Date: Tue, 2 May 95 21:29:30 EDT
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: ja@decws3.coe.wvu.edu (John Anderson)
Subject: A few diesel engine questions.
OK all you diesel van folks, I hate to ask these on this
list, but where else to turn, because it's actually in a
'78 diesel Rabbit, 1500cc origional engine etc. Well, this
is my aunts old car, 40,000 origional miles driven till about
1 year ago that I intend to give to a foreign friend while
he finishes his PHD as his current ride, a '81 Capri is a
nightmare and only getting 10 mpg. Now my aunt drove the
Rabbit till about January 1994, left for a month or so, it
never started again, my uncle who maintained it, is frankly
ultra cheap and never changed the fuel/water filter in its
life even though we gave him 2 brand new ones after our '78
died many years ago. So it has been sitting over a year in
an unheated but protected barn. I had rebuilt the front calipers
and replaced one wheel cylinder about 2 years back with a
change to new DOT 4 fluid so I hope the brakes will be OK
corrosion wise, plan to look at them, bleed em out good and
rebuild the vacuum pump. But the engine startup routine
is where I need suggestions, I charged the battery slowly and
put it in, cranked it a couple time checked compression, all
looks good. Pulled a couple glow plugs, they looked poor and
eroded so I orderd a Whitney's fast start set for $35, just couln't
stomach $80 for Bosch and we had the Whitney's in ours for
80,000 miles with no problems. I intend to do the following and
would appreciate any suggestions about the plan.
1. Install new plugs, drain the oil and replace with cheap crap.
2. Pull the injectors, inspect and clean junk off, pray they are
not rusted solid, replace install new OEM fuel return lines.
3. Start the engine (well I hope) on a can of Lubro Moly Diesel
Purge, let run as long as it can off that.
4. Drain the fuel tank (sadly this was not done) fill with a few
gallons new diesel, replace any rubber lines I see, remove fuel/water
filter, clean housing install new filter element and pray the tank
did not rust badly (they are steel aren't they, I haven't looked)
5. Let it run a few hours, drain the oil, change filter and fill
with good Shell 15W-40, let it cool and adjust the valves.
6. Replace the timing belt as I have a brand new one, I can't find
my old Rabbit manual though so any tips/suggestions here would be
appreciated, I know they won't run if you screw it up.
7. Get it inspected and give it to him if I don't become to fond
of it myself.
She abandoned the poor thing as she took a slight front hit,
(not bad though, not even worth fixing) then it quit running
and it was 15 years old already, plus no a/c, no radio, ABS
and airbags not even a glimmer in VW's mind back then, still it
is German made, only has the 40,000 and I got a lot of spare
oil, fuel, air filters, brake pads and shoes, etc. so it's a
shame to let it sit until it's too far gone if that isn't already
the case. Any suggestions or tips would be most appreciated,
email me direct, don't bother the list any further, sorry for
already burdening all of you but where else am I going to get
educated opinions from diesel owners.
John Anderson
ja@coe.wvu.edu
'71 Westy, '90 Corrado G60
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