Abacus
That helpful B4 guy
Today I learned that it's not where the VW is from, it's that it's a VW and will throw you a curve ball regardless of location.
Snoopy Smiles drove the 200 miles up from Tucson to have me work on one of her B4's again, this time it was the gray one I initially worked on. It's in nice shape and we did some stuff to it earlier. I was going to finish up the list due to running out of time last time.
I heard the car coming up the road and it sounded normal, but when she pulled in it was anything but. It was leaking oil everywhere and her cars do not leak oil.
So I jacked it up to have a look. Initially I thought either the turbo oil feed line or the drain line. I checked the oil and it was low, not on the dipstick, not a good sign. I added what little TDI oil I had left, about a quart, and it showed just on the bottom of the dipstick, so it was about 2-2.5 quarts low. The entire passengers side was coated in oil, and it was everywhere. I looked around and the turbo feed and drain lines were ok but the turbo was wet all across the bottom.
So I dig a little deeper, lowered the car some, and had her start it since it now had enough oil in it. It was dripping/draining profusely from the oil pan gasket that was just replaced.
So I checked the oil pan bolts and they weren't even finger tight! I grabbed my torque wrench and was able to get at least a full turn on each one just to get to the specified 15 ft-lbs, and that included the two under the flywheel plate (that are 8-10 ft-lbs).
However, it still leaked. I checked my stash and did not have a spare oil pan gasket. Then I thought about the front main seal since the plastic inner timing belt guard is at that same spot. So I popped the top cover to see if the belt had oil on it, and it did. That's when I found the Mark-N-Pray timing marks and the tensioner tensioned the wrong way. Ugh.
The oil pan gasket was replaced about 50 miles prior to the trip to my house and the previous owner had the timing belt changed about 3,000 miles ago (different garages in different states).
So I tossed the wheel back on it (after washing it since it was coated in oil), got the deer out of the way, and we pushed it outside until I can get the parts to fix it properly. I have a spare timing belt kit but it's a few years old now and I'd rather put a new one on again since she drives frequently to Oregon. Since I don't know if it's the oil pan gasket or the front main seal, I'll just replace both since the timing belt needs changing again anyway and I'll already be in there.
It'll have to sit outside next to my Optima, which now needs a new battery as well as 2 front calipers...that's tomorrow's project. I'm still working 12 hour days 5 times a week at 2 different jobs until I can get my replacement trained at the lab, so I'm still pretty beat. Thankfully the wagon still runs great and smokes less now that I turned the IQ down. The garage was coated in oil so I cleaned it up for the work tomorrow and an oil change on the wife's Sorento.
Snoopy Smiles caught a shuttle ride from my area down to the Phoenix airport and then from the airport to Tucson. I would have driven her down if she couldn't get a ride but wasn't looking forward to 7-8 hours behind the wheel. She offered to have the car towed back but my fear is the same people who did the oil pan gasket would then have their hands into the engine and I doubted they were up to the task. I felt bad she brought it all the way up and I never got the chance to fix anything. I'm just glad I got to it in time and it didn't leave her stranded with a blown motor.
Snoopy Smiles drove the 200 miles up from Tucson to have me work on one of her B4's again, this time it was the gray one I initially worked on. It's in nice shape and we did some stuff to it earlier. I was going to finish up the list due to running out of time last time.
I heard the car coming up the road and it sounded normal, but when she pulled in it was anything but. It was leaking oil everywhere and her cars do not leak oil.
So I jacked it up to have a look. Initially I thought either the turbo oil feed line or the drain line. I checked the oil and it was low, not on the dipstick, not a good sign. I added what little TDI oil I had left, about a quart, and it showed just on the bottom of the dipstick, so it was about 2-2.5 quarts low. The entire passengers side was coated in oil, and it was everywhere. I looked around and the turbo feed and drain lines were ok but the turbo was wet all across the bottom.
So I dig a little deeper, lowered the car some, and had her start it since it now had enough oil in it. It was dripping/draining profusely from the oil pan gasket that was just replaced.
So I checked the oil pan bolts and they weren't even finger tight! I grabbed my torque wrench and was able to get at least a full turn on each one just to get to the specified 15 ft-lbs, and that included the two under the flywheel plate (that are 8-10 ft-lbs).
However, it still leaked. I checked my stash and did not have a spare oil pan gasket. Then I thought about the front main seal since the plastic inner timing belt guard is at that same spot. So I popped the top cover to see if the belt had oil on it, and it did. That's when I found the Mark-N-Pray timing marks and the tensioner tensioned the wrong way. Ugh.
The oil pan gasket was replaced about 50 miles prior to the trip to my house and the previous owner had the timing belt changed about 3,000 miles ago (different garages in different states).
So I tossed the wheel back on it (after washing it since it was coated in oil), got the deer out of the way, and we pushed it outside until I can get the parts to fix it properly. I have a spare timing belt kit but it's a few years old now and I'd rather put a new one on again since she drives frequently to Oregon. Since I don't know if it's the oil pan gasket or the front main seal, I'll just replace both since the timing belt needs changing again anyway and I'll already be in there.
It'll have to sit outside next to my Optima, which now needs a new battery as well as 2 front calipers...that's tomorrow's project. I'm still working 12 hour days 5 times a week at 2 different jobs until I can get my replacement trained at the lab, so I'm still pretty beat. Thankfully the wagon still runs great and smokes less now that I turned the IQ down. The garage was coated in oil so I cleaned it up for the work tomorrow and an oil change on the wife's Sorento.
Snoopy Smiles caught a shuttle ride from my area down to the Phoenix airport and then from the airport to Tucson. I would have driven her down if she couldn't get a ride but wasn't looking forward to 7-8 hours behind the wheel. She offered to have the car towed back but my fear is the same people who did the oil pan gasket would then have their hands into the engine and I doubted they were up to the task. I felt bad she brought it all the way up and I never got the chance to fix anything. I'm just glad I got to it in time and it didn't leave her stranded with a blown motor.
