[Vwdiesel] Fastening and other issues

[Arkady Mirvis]

Speaking the crankshaft bolt. Now I know that not only VW  but Subaru 
engineers also forgot the basics. There is a multiplicity of methods of 
securing the fastener and any component attached to another one. I learned a 
lot of solutions to securing components from my German mentors with very 
long aristocratic names - many of them great engineers - bearers of old real 
German traditions to produce products simple, reliable and maintenance 
friendly. This wasn't always possible due to time restraint (war time).
My efforts in USA to revision aircraft components designs were met with 
utmost hostility by my bosses, who bluntly pointed to me that aircraft 
industry is basically very conservative. I felt that! Parts were complex, 
assembly was complex, prone to great and costly mistakes.
Many concepts uneconomical from the beginning.
For me, an engineer since 1959, bent on design and production of simple, 
reliable friendly in maintenance mechanical things, working on VW ( after 
Beetle!) made cars is a mental and physical torture.
Ark
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Matt Alkire" <matt_lisa at sprynet.com>
To: "travis gottschalk" <tgott at hotmail.com>
Cc: <vwdiesel at vwfans.com>
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2010 5:40 PM
Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] CAM ISSUES


> I've seen issues with Subaru timing belts as well.  To get the crank bolt 
> off, people were putting 6 ft. cheaters on them resting on the ground, and 
> then bumping the engine to break the bolt loose.
>
> I'll stick with my VWs too. :-)
>
> -Matt
>
> On Aug 30, 2010, at 12:19 PM, travis gottschalk wrote:
>
>>
>> Yes some BEW engines have CAM issues and don't last 50K miles and then 
>> there is plenty that are into 300K miles. Just depends. There is more 
>> stress and wear but there isn't a guarantee that the cam will fail. The 
>> BRM engines seem to have more of and issue that I have read for some 
>> reason. But if you think of it being $540 for lifters and the cam and 
>> then well say no more then $300 in torque to yield one time use bolts and 
>> bearings. That spread out over even 100K miles is still less then $.01 
>> per mile. And the injectors last a long time in the PD engines and there 
>> isn't an injection pump that starts to leak and cause $600 in repairs to 
>> fix plus a timing belt job to get to it. Each car has there issues. I 
>> love my PD and wouldn't trade if for an ALH. So far there is few engines 
>> that don't have some known problem (toyotas and hondas included).
>>
>> As a side note I was helping my co-worker do his timing belt on his Honda 
>> and saw that the harmonic balance pulley is a bear cat to get off. Still 
>> haven't. Seems those things can really get torqued on and we are 
>> borrowing some tools from work to get it done. Saw one video of a 6 ft 
>> cheater pipe on there to break it loose. I think I will stick with VW so 
>> I don't get killed doing a timing belt from the shrapnel flying off the 
>> broken wrench if it lets loose.
>> Travis G.
>>
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