Happy New Year, oh yeah and HELP!!!

[mark.sleep]

Happy New Year all

I was having a great day yesterday, bought my first T25 for a great price from ebay, picked it up, looked amazing and sounded clean, drove from Wigan to Bristol and arrived home at eleven at night on the back of a lorry!!!

Just after coming onto the ring road around Bristol the back started spewing smoke and smelt of burning oil, stopped asap and had a look, the back was splattered in small oil drops, like a mist and there was oil coming from the left hand exhaust only, got towed and am scared to think what is up, the only other things wrong are that the blowers don't seem to work and it's a bit of a pain to get into first gear, tends to find third.

Any help would be great and advice if I need it of the best and cheapest engine to put in, mine at present is a two litre petrol with I believe 110k on the clock.

Cheers

Mark

[kevtherev]

Aircooled or watercooled?
try using the technical section for technical advice, there's a search facility and a t25 wiki to assist aswell

welcome to the forum

[mark.sleep]

Aircooled, tried using the technical section, just got very confused

[kevtherev]

Have you owned an Aircooled motor before?

[keehotee]

Whereabouts in Brizzle are you? Can't offer much help on the engine (last air-cooled I had was over 10 years ago in an early bay) but know a "pooh"-hot mechanic in a garage near us (Bradley Stoke).....

[mark.sleep]

Nope never owned an air cooled before, decided to jump in at the deep end.

Living in Midsomer Norton at the mo, but will happily tow the van to a good mech

[ladybird]

Hi mark zzzzzzz happy new year to you and welcome ..

[g60steve]

Worn valve guides/seals or knackered piston rings allowing oil into the cylinder bores.

You'll need to do a compression test on the cylinders to see which one(or both) are at fault.

It's a cylinder head off job anyway.

As it's your 1st Aircooled did you drive it all the way home from Wigan like a "normal" car?
Aircooled VW's don't like high revs and especially for long distances.....60-65mph maximum.

[kevtherev]

Nope never owned an air cooled before, decided to jump in at the deep end.

Living in Midsomer Norton at the mo, but will happily tow the van to a good mech

sounds like you just want a reputable garage then, take some time out and read about your engine, then you'll find out that the "blowers" as you know them don't exist on an Aircooled.
There's a mechanical fan on the engine, the hot air from the exhaust heat exchangers is drawn into ducting where the fan pushes it to the front.
The fan is always on.
usually the ducting tinware for this rots away.

jumping in at the deep end with no knowledge of Aircooled engines usually requires a large flotation device called a deep pocket.
take keehotees advice and tug it to them.

[Ian Hulley]

Hiya

As you haven't stated what cc your engine is (1600 CT or 2000 CU ... others are available but these are the common ones) then I'll attach a page for you to mooch round at your leisure ..

1600 CT engine ..
http://www.vwheritage.com/vw_parts_Airc ... try_GB.htm
2000 CU engine ..
http://www.vwheritage.com/vw_parts_Airc ... try_GB.htm

Read the wiki https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Main_Page thoroughly and the technical pages using the search function for specific areas. For parts avoid Just Kampers and where possible buy parts from Brickwerks .. http://www.brickwerks.co.uk/index.php?p ... t&Itemid=3 . Do not allow your pet mechanic to B.S. you, pass all issues past us here first ... there are many long-suffering Aircooled experts who loiter here.

Have fun,

Ian.

[mark.sleep]

Thanks for all the help guys, kept the speed at around sixty, the van seemed to settle nicely at that speed, plus the rain helped keep the speed down.

Good advice on the ducting, didn't know about that, I will check underneath for that, I had no hot air at all in the cab so maybe that's it.

I have a good friend who is a very good mechanic, although he is a mini specialist, but he should be able to have a quick look, otherwise I think there is a vw bus specialist close by, I may try them.

If it needs it, what would be an easy and cheapish engine to drop in, bearing in mind I have little to no mechanical experience!!!

[Ian Hulley]

If it needs it, what would be an easy and cheapish engine to drop in, bearing in mind I have little to no mechanical experience!!!

Another Aircooled VW engine ... £1,000 buys you an Elite recon lump to chuck in.

Ian

[72BUG]

Sounds like the pushrod tube seals leaking onto the exhaust to me. Very common, inexpensive and a relatively easy job. Although even once replaced they never seem to stay sealed for long in my (granted, very limited) experience.

If you have no heat to the cab then most likely the heat exchangers are knackered and have been bypassed. Unfortunately this is not so easy or inexpensive to fix and can open up a whole can of worms of you snap a manifold stud when replacing the heat exchangers.

Have a poke around and don't be afraid to get your hands dirty. It will soon start to make sense. You will get a lot of neigh sayers but Aircooled engines are very straight forward and very reliable if looked after properly. After all, it's a design that VW stuck with for over 40 years.

[g60steve]

Sounds like the pushrod tube seals leaking onto the exhaust to me.

But he said oil was coming out of the exhaust not leaking onto it.

If the pushrod seals were leaking he would have known about it well before Bristol due to the fumes from the oil burning on the exhaust.

[kevtherev]

I have little to no mechanical experience!!!

Then if you start tinkering it could escalate very quickly into a can of worms and any advice here would require some rudimentary knowledge of air cooled engines.
Air cooled engines require a different driving style, a petrol headed owner, a heap of care and attention to regular servicing and maintenance.
Most if not all of the tin ware that is required by the engine is obsolete so be careful to whoever removes it.
Do not use any old mechanic, they generally do not understand flat four engines like these.
go with the recommended VW fellas
be prepared for engine removal.
it's a shame your first encounter has been an anticlimax
already that "great price" is sounding rather hollow.
but you pays your money and you makes your choice...It has nothing that cant be fixed.. hey ho!