[Vwdiesel] Early 1.5 diesels

[Val Christian]

I had a diesel Rabbit for each of the first five years they came out.
Actually, I got two 79 models.  Lots of Rabbits.
Back then, there was no internet, and ARPAnet didn't have a VW diesel
group.  So we networked differently.

The problems I saw in the early VWs were:

-bad rings/ coked up rings/ blowby / runaway Rabbit syndrome

-bad fuel problems (mostly water, causing wax precipitation)

-glow plug failures

Fuel was probably the biggest problem most people experienced.  On cold
days, you'd see GM diesels and VW diesels at the side of the road
1 to 5 miles from home.  It would happen on 20F days, but it happened 
allot for diesel users on 5F days.  The only people who made it 
through -20F days were those who used kerosine to dilute diesel.
[I know we've talked about using gasoline...but for lots of reasons
I didn't use gasoline, and some of the people I knew who did, claimed
it didn't help.]  In the late 70's I got around bad fuel by putting in
a tank, and double filtering it.  Some used centrifugal separators 
that preheated the fuel with hot coolant.  But those were expensive, 
and I haven't even seen a half dozen of them in VWs.

The early glow plugs had long glow times.  Relays got water in them from
the now-well-understood leaks common to VWs.  Glow plugs would burn out,
and while a car would start at 20F on 3 or even 2 glow plugs, it would 
probably not start at 0F with 3, and certainly not with 2 plugs.

The wisdom in the 70's was to use a heavy oil.  I used 20W-50.  Most 
VW owners I knew did.  It took more starter power to turn over, but the 
real problem was that the heavy oil tended to coke up the rings more
than using light oil.  Even the tribology guys I worked with didn't know
that.  We started learning as the cars got older and we found poor compression
after 200K or so.  We got smarter, and started using lighter weight oils,
and the rings started lasting "forever".  I found that some cars, after
running high detergent light weight oil would get better compression.
Personally, two of my vehicles were poor starters in the winter due to
compression, and did not improve until I pulled the pistons and cleaned 
up the lands and put them back together.  With the 1.5 engine, the 
cylinder heads were pretty much in need of valve guides after 150-175
K miles, although that varied.  

Another starting problem many people had was related to timing.  Not
everyone understood the need for timing to be right to start easily.
Retard the timing a little, have coked up rings, and perhaps a glow
plug or two which read OK on the ohmmeter, but only drew 4 amps, and
the car wouldn't start on a cold day.

The runaway diesel was lots of fun!  It converted a Rabbit ride into a 
Wild Hare ride!  Usually toasted the glow plugs.  VW came out with different
breather tubes (the three way breather)...but the real fix was in
reducing blowby.  Even then some oil would pool in the filter/intake 
area.  If you were a sensitive driver, you might even notice an
intermittent surge, as some pooled oil was sucked in.  Some people 
gave up their Rabbits after a Wild Hare ride.

The shims for adjusting the valves were a pain.  Injector servicing was 
a pain, but not often needed.  I never went through a starter.  Never 
has an injector pump on a 1.5 fail me.  

They were noisy (fixed with the TDI engines, and with turbos which quieted
the intake and exhaust).  With a broken flex pipe to the catalytic converter
(they broke at a flange which had a triangular gasket), the car had a 
hairy chest like no other car on the road.  It was LOUD.  48 hp, of which
it seemed like 20 hp was acoustic energy.

So that's what it was like in the old early 1.5 diesel days.  BTW, that 
1.5 engine was used as an industrial power plant, and I've seen them in
service at water parks, where they are used to pump water for water rides.