Recent content by efeballi

Dusted off the big torque wrench and did the valve timing job. Intake torsion's now 0.0 when cold and -0.5 when warm, after a drive. Mind you, getting the torsion value from +1.5 to 0 took the gentlest of pushes, and the change I did was barely visible with the Sharpie mark I'd made. Perhaps the...

My impression is that single cam TDIs have more leeway, some were even marked with the optimum torsion value found in the factory written onto the timing belt cover with a friggin Sharpie. I'm not shooting for a hard figure (will start from 0 but still) but rather a balance of everything. Let...

Car used to run perfectly fine with EGR before the head job. Problem turned out to be the intake cam adjustment being way off (previous post, torsion value), the idle and performance were both quite bad with EGR connected. My take is that the car could not get proper fuel burn with valves out of...

Coolant leak appears to be resolved. Car runs like sh1t with EGR connected, goes back to running great with EGR vacuum hose removed (obviously throwing a CEL). EGR basic setting shows it working as specified, so there must be some reason for which the car does not like being fed with EGR. I've...

Head and gasket replaced. After being quoted €4000 for an OEM head, I went for an AMC head for €750. Many other things were replaced or serviced along the way, such as injectors (serviced) and valves (replaced). Pistons and block appear to be A-OK. All in all, I'm €2000 lighter. Performance...

I'm assuming it's the head, early 16V TDIs were notorious with porous heads. Labor quote is for cylinder head replacement with camshafts, valves etc being carried over (hopefully). I found a C revision head (VW revised the head twice against this) for €500, I'm keeping an extra €250 margin for...

Got a quote today for the cylinder head replacement, €500 labor and €750 for parts. As the leaking speed's gone beyond my understanding of what K-seal can hold, I'll probably go ahead with it. I hope nothing else's broken along the way.

That's correct. My main concern is that I can't trust any mechanic out there with a cylinder head job. Even the cleanliness (or lack thereof) of the shop when the short block is exposed haunts me.

Bad news! I've had the thermostat housing and the split pipe replaced. Car now runs a bit warmer, and the leak is worse. I've tried pumping air into the cooling system with the car running, and lo and behold, white smoke came from the exhaust at 20PSI coolant system pressure. I've lost the...

Been cruising around for a while now with the cap loosened. Car's coolant loss is greatly reduced especially if I don't let the coolant temperature reach 84C (thermostat opening temperature). Which is doable with the winter temps and the heater working at or near max heat. If I can keep the...

The manifold and EGR bolts have proven to be a royal PITA to remove, so I couldn't get any of them or the hose replaced. Been running the car with the reservoir cap cracked open now and I can't see any measurable coolant level drop with the car running. Measurable coolant loss occurs only when...

Black smoke, particularly if it goes away after your car goes into limp mode, is an indication of boost leak. Check the connections from the turbo to the intake manifold.

Bought/ordered all parts to clean and replace all seals from boost pipe to intake manifold. Removing these will give me (or the mechanic) easy access to the thermostat housing. Will replace thermostat, housing, temperature sensor and the torn hose a few posts above. I've got the part numbers...

Made an even better version of the custom reservoir cap to check the nature of the leak, or rather, nature of the pressure buildup during the drive. Pressure rose up to 300 mmHg which was close to the limit of the pressure monitoring device I used (a blood pressure gauge). 300 mmHg is in line...

Flange didn't solve it. No change in nature of leak. I 3D printed a better coolant reservoir cap and fitted a bike valve on it. I can't say it's perfectly airtight but it's pretty close. We routed a hose from the reservoir cap to the passenger window (rolled a little bit down) and hooked up an...