[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index] [New Search]
On 4 Aug 2003 at 1:08, Chris J Valade wrote: > With hesitation I went to check the oil light, and it checked > out: it came on when the key is turned to the ON position, and turned off > once the engine started. This sounds good, so it means that you never really lost oil pressure completely. You should not have damaged your engine doing this. > I drained the oil, and here is where I found some hints, but > first the less worrisome results: there was a small piece of paper or > something in the oil, although this may have been from the paper towels I > used to dry my oil pan (I cleaned and dried it so as to know everything > in there was also in the engine). Also, there was a sort of gel like > substance I noticed after I took the strainer off hanging from the tube > the oil is sucked through to get to the rest of the engine which dropped > off into the pan and I never found anything in the oil when I was moving > my hand around in it. If there was any metal it was only tiny dust like > pieces, and not many; this also could have been residues of the grease > and what not that was in the pan prior (I had used it to clean some parts > a while back). The main thing we'd be worried about finding would be bits and shards of metal which might have been extruded from melting bearings. Even metal dust isn't so bad, but if your oil has a metal flake sheen to it this can tell you that something is rubbing in a way that is not correct. I don't know what the gel might be. Did YOU rebuild the engine? If so, did you pack the oil pump with grease? I don't recommend this as it produces a plug of grease which has to move all the way thru the engine before you can get free flow of oil to everything. I usually just use a tablespoon of STP in the pump, just enough to fill all the clearances so the pump will prime itself right away and pump as expected. > Now, the disconcerting part of the oil, it had gas in it. I noticed > discoloration on the strainer, put it up to my noise, and noticed it had a > light gas smell, so I looked at the pan and noticed that it had two different > shades and what looked like two different weight liquids so that they > wouldn't mix and it also smelt of gas, not strongly, but noticeably. Also, > when I checked the oil level before draining it I noticed that it looked a > tad higher on the dipstick (maybe a bit less than 1/4"). I attempted to search > the www.vwtype3.org archives but AOL was acting up and I couldn't, so I > looked in my books and thought it over. The only two ways I could find would > be a faulty fuel pump, or worn piston rings. I don't see how a faulty fuel > pump could ever cause that, at least not with an FI system and with the fuel > pump all the way in the front axle far away from anything oil related--how > does a faulty FP cause that anyhow? So my conclusion is that when the engine > was running on next to no oil it wore the rings out just enough to allow fuel > to leak into the oil. If this is all it is, at least it is cheaper to repair > than some other things that could have occurred...would this explain all my > symptoms? Gas generally mixes completely with the oil, so there should not be discernable layers in there. If there are layers, then you must have some non-petroleum liquid in there, or there is some suspended dirt which is heavy so you're seeing it settle out. Engine oil ALWAYS smells like gasoline once it's been run in an engine, so smell is not a good test. The fuel pump possibility is for a mechanical pump which might leak into the case; this doesn't apply to FI cars. Rings can cause this problem, but only if run for a fairly long time. A lot depends on how rich the mixture is, so a really rich mixture might add a lot of gas in a hurry. If you had several injectors stuck open this might be a possibility, but that's unlikely. > Also, there seemed to be more crud than there should of on the oil pan/plate, > whatever that black thing is where the oil drain is located. I would expect > next to no crud since although it hasn't been cleaned in over 4 months, the > engine has been run for maybe 30 miles (I got 27 from what the odometer is > and what I last recorded it as before I changed the oil which means it > probably had 10 miles less, and added up for all the times I ran it but > didn't drive it). I agree that the oil and sump plate should have looked completely clean. It makes me wonder if there was dirt somewhere inside the engine that got flushed out when you ran it. Inside the oil cooler, the pushrods, and the case oil passages are all prime suspects. Did you clean out any of these? > The spark plugs were also interesting. They all had a > small amount of carbon deposit (they are were changed shortly after the oil > was 4 months ago) causing the top of each to be blackened (some worse than > others), but not with enough carbon to really leave a residue on my finger. > I would assume this occurred since I ran the car quite a bit without getting > the timing just right first. In addition, the boots that go around the > spark plugs were all melted, with 1 and 2 only having small melted parts, and > number 3 being melted enough that I had to pull it out with pliers and it > stuck, but with nothing left on the crankcase or spark plug (I don't have a > boot for 4). OH, this doesn't sound good. Which boots are you talking about, the flat circular ones which seal off the holes in the shrouding? There's no way these should ever get this hot, unless your flaps aren't opening. Did you check the flaps to make sure they are movable? Do you have the thermostat in there and is it adjusted so the flaps will be fully open when the top of the thermostat hits the top of its bracket? This engine got really hot, the question is why. How do things look inside the rocker boxes? The oil should look clean and you shouldn't notice any particular color change since your rebuild. This volume will slowly turn a sort of golden brown, but that shouldn't happen right away. > Then 1 was a bit tight and I think there are 1 or 2 small metal shavings on > it, or it could be the anti-seize stuff I used having been heated up enough > or drying. Then 1 WHAT was a bit tight? A tight spark plug? > The hose attached to the pressure sensor was firmly clamped to both ends, and > I made certain it wasn't clogged, even though I can't imagine how that would > occur. One thing I remembered that I'm now lightly concerned about is that > after I had put everything in the engine back in I dropped a small piece of > rubber into the pulley housing and was never able to get it out (at the time > I had just put the intake boot back on and had finished bolting the housing > on and I didn't want to go through all the trouble of removing and installing > it again since I couldn't see how that would cause a problem). Okay, the PS sounds fine, and the rubber bit in the pulley housing won't cause a problem. Generator belts commonly fail and get chewed up and spit thru the engine by the fan & pulley. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org