| Author | Message | ||
     Cataract2 |
Can't catch a break sometimes. So, my wife was driving home from work tonight. As she was heading down the road she was driving a steady speed when all of a sudden the car gave a large lurch and then lost all power. She could push the gas pedal, but nothing would happen. When she got to the side of the road she would crank the engine and it will turn, but nothing. No sign of life. The car is a 1990 VW Golf 1.6 TDI. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
Don't know much about the diesel vw, but my guess would be fuel pump or some other fuel delivery issue. That's about the only thing that'll kill a running diesel. We have an old R model Mack yard truck that to shut it off you turn off the fuel supply. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Jeeze man! it's a Diesel! what can go wrong in there??? Could it have jumped time? | ||
| Froggy |
I got $5 on she put gas in the tank | ||
| Hughlysses |
http://forums.tdiclub.com/ | ||
| Nukeblue |
timing chain or belt? | ||
| Thumper74 |
It's a belt. See if it cranks faster than usual, if it does, probably the belt. I don't think those were interference motors though... | ||
| Azxb9r |
The engine will survive a timing belt failure (if that is the problem) but setting injection pump timing requires special tools. If it is a 1990 and the belt has never been done, that would be a reasonable possibility. Check other basics too like fuel pump output (and correct fuel). | ||
| Hughlysses |
I'm pretty sure I read ALL TDI's are interference engines due to the very high compression. Let's hope that's not the problem. | ||
| Two_seasons |
Well, it still turns over, so pistons and valves aren't hitting each other. Probably a plugged fuel filter. When was it last changed? Another thing it could be...there is 12VDC that goes to the fuel pump. If that wire is shorted or not on the terminal, no fuel flow. | ||
| Nukeblue |
two-seasons, if valves hit pistons they bend valves & the engine turns over. just has no compression on the affected cylinders. edit... but they usually sound "funny" while cranking. a little faster (Message edited by nuke-blue on October 07, 2011) | ||
| Ratbuell |
Does it have an actual throttle cable? Broken? Throttle by wire acting up? On my 90s Dodges, you can on-off-on-off-on the ignition key and the CEL will flash a series of codes. Could steer you in the right direction, anyway... | ||
| Cataract2 |
Timing belt was off recently. I'm starting to lean towards jumped timing, but just in case, would there be any signs of a dropped valve or anything? I would think she would have heard a horrendous noise from that. | ||
| Cataract2 |
Bad juu juu folks. I go to check timing and begin to turn the engine. Stop... Belt is loose. It's not broke, but I think we know the problem. Well, the engine uses hydraulic lifters, if I'm lucky I just have those messed up. Going to replace the belt first and see if I get lucky. Sigh... Looks like the head is coming off soon. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Here's a step-by-step how-to on the timing belt change with lots of photos from the TDI Club site: http://www.tdiclub.com/articles/A3-TimingBelt/ | ||
| Ratbuell |
Find out if it is or is not an interference motor. My 2.2 / 2.5 Dodge turbo motors are NON-interference. Valves do NOT hit pistons, no matter what. (well...my Lotus-head 16v is interference...but that's different). If you're NON-interference, just time it, put the new belt on, and go. If it IS interference...pull the head, you bent valves. Lifters don't make a lick of difference. If a valve is open and a piston comes up....BAP. They hit. Path of least resistance? Valvestem. A hydraulic lifter will NOT take up the slack of a piston-smack. Sorry. Been there, done that. And for root cause...what sort of belt tensioner? Manual "crank it over and lock it"? Or hydraulic? Spring loaded? | ||
| Two_seasons |
I'm familiar with interference engines. The beauty of a diesel piston is they are tough, with tough wrist pins. Even if this engine is interference, damage is probably nothing more than some scoring of the pistons, trashed valves. Will probably need new heads. | ||
| Cataract2 |
New belt on and it runs. Think in the next month I'll pull the heads and fix the other stuff. Car is a beater for the remaining time left here in Germany. Runs like it did before. Might have gotten lucky on this one. It's a manual crank it over and lock it. From what it looks like though, the belt just stretched and let loose. It didn't break, but it was way loose while the tensioner was still tight in place. | ||
| Beugs |
Hey rat, if you're referring to the tIII motors in the R/T cars, they are non-interference motors. I have one. If you're referring to something else, don't mind me. Sorry for the thread jack. | ||
| Ratbuell |
coulda sworn the t3 was interference...but again, I haven't broken a belt on one yet to find out the hard way  I'm probably thinking of the 2.4 turbo in the Neon... |
