[Vwdiesel] Re: Did the Rabbit do it with you driving it---??? --"Runaway".

[Sandy Cameron]

At 04:26 PM 1/15/03 -0800, you wrote:
>Mine had ONE broken ring as well---would you describe the car -----This one
had about 62000 Km  on the odo.
>I have dealers say -never heard  of it ! ---Capilano VW BC.-----and one
mechanic here doubting my word --- LOL.Scary with no brakes and going
downhill.----but for 300 dollars ???--hell I was laughing my head of  -----
>
>Thanks --Hagar.

Mine is a 1987 Jetta turbo diesel. the original engine broke a ring in #4
around 300,000km, and then the fun began. my son discovered it on a trip to
toronto and thought he had blown up the engine until he hauled it down with
the brakes, and then it was normal again.

I didn't know about the broken ring until I took it out of the car, but I
was suspicious that would be the problem. I drove it 2 years in that
condition, with the "oil separator" until the "smoke-downs" became
embarassing and it got too hard to start in cold weather.

That's when I found the rusty rabbit up the road for $250, which I later
found contained a Volks Canada remanufactured turbo diesel in like new
condition.
I'm still driving that engine in the jetta at 450,000km and runs perfect. No
oil consumption, starts at unbelievable low temperatures, and runs just fine
on canola oil (where can I buy that in 45 gal drums?)

When I opened the old engine, it looked like the edge of the piston below
the precombustion chamber had been eroded away, right down to the ring. Not
sure if the ring was actually broken as I did not dismantle the short block,
Gave it to Dominique in Guelph and he posted the tear-down on his web page.

http://kozmik.guelph.on.ca/gtdproject/autopsy.htm

The runaway thing was a significant problem for a lot of old volks (pun
intended), and VW finally sold a baffle to fit under the valve cover of
engines with excessive blow-by, to prevent the oil from getting into the vent.

Sandy