[Vwdiesel] New nozzles, compression and stealerships...

[Shawn Wright]

Tonight I installed my new injector nozzles in my '85 Jetta 1.6NA (thanks 
Jan! :-)
While they were out, I observed a few interesting things: first, the #4 glow 
plug was gone *again* - I just replaced them one *week* ago, after 3 were 
bad. Hmmm. Then I noticed that #4 had *two* heat shields in the injector 
hole, and the injector was coated with fuel/sludge. Coincidence...? I doubt 
it. Then I did a compression check with new gauge - results were 
390,430,450,350, with #4 showing the lowest, again a coincidence? (I 
noted the pulses on #2 & 3 were quite "sharp" and climbed quickly, while 
#1 and 4 were sluggish)
The interesting part is this: I have a full service history on this car, and *all* 
service was done at the dealer, including a new injection pump at 250k 
kms. This is the first time I've pulled the injectors, so it appears the #4 
extra heat shield was done by the dealer, and has been that way for at 
least 50k kms.

Before I plan on a tear down to deal with low compression on 1 & 4, I'm 
waiting for my valve tools to arrive so I can adjust the valves. I know they 
were out a year ago, and I doubt they've fixed themselves ;-)  ... so I'm still 
hopeful an adjustment of the valves might even out /boost the 
compression numbers. Engine has 290k kms with most of it (200k) done 
in the first 5years of its life, then very little for 12 years until I got it with 
250k on it. Any thoughts are welcome - this is my first time playing with a 
diesel compression gauge. :-)

--
Shawn Wright
I.T. Manager
Shawnigan Lake School