Club 80-90 Forums

Good morning all

I have a 1983 DG1.9 Watercooled that I've just rebuilt (apart from the bottom end) 900 miles ago, Its been running as sweet as anything and this weekend whilst heading up to the peak district the oil pressure light came on, the engine runs though it has that 'dry' lack of oil circulation sound.

Having fitted a new oil pressure switch on rebuild I thought I check the pressure with my gauge and the needle doesn't move one jot!

Theres no knocks or bottom end noise. I did previously have issue rarely when braking very 'emergency stop' hard where the light flickered on for a second. The oil is still clean and fresh and of the grade recommended and purchased from Brickwerks

When I rebuilt it I fitted a Schadek high capacity oil pump, I've checked the oil relief valve and theres hardly any wear, I haven't a new relief valve spring to compare to mine, though I would think even with a weak spring I'd get something on the gauge.

Its as almost the oil pick up pipe has fallen off or something!

Has anyone heard of Schadek pumps failing?

Any feedback greatly appreciated!

Cheers, Greg

Hi again

Upon further inspection by first removing the oil filter the cranking the engine over (no oil coming out at all. I then removed all the bits in the way and took off the oil pump cover plate....to my horror I could spin the gears with my finger as there was no resistance.

I took out the gears and I could see where the peg at the end of the shaft had slipped out of mesh with the end of the drive, I have measured the distance from the gear to the end of the shaft as approx 28mm and from the face of the casing to the inside of the drive slot is 5mm more...

Have I got a 'Friday afternoon' pump or is there some other explanation for this??

I've tried attaching pictures but they're too big to load, I'll try and shrink them or something

Cheers Greg

Put the original type pump back on, VW knew what they where doing. High capacity pumps are not needed and just cause more problems. I expect you have a Schadek pump for an Aircooled there are differences with the camshafts.

Thanks bigherb

I'm getting one ordered now

The pump was listed by heritage as suitable for 1.9 watercooled! I should have suspected something wasn't right when I had to modify the steel coolant tube that passes in between the crank main pulley and oil pump body

Thanks again

Hi again all

To follow on from my dilemma

As my new Brickwerks oil pump is due to land today I have removed the Schadek oil pump housing this morning, looking inside the engine at the camshaft drive slot, it has worn a little taper near the outside face. (see pics)

Looking at the Schadek drive shaft it was hardly located in the slot and as you can see from the pics, it was in about 1mm before slipping out and wearing the outside face a little.

Amazingly I have been driving my bus like this for 900 Miles!

I did make mention previously about a flicker of the oil warning lamp on two occasions when braking very hard, I think this may have been down to a higher rated brown oil pressure switch instead of the specified blue one?

It seems ridiculous to me this pump shaft should only locate 1mm into the drive slot, does anyone know if this is normal?

Cheers
Greg

1983 1.9DG Westy pop top

A couple more pics of dilemma

P.S

The wear visible on the end plate (new 900 miles ago) is very minor scoring with no depth to it

To continue.....

My new standard schadek pump has arrived from Brickwerks and look at the difference...the missing 4mm of shaft length is there to see in the depth of the casing/shaft

I'm now fitting the new one and should be good to go...

Hope someone can benefit from this info

Cheers

Greg

1983 1.9DG pop top westy

Hope your engine has survived the ordeal but I fear the worst for the state of the bearings.
FWIW Heritage small print probably excludes them from any liability, even if the part was mis-sold on their webshop.

Hi Silver bullet

I drove for 100 yards with it from light on

There were no nasty knocks or rattles, I've got my fingers crossed and will do an oil pressure test on start up.

I would think the pressure would be low if the bearings are shot?

Thanks

Greg

Tee Three wrote:To continue.....

My new standard schadek pump has arrived from Brickwerks and look at the difference...the missing 4mm of shaft length is there to see in the depth of the casing/shaft

Hope someone can benefit from this info

IMG_1148.JPG

Good info and I too hope it helps someone in the future. There are a few on here doing "proper" re-builds (including of course silverbullet above ^^^) and this might be a saving post for some folk / engines.

Pretty shocking on the face of it that the pump you were sold for a WBX does not appear fit for purpose !!
If it were me, and if it had wrecked my (perhaps newly re-built) engine, I sure think I would be having words with the vendor.

The driving tang on the 30mm pump looks too short to my eyes. I would say it's a duffer that slipped the net or there is a faulty batch doing the rounds.

It's just possible that it was badly assembled at source (the gear is pressed onto the shaft) but it doesn't explain the tang.

I will most certainly be having words with the supplier, I just want to get her running first to see, or hear, if theres any noise/low oil pressure indicating knackered mains/big ends etc.

I did think at first the shaft may have been pressed in too much, though looking at the pictures on the suppliers site it looks Identical to my useless one

The main difference I can see is the depth in the casings and shafts of the two pumps is completely different....I'm just slapping myself for not noticing before fitting!

Aye, lesson to be learned there = always compare old and new (mind you, easy to say with hindsight !!).

My present 1.9 has an aftermarket cam which uses the early flat cog wheel, When I tried to get an early pump to fit this the deepest I could get was a 26mm which had a flange about 8mm deep which starts to get in the way of the mountings, I was told this was the biggest you could have for this cam gear without having to mod the pump cover/mountings. ( AS 26mm is the standard size for a WBX anyway this was fine for me) It does raise the question of why this early length pump with a very thick flange and 30mm gears was sold to fit a WBX in the first place. With this pump my oil pressure is great despite having to pump oil to a cooler and back. I really wouldn't bother with the extra big pump. I have stayed standard again with the 2.1 I am building. I reckon the high volume ones are sold to pep up half creamed engines!!!