully this problem will go away.
I also tested the fuel pressure after I let the hot engine sit. Waited
about 15 minutes. The pressure was about 36 psi and holding steady, so
it does not seem like the injectors are leaking. When I last looked,
about 4 hours later, the fuel pressure was about 22-24 psi and holding.
I will redo the shops leaking injector test later as I can't trust any
of their reported results.
I fixed most of the major leaks in the exhaust and of course afterwards
found some more. For the time being I am just using exhaust epoxy
sealer. Once I have everything running well then I can dedicate some
time to removing the old system. Backfiring all but disappeared. I
adjusted the fuel/air mixture by ear, but I will have to go to a shop to
adjust the CO/HC mixture correctly. I have an O2 sensor (unheated) but
placement at the rear of the exhaust does not heat it up enough for an
accurate reading. In the new exhaust I will have the O2 sensor mounted
before the cat and thus should better be able to tune the system.
Tested the van on the road and now it has plenty of power. At 60 mph, I
had plenty of peddle left to go faster. Did not time my acceleration,
but will later to compare it to David's numbers. I will have to see what
the gas mileage is?
Regards,
--Jeff Strickrott
82 Westy, South Florida
Joel Walker wrote:
> > I am curious why you say that it sounds like a car
> with 100k. Actually
> > the van only has 50k, it sat a lot at the owners
> house. The mileage has
> > never been tampered with thus maybe the engine was
> just never cared for.
> > It was an older couple who had the car. I have some
> of their repair
> > sheets, but not the whole collection.
>
> hmm. mostly cause of the compression being down to 100.
> it should be up to like 130-140 for only 50,000 miles.
> or so my fading memory tells me. you might really want
> to check the valve adjustment on it.
>
> > The exhaust has the EGR pipe hole and a crack along
> the crossover. I
> > have a complete exhaust system to replace it with but
> have not started
> > with putting penetrating oil on it to start the
> removal process yet.
>
> those could easily help the backfiring situation. it
> might even be NOT a 'backfire' but just an exhaust
> pulse 'burp' out the crack in the crossover or the
> hole. when you decelerate, you disturb the pulse
> pattern in the exhaust, and you could get some sort of
> combination that burps or farts out the hole and make a
> loud noise, whereas normally, with the pulses all in
> sync with each other, the noise of the leak is subdued.
> i don't know all the wherefores and such, but i know
> that a correctly tuned exhaust will gain power and a
> badly tuned exhaust will lose power ... all due to the
> pulses (from the cylinders) in the exhaust. probably
> best to get the exhaust fixed and then see if you still
> have the noise.
>
> but get the valves adjusted anyway. ;)
>
> good luck!
> joel