Diesel novice!1.6 td,what do i look for??

[scamperman]

Hi,
Bit of a last minute thing but i'm going to view a 1.6 td van tommorow pm,
i have a 1.9 dg petrol already and know my way round the petrol engine,bodywork matters,camping interior etc but could really use a few pointers about about the dieselengine and turbo,anything i should be looking for?Any help very very much appreciated.
cheers, James.

[Red Westie]

Hmmm
A lot of things are the same as a petrol but here are a few specifics:

Insist that the engine is cold (that's a dificult one but just ask that the van not be started before you view..say at least 4 hours)

As this is a CI engine (compression ignition) it relies on the compression to generate heat for the combustion, that combined with glow plugs and timed relays.....starting from cold and running the engine up to temp can be very revealing.

First does the relay/glow plug light work...does the oil light work and go out straight away when started?, does it start first time....when it starts there is typically a puff of white smoke that should quickly clear to a minimal haze....does it tick over OK....how noisey is it? a dificult one to gauge as these engines are noisey at the best of times....once warm does it excellerate smoothly? can you feel and hear the turbo coming in and boosting? at high revs before changing gears is there any extra smoke?
When properly up to temp does the oil light flicker at idle? does the light come on at all when driving (particularly around bends)
Water temperature does not rise too high and fan kicks in and out.
Heater gets hot
No knocking/rattling noises when blipping the throttle.
Check the colour of the oil (it is usually black) . Check for oil in the water, water in the oil etc.
Oil leaks, diesel leaks, water leaks.
Any indication of excessive crank case compression ie; puddles of oil in the air filter housing (although there will be some)
There are loads of other things specific to faults but these are the general ones)
Martin

[scamperman]

Nice one Martin,
Thanks for the info,gonna print it off and have another read before i view the van.Nice to go armed with a bit of knowledge, i know theres gonna be issues here and there coz there always is but anything that lessens the chance of buying a duffer is all good.
Thanks again,

[Westy.Club.Joker]

1st, has it still got the tinwork undertray covering the bottom of the engine? If so, get it removed or expect trouble.
Look for:
grip the lower crankshaft pulley (where the belts are) and give it a good wobble and twist, does it move? If so, run away !
water in the oil? dipstick
oil in the water (header tank with blue cap)? Is the tank full? is there any pressure in it when you open the cap?
air bubbles forming in the header when it`s running, if you see this then leave it alone, it`s a head problem!!
any signs that it`s been overheated / cooked? discoloured alloy head
does the heater get properly warm?
oil drips from pipework underneath where the rubber / plastic air intake pipe joins the turbo?
heavy breathing from the mushroom on the cambox lid?, mushroom pulls out of its rubber
look at the exhaust header where it`s bolted to the turbo. Is it bolted with 4 nuts or been bodged and welded etc?

on the dash - BEFORE starting, turn ign on, do you get 2 red lights and a yellow one? Wait 10 secs and then start, do the red lights go out pretty quick? yellow one is glow plugs and goes out straight away, red charge light may stay on until you SLIGHTLY blip the throttle, oil light should go out within a few secs and stay out. Any flickering red lights mean probs.
Check exhaust for excessive smoke, blue, white, black, grey? Any smoke should clear as soon as you set off on a drive. Blue is oil, white is unburnt diesel, black is too much diesel, someone`s been tweaking the pump, grey under load is nice, clearing to nothing when cruising. Look in the end of the tailpipe, is it sooty?

[Red Westie]

Thats a good point....these do have a nack for chewing up the crankshaft keyway on the bottom pulley...well worth a note* to check if the pulley is loose or not.
Martin

[ttcharlie]

1st, has it still got the tinwork undertray covering the bottom of the engine? If so, get it removed or expect trouble

Sorry to hijack the thread but can I ask why??

[Westy.Club.Joker]

And take someone with you who knows what they`re looking at, second pair of eyes is good. If you buy a wrong `un, it`ll bankrupt you

"buy in haste, regreat at your leisure"

[randolph57]

Apart from being awkward to get at steering pump adjustment and extra screws to remove-just how troublesome/awkward can my beloved tinware be?

[SplendiferousII]

1st, has it still got the tinwork undertray covering the bottom of the engine? If so, get it removed or expect trouble

Sorry to hijack the thread but can I ask why??

I'd like to know why too. Mines still fetted with no worries at all.

[Westy.Club.Joker]

What I meant was "get it removed" for access to look at the things mentioned before buying, otherwise "expect trouble" as you`ll be buying something blind, not "the tinware will cause you trouble"

I personally run without the tinware, I like the idea of cooling air around the engine, especially the turbo area, these motors run hot enough without keeping it all inside a tin box lagged with foam! It`s all personal preferences

[HarryMann]

oil drips from pipework underneath where the rubber / plastic air intake pipe joins the turbo?

That is almost taken for granted, even with a good turbo they tend to get a bit oily at the rubber banjo manifold after a while, IMO... if it's really oily around the central bearing assembly, or exhaust carbon leaks can be seen near the turbine housing, then that'd be new turbo job.

It's whether the thing continues to leave a trailo f blue smoke after warming up and when powering up hills that's the real tell-tale, again, IMHO

[ttcharlie]

What I meant was "get it removed" for access to look at the things mentioned before buying, otherwise "expect trouble" as you`ll be buying something blind, not "the tinware will cause you trouble"

I personally run without the tinware, I like the idea of cooling air around the engine, especially the turbo area, these motors run hot enough without keeping it all inside a tin box lagged with foam! It`s all personal preferences

Thanks for explanation.

[HarryMann]

I personally run without the tinware, I like the idea of cooling air around the engine, especially the turbo area, these motors run hot enough without keeping it all inside a tin box lagged with foam!

Have to agree, and find it quite amazing that VW managed to put them out there and got away with it for so long, without at least a decent oil cooler plumbed up front... they'd have a better reputation now if they'd done that, little cost in production compared to do it aftermarket, but that's what they really needed.. from day One

[peasant]

I personally run without the tinware, I like the idea of cooling air around the engine, especially the turbo area, these motors run hot enough without keeping it all inside a tin box lagged with foam! It`s all personal preferences

just on that note ...especially around the turbo the tinware actually makes sense. Any cooling effect that leaving it off may or may not have is far outweighed by the protection it offers against cold water splashing on a glowing hot turbo (and thus stressing the metal repeatedly and very severely)

[HarryMann]

Heard that argument quite often...

Never really know if it holds up much, two wekends ago 8 of us waded through freezing water on and off for an hour two and again for 2 minutes the next day, I'm sure we all got home, and we seem to do it pretty often..

Need some evidence, but of course the turbos are not red hot when entering as we're just poodling along beforehand, or ven idling for a few minutes (plucking up courage )