[Vwdiesel] Well, I guess this confirms it, internal head gasket leak

[brian gochnauer]

Just a thought, before you pull the head.
Small radiator leaks often won't leave a puddle under the car because the
heat of the radiator will evaporate the water.
The colder it gets (and lower humidity) the harder it gets to find since the
heat has an easier time evporating the leak.



On Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 10:42 AM, Bryan Belman <dieselwesty at yahoo.com> wrote:

> So, today was the first cool morning, got down to about 60 last night.  I
> expected to experience something odd when starting the 92 EcoDiesel this am
> and I DID.
>
> I waited for the full cycle of the glows until I heard the relay click off,
> after the light.
> It cranked over about 8-10 times, NO start.  This has not happened since
> the timing issue was fixed in Jan, 08.
>
> Then, pushed my advanced cable in a bit and did a 1/2 cycle of the glows
> and it started a bit rough but smoothed right out with some moving of the
> advance cable.
>
> I then popped the hood and checked the level of my coolant, sure enough, it
> is down again to the add line.
>
> So, what next.  Re-torquing the head 12,000 miles after getter her
> running did not help, I should have done it 1,000 miles as you are supposed
> to I guess.
>
> So, what is happening then, there is no visible coolant leak, no drips or
> minor minor drips under the car.  No white smoke in the exhaust.
>
> **
> Will the starting get harder and harder as the temps get colder I guess?
>
> Is the coolant fouling one of the cylinders, then just that cylinder would
> not fire right away, not all of them?
>
> It should not be effecting compression, right?
> **
>
> The car runs great, I am getting between 44mpg and 46mpg.
>
> I guess I can only hope it will just continue to leak at this rate and be a
> bit hard to start, I do not have time any time soon to pull the head off
> again to replace the head gasket, that is for sure.
>
> Thanks for any advance
> Bryan
>
>
>
> Bryan Belman, Pt Pleasant, NJ
> 04 Jetta Wagon TDI PD, 100hp, 5sp -- running :)
> 82 Diesel Westy 1.9NA -- running :)
> 92 Jetta 1.6 Eco-Turbo Diesel -- running :)
> 70 Type 1 stock Beetle -- Not running :(
>
> --- On Mon, 9/8/08, James Hansen <jhsg at sasktel.net> wrote:
>
> From: James Hansen <jhsg at sasktel.net>
> Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] Control arm bushings
> To: sshourds at flash.net
> Cc: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> Date: Monday, September 8, 2008, 12:01 AM
>
> The control arm should come out with the bolt removed, I'm sure my 89
> just came apart like that.... except with mine, I had to weld in a new
> blind nut on BOTH sides.  I think it is the piece of metal you're
> referring to that is the carrier for the blind nut, is spot welded to
> the body.
> It's been a looong time, but I'm sure with all bolts out, I just yarded
>
> the thing out.
> I still have a parts pile that was an 82 as well... the left side is
> good IIRC... the right side was sheared off beheading a Grand Am.
> -james
>
> S. Shourds wrote:
> > I was just now out entertaining the neighbors by slamming on front end
> > components late into the night.  I decided that 318,000 miles was enough
> > on the entire front end on the '85 TD Jetta.  Sure enough, every part
> > I've looked at is blown.  This includes all of the control arm
> > bushings.  The difficulty is that I can't get the control arm out.
> The
> > rear bushing is stuck and the Bentley is vague.  I had thought that if I
> > removed the large bolt through the bushing, the control arm should swing
> > free (everything else is obviously out of the arm).  I tried to remove
> > the 6" piece of supporting metal that the large bolt goes through and
>
> > also has a mount for the sway bar, but with all of the bolts removed,
> > it's locked in still.  Does anyone know if that piece is welded in?
> If
> > it wasn't at the factory, 23 years and 300,000 miles did the job.
> >
> > Every setback is not good in a low-motivation environment.
> >
> > Thanks for any info.
> >
> >
> > -Shalyn
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> >
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