[Vwdiesel] Front seal changing !?$%#

[Shawn Wright]

The parking brake cable broke last week, which increased the number of 
jobs I need to do on the '85 Jetta NA to three, so I finally got around to 
tackling the most important today - the timing belt. I was last done in '96, 
and although this was only about 45k kms ago, I was nervous about an 
aging belt. I also have oil leak(s) from the front seal(s) so I decided to 
deal with this also. 
Once I got most of it apart, it appeared much of the oil was coming from 
the cam seal. Following the Bentley it was a snap, using my homemade 
seal "hook" tool.
But first I tried to get the crank sprocket bolt off, using a long bar on my 
rachet, along with a long extension so I could work through the wheel 
arch. I ended up breaking the extension bar, and the ratchet doesn't 
ratchet so well anymore (cheap Mastercraft junk, but it lifetime 
warranty...) Then I borrowed an impact wrench and tried that. No luck. 
Both of these procedures were done with the wife holding the brakes on, 
in 1st gear, with t-belt still on and inj pump sprocket locked.
I then jacked the car up high enough to tackle from beneath with 1/2" 
drive bar, and ended up jumping teeth on the t-belt. I finally gave up, 
deciding that I will deal with this when I do the clutch (it's getting near) 
and I can bolt down the flywheel. 
I remember the last time I did this bolt, I jammed a large screwdriver 
through the inspection hole into the flywheel till it stuck, but I didn't want 
to repeat that hack again this time...
I then decided to tackle the int shaft pulley. Bolt came loose easily, but I 
could not remove the pulley by tapping it. I gave up after taking a chunk 
out of the edge - it's very thin and brittle.
There's got to be a better way...

I then decided I should run some cleaner through to see if the cold start 
stumbling (it always fires instantly, but runs rough for up to 30 seconds, 
glow plugs are good). Being too cheap to spend $15CDN for Diesel 
Purge, I added a 3 oz dose of PS Diesel Clean to about 1 liter of ATF, 
and fed it into the filter. The car puffed blue smoke for a while, and 
stumbled until the air was bled out, but then seemed to run noticeably 
smoother. I haven't driven it yet, but am hopeful that it will make a 
difference.

--
Shawn Wright
http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright
'88 Westy 375k
'85 Jetta D 263k
'85 Jetta TD 482k (retired)
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