[Vwdiesel] Fw: [Audi-VW-Diesels] Troubles on the road -follow-up---LONG!

[Lee Hillsgrove]

  Got an update from Mark!
 Not all good news, but it looks like things turned out OK in the end.
 Thanks for the input! Loren was right, as usual........ :-p
 Any ideas on what went wrong with the cam? I'm thinking the thing jumped
time again and this time the cam and crank got too far out.

  Lee
  Oo-v-oO
  PP-ASEL
  KB1GNI




----- Original Message -----
From: "zedbowls" <ZARANSKI at NETNITCO.NET>
To: <Audi-VW-Diesels at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2004 12:17 AM
Subject: [Audi-VW-Diesels] Re: Fw: [Vwdiesel] Troubles on the
road -follow-up---LONG!


1)  THANK YOU to all of you, even those who simply read my troubled
posts and passed along good thoughts.

2)  We did make it to buffalo in time to get my Mom to the
appointment!

3)  INDEED a timing problem!  Evidently a jumped tooth.

4)  Awoke at first light to light rain.  Found a local 1-man garage,
and got him to agree to let me come over.  Woke my daughter, grabbed
our gear, ate a serious breakfast (included in the room price at the
Best Western, and not some "continental breakfast", off the menu--we
both had eggs/potatoes/toast/juice!).  Limped there (4 miles)
slowly, running poorly.  In his shop:  good light and DRY!!!

   Rolled crank over to TDC, removed valve cover, confirmed camshaft
very close to proper position, injection pump index was far enough
off to try advancing a tooth.  Loosened timing belt tensioner,
advanced pump, retightened TB, tried it.  Running much smoother, but
lost some tension on the TB very quickly.  Messed around with the
tensioner for a while (was loosening while the nut was being
tightened due to some corrosion on the washer) and finally was
satisfied.  Gave the guy $53 (one hour labor) for his help and use
of his bay and thanked him profusely for letting me in when he
already had a very full schedule.  Left feeling lucky at 10:30
local.  Mom's appointment was at 2:45 (depart her house by 2) and
there was only 109 miles left to cover.  Piece of cake!

    Got a total of 6 minutes down the road and had a sudden onset of
very similar symptoms (my thought was that the tooth jump had
repeated itself--had examined the tb and it seemed to be in like new
condition, OR that there was more trouble with the tensioner...)with
copious white/blue smoke.  Pulled over immediately and hopped-out to
grab my tools from the back.  A white Mazda MX6 pulled over with me
and backed-up to within a few yards.  A grinning young fellow (early
thirties) asked if he could help, showed me his VW tattoo,
introduced himself (Mike), and explained he and his new fiance' were
on their way from Cleveland to Montreal via Niagara Falls and
weren't in a huge hurry.

I explained the situation as I knew it, and we set-out straight away
to check the timing.  Rolled the crank to TDC, removed the valve
cover, and DAMN! the camshaft is in THREE PIECES!  Did running it
with the timing off stress the shaft badly enough that this was the
result???

Mike and Jenea offer us a ride to Buffalo (right on their way), the
PA highway patrolman who stopped said No Problem leaving the car
right there for a day or two (as long as its gone by Monday
morning).  Crammed our essentials and my toolkit (I have
unfortunately discovered that people like to steal tools) into their
trunk and continued East.  Frankly, I was STILL feeling lucky!

5)  Whereas the block on the original motor is SHOT, the top is all
good, so there (back in indiana) is my replacement camshaft.  Looks
like it should be an easy swap, I expect new bearings are a good
idea while I'm at it, and might as well use a new t-belt.  Please
ring in with any other suggestions, especially  regarding whatelse I
should look at as possible CAUSES of all this.

6)  My mom has an 87 GMC 3/4-ton conversion van (for sale) with
which I will pull the quantum home (using a Uhaul dolly).

7)  Mom has done VERY well recovering from (1) total hip replacement
surgery (thanks for wondering), but her situation is complicated in
that the distance from hip to knee (the operated-on side) "grew"
about 35 mm during the surgery!!!  The surgeon (very famous for his
joint replacement surgery success and innovations) said (today) that
in all his years of surgery he has never had such a before/after
discrepency and he basically had no satisfactory explanation.  There
is plenty more, but I feel its pretty far "off topic" and frankly
I'm too pissed-off to retell further right now.

THANK YOU ALL again.  and Thanks again to Mike and Jenea, and to Dan
in Fairview PA.

Mark Zaranski





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