Low oil pressure at warm idle/lots of metallic in oil

[ajsimmo]

It's got twin webers on, John. Therefore I'm assuming the idle circuit has been binned, so no retard vac pipe. There may be a vac port available for advance, but he says not connected so I'm assuming there isn't.

[ghost123uk]

It's got twin webers on, John. Therefore I'm assuming the idle circuit has been binned, so no retard vac pipe.

a single weber twin choke conversion. Just wondering if I've set it up right?

(RTFM )
I'm guessing at least a vac retard pipe to the dissy's diaphragm should be present? (stands by to be corrected though).

Re "Have I got the right dissy" - I don't know much about Aircooled, but this is worth checking.

[Ian Hulley]

If you have metal parts in the oil it's coming from somewhere .... no oil pressure on a waterboxer is usually big ends but if you have endfloat the crankshaft may be trying to bore itself a way out of the engine case .... either way it's game over before very long.

JK are a right mess, do not buy anything from them that you rely on to actually get you home.

Ian

[what2do]

If you have metal parts in the oil it's coming from somewhere .... no oil pressure on a waterboxer is usually big ends but if you have endfloat the crankshaft may be trying to bore itself a way out of the engine case .... either way it's game over before very long.

JK are a right mess, do not buy anything from them that you rely on to actually get you home.

Ian

If the crank were rubbing up against the case, would it be the aluminium case that would deteriorate? And if this were the case, would it still show up on the sump plug? Of course ally isn't magnetic but does still adhere to other ferrous metals on the plug in some form or another? I've never thought about it before but your comment got me thinking as I'm sure I've seen non-ferrous deposits on tractor/plant sump plugs.

[Ian Hulley]

If you have metal parts in the oil it's coming from somewhere .... no oil pressure on a waterboxer is usually big ends but if you have endfloat the crankshaft may be trying to bore itself a way out of the engine case .... either way it's game over before very long.

JK are a right mess, do not buy anything from them that you rely on to actually get you home.

Ian

If the crank were rubbing up against the case, would it be the aluminium case that would deteriorate? And if this were the case, would it still show up on the sump plug? Of course ally isn't magnetic but does still adhere to other ferrous metals on the plug in some form or another? I've never thought about it before but your comment got me thinking as I'm sure I've seen non-ferrous deposits on tractor/plant sump plugs.

No, the oil looks like a Special Edition Christmas Special with glitter in it.

Ian

[z3i]

It has a single weber choke conversion not dual. Also it's an Aircooled 2l not the wasserboxer

One cylinder appears to nit be firing now, so compression test at lunch time just want to use the dam thing!!! Spent a insane amount if time already working on it already have one full blown project that I want to get on with, don't mind doing bits to the van but this is a joke!

[300CE]

If you have metal parts in the oil it's coming from somewhere .... no oil pressure on a waterboxer is usually big ends but if you have endfloat the crankshaft may be trying to bore itself a way out of the engine case .... either way it's game over before very long.

JK are a right mess, do not buy anything from them that you rely on to actually get you home.

Ian

If the crank were rubbing up against the case, would it be the aluminium case that would deteriorate? And if this were the case, would it still show up on the sump plug? Of course ally isn't magnetic but does still adhere to other ferrous metals on the plug in some form or another? I've never thought about it before but your comment got me thinking as I'm sure I've seen non-ferrous deposits on tractor/plant sump plugs.

This is what mine looked like after the huge oil seal leak - subsequent oil change was lovely and grey:

[mgbman]

From your comments, it does seem you are tired of working on the van already, and as you say you would like to take it out and enjoy it. Also you mentioned other projects you are working on.

I put my lengthy post up for you just to be frank and straight about the time and cost spent on my son's van and it still needs work and it still costs.

There are a few who do welding and paintwork and mechanicals themselves and take years to restore their vans, but remember restoration on a big scale means the van would be off road and not being driven.

IMHO I feel you should sell the van and look to buy something modern, like a Mazda Bongo.

I have a T2 Late Bay van and go on TheLateBay forum. Many folks on there have the same issues as yourselves and often give up and get a van they can camp in.

There is someone on TLB who is selling a Toyota Hiace in immaculate condition for the same price you paid for your T25.

Its just a thought.

[ajsimmo]

It's got twin webers on, John. Therefore I'm assuming the idle circuit has been binned, so no retard vac pipe.

a single weber twin choke conversion. Just wondering if I've set it up right?

(RTFM )
I'm guessing at least a vac retard pipe to the dissy's diaphragm should be present? (stands by to be corrected though).

Re "Have I got the right dissy" - I don't know much about Aircooled, but this is worth checking.

OK It's a fair cop! It's a single, but it makes no difference to the principle. There's no retard signal available so it can't be timed to 5 after. And it's right dizzy, wrong carb! Pretty awful things, those single Webers, so I'd be looking at putting back to stock (as you may know, that's my default stance on most things!). Is there an advance vacuum port on yours?

I haven't seen it, but from the description so far, the van sounds like it should probably have been advertised as "spares or repair project" at a grand. Sadly, once again, an unsuspecting innocent has come along and bought blind, but what's done is done and now every decision can be a tough one. Whether you mitigate your losses and get out now or plough headlong into the unknown and potentially very expensive world of repairing it, only you can decide. I am sympathetic to the predicament, but I don't necessarily think it's the sellers fault - you must have agreed a price and bought it like that.

[lefty67]

My first van was an Aircooled bought on a bit of a whim, broke down 15 miles after buying it but got it started and drove it to a bloke I knew who dabbled in classic cars. After sorting the vac pipes and fettling with the carbs, twin solex, he got it running great BUT there was a caveat. After listening to the engine with his piece of pipe he announced, in technical terms, that the bottom end was 'fluffy' and was nearing its expiry date.
The choices were, take engine out and have it rebuilt or join the AA and use it till it went bang. I chose the latter and got another 13k miles over the next 2 years. I changed the oil and filter regularly ie every couple of thousand miles.
After the engine went I managed to get another one eventually, in fact I bought 3 engines for a total of £250, the third one was decent and managed to salvage enough bits from the others to pay for it, as far as I know the van and engine are still on the road after 2years.
So perhaps you can use it and in the meantime source a decent replacement engine for it. Should only be a couple of hours labour to swap them over when the time comes.

[lefty67]

My first van was an Aircooled bought on a bit of a whim, broke down 15 miles after buying it but got it started and drove it to a bloke I knew who dabbled in classic cars. After sorting the vac pipes and fettling with the carbs, twin solex, he got it running great BUT there was a caveat. After listening to the engine with his piece of pipe he announced, in technical terms, that the bottom end was 'fluffy' and was nearing its expiry date.
The choices were, take engine out and have it rebuilt or join the AA and use it till it went bang. I chose the latter and got another 13k miles over the next 2 years. I changed the oil and filter regularly ie every couple of thousand miles.
After the engine went I managed to get another one eventually, in fact I bought 3 engines for a total of £250, the third one was decent and managed to salvage enough bits from the others to pay for it, as far as I know the van and engine are still on the road after 2years.
So perhaps you can use it and in the meantime source a decent replacement engine for it. Should only be a couple of hours labour to swap them over when the time comes.

[mgbman]

A new engine would be about £3500 fitted or a recon one about £2000 fitted. Even the cheaper option would still make the van cost £5500 and they haven't used it yet.

If the engine is sorted, there would be all the other issues to sort and they would cost even more and if bodywork is involved the cost could go sky high.

At this point in time the van has a current MOT and would be saleable. It is a rare early Aircooled Devon with MOT so should be saleable.

Personally I would not spend money on it, sell it and cut the losses.

[z3i]

Evening all, sorry for lack of response, have just been outrageously busy. First of all I would really like to say thank you again to everyone. I dont think ive ever felt so welcomed to a new forum really appreciate everyone taking the time to help

Ok so for a bit of an update, The oil pressure has been fine and ive done 30 miles since the service, oil light goes out straight away. The metallic mess that came out was still really bad and I imagine they now have been well "run in" luckily I scraped all the larger bits into a rag and put them on the bench at work, I had another look at them today and they are soft and non magnetic, the oil retention was dragging them along with my magnet which made me think they were metal, could still be aluminium

Im very new to boxer engines (never worked on one, never really paid much attention to one running) I took it into work this morning and a guy said she only running on three, I replied I thought they were all that lumpy. Apparently not, told me to check compression, cylinder 1 came back with nothing and all the others were all over the place! He immediately said valve clearances. So i checked them and the valves were being held open on cylinder number one!!! I thought not to check them due to them being hydraulic, but it looks like someone has had a go before as you could see spanner marks where someone had slipped of the nut before. So I rechecked all the other and they were all over the place!!! most holding valves open or like 20 thou gap! unreal! so set them all to 6 thou. Started her up and It runs incredible! soooooo much better! So the reason my fuel economy was so bad on the way home from picking it up was because the vac advance was unplugged, valve clearances where a joke and cylinder one wasn't even firing! I should have noticed that really, but I just thought they were that lumpy and they were generally slow as well as bad on fuel

I didnt buy the van, me and my girlfriend had been looking at them for a while. Out of nowhere she impulse bought one and didnt tell me!! we were supposed to buy a diesel. Anyway we travelled down there and It was very rotten but the guy had advertised some "rust" I told my girlfriend the crack and she still wanted it :/ it was £3400 and an expensive one goes for £8000! I wanted to do some work myself, bits at a time as I already have a project and its taking all my time up already. I dont mind doing the work on this, but it was sold with 12 months Mot and usable, Its quite the opposite and should have been sold as spares or repairs running. After a proper inspection its blatantly a joke mot

So moving on. We are still unsure whether to sell or keep, its very rotten but I wasn't so fussed by that as I planned to sort that out at a later date, in a years time once ive finished my Golf. Thanks for your comments mgbman. What your saying makes complete sense. We wanted a VW because we like them and them and wanted a small project. Not a fan of new cars. I wouldn't mind so much if I didn't already have another project and we weren't planning on using it. Im coming around to the little Aircooled engine. If we keep it we plan to keep the Aircooled engine and gut the inside (after bodywork)

[z3i]

Also set my timing to 7 degrees advanced. really confused now. different people say different things. Ive blocked off the retard side on the dizzy. vac advanced is plugged in and works well. and im not using the idle stabiliser as i have a different carb? carb wise what do you guys recommend then? my main concern is fuel economy
thanks

[kevtherev]

So you set the gap to 6 thou, Can I presume you discovered and confirmed if the lifters are solid then?

because hydraulic lifters are zero lash minus a turn and a half