ssm@cmu-ri-leg.ARPA (01/01/85)
I have a 1980 diesel Volkswagen Dasher which I was serviced recently. The glow plugs and fuel injectors were all replaced. About 10 days later when I was driving on the freeway at 60 mph the car started making a funny noise. I tried to slow down by taking my leg of the accelerator but the car kept going at the same speed for about 3 minutes. Later I found that the oil light was going on. On checking the oil I found that it was 2 quarts low. I refilled the oil and have not had the problem since alhtough I have driven 2000 miles. However I found that two of my glow plugs had got blown. They were down to 0.5 cm in length from about the normal 3 cm. I replaced them and the car now starts o.k. Also on removing the new oil filter I found that it was soaked to the core in oil. I was wondering if anyone could answer these questions for me. 1)Was the car running on oil that was thrown into the the cylinders from the tube connecting the top of the engine to the air-filter. This cannot be normal. What caused it to happen in the first place. What can I do about this. Why has it stopped happening now. 2) Why did my glow plugs get blown. Also where is the missing 2.5 cm of the glow plug. Wouldn't it cause problems inside the cylinder or is this contingency taken care of by Volkswagen. If the pieces are floating around inside how do I get rid of them. 3) My car has 64,000 miles on it. How long will the diesel engine last. I am very careful about the car's maintenance. By the way somebody some time back had said something about how to start a diesel in cold weather. From what I know the only way is to wait for the yellow light to go off indicating that the glow plugs are hot. The jet of diesel thrown on them vaporizes and the car starts. What other method is there? Also can someone recommend a good book on diesel engine maintenance? Thanks for the help. Messages sent directly to me will be summarized. -- uucp: seismo!cmu-ri-leg!ssm arpa: ssm@cmu-ri-leg
dave@rocksvax.UUCP (01/03/85)
I have never heard of glow plugs wearing out that way. I have had a '79
and and '82 Rabbit, which I believe is based on the same engine. The '79
car my parents own and has 110,000 miles on it.
The runaway condition that you mention was the subject of the EU recall
of my '79 Rabbit. What happens is that the cams spinning around atomize
the engine lubricating oil. This oil is getting sucked into the intake
manifold through the valve cover breather tube. The EU recall added
a "T" to this and attached it to the lower part of the engine near where
the distributer hole is in the block. See if your model was included
in this recall.
As for maintainence, the best thing to do is change the oil, fuel filter, and
drain the water out of the filter between changes. AT 90,000 I had the
injectors checked and aligned, cost about $8 apiece. I had to replace
2 glow plugs in the time I owned the car. The rest looked OK then
I sold the car to my parents.
The current car has had nothing other than filter replacements done.
Dave
arpa: Sewhuk.HENR@Xerox.ARPA
uucp: {allegra,rochester,amd,sunybcs}!rocksvax!dave