Re[2]: Yet Another Timing Question - overheating

[Toby Erkson <Toby_Erkson@ccm2.hf.intel.com>]

Whoa!  The smoke is caused from oil be expelled from a leak and burning on the 
engine.  Replace the valve cover gasket and make sure the valve covers are on 
tight (check that valve cover bail).  Clean the valve covers and pushrod tubes 
(I use carb cleaner with a final water rinse).  Drive for a little bit and then 
look around to see where the leaks, if any now, are coming from.

If your valve covers were actually expelling smoke you'd know several things:  
You need new gaskets and/or covers and bails; your rings are gone and you're 
getting lots of blow-by (and terrible performance/mileage); your engine is about
to puke, costing you some serious cash.

One thing I know is the smell of an overheated engine.  Yes, you will see a 
light smoke from the offending side, but it's a general vapor (mostly) from the 
surrounding components burning off the crap on them.  The smell, however, is 
that of very hot, 'burning' metal.  Think of it as the anti-perfume, the smell 
that stops your heart because of the panic it induces.  It is the pheromone of 
fear, the odor your engine emits when it's in danger.  It is distinctive and 
foul and you can't mistake it for another.  Many times I have found that the 
hose that connects the cast aluminum housing to the heat exchanger has blown off
and it's actually the heat exchanger that has overheated.  This is why I have a 
custom, "bulletproof" hose setup on my baby (the flexible tubing I use is 
fiberglass impregnated preheat hose).  If you look at the end of the heat 
exchanger where it curves up to the flapper control you'll see a flat, round 
protrusion and a half circle wall on the outside (kinda hard to explain).  This 
is an outlet that lets *some* air circulate past the heat exchanger to keep it 
from getting really hot when it's not in use.

Hope this helps,
     Toby Erkson
     air_cooled_nut@pobox.com
     '72 VW Squareback 1.6L bored and stroked to 2.0L
     '75 Porsche 914 1.8L for sale
     Portland, Oregon
     http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/8501/


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: Yet Another Timing Question - FI
Author:  type-3-errors@umich.edu at SMTPGATE
Date:    7/26/97 7:19 PM

E - I know my engine is runnig hot because of the oil burning up and all the
smoike coming from the valve covers!!

As far as the wire goes - I have my tach cable running into the car thru the
hole right behind the battery.

Good luck - Wilson
69' Square