Club 80-90 Forums

help please dunno what ive broke this time, 1.9 dg wbx.
had van runnin 2weeks no probs, drove from manc to formby without a prob, bin out today for short 2mile trip on way back close to home noticed white smoke(steam it turned out) got out side house took cover off engine n checked coolant levels could see it was low checked for leaks and could see it leakin out under engine, figured it might be water jacket gasket, but moved aside the bit of tinware under there n could see it was leakin out of one of the four silver tubes under it (are they the pushrod jackets?)
ive posted some pics but its the second pipe along from the oil filter, and has a split in it bout two inches from the top.
what have i broke and how do i fix it?
if it is pushrods, shouls i be getting coolant coming out of there?
all help appreciated as the van is now my daily runner n im stuffed while its off the road
spike

Leaking cylinder head gasket - and dripping down on to pushrod tubes. Well, unless a hose has split above the engine and its working its way underneath....

The last photo shows its dripping on to tubes though. Pushrod tubes only have oil in them.

scratch that last post its not the push rods, has cooled down enough for me to touch them n they all in one peice, coolant was pooling over the top of it n making it look like it was comin out of it,i think the water jacket gasket has gone, how bad is that?

if it is the water jacket, how hard is it to fix n whats it gonna cost me?

Could be terminal, these bolts have a tendancy to have corroded and shear off,, be prepeared,, maybe cheaper to source alternative engine in long run.

Re head studs, if its this then i agree source an engine now, BUT i would just check any of the hoses that run over the LHS of the engine above this area carefully and from different angles, you could dry off the dodgy area and clean up the water and carefully lay out some blotting sheets in various locations to see where water is leaking from if you have any further suspicions....hope its ok. If it is the water jacket unless you do this yourself (not that bad in principle but you may find corroded studs....) even just geting it properly investigated would probably cost more than a s/h engine (one on here or brickyard now i think for around 300. Good luck in getting it sorted. Could always be time to o scooby or Gti engine.........sorry, not mych hep that last bit just my own wishful thinking for me van. T

spike blonde wrote:if it is the water jacket, how hard is it to fix n whats it gonna cost me?

engine out
remove exhaust
remove the head (heat the nuts first)
replace the seal (£25 gasket set)
reassemble

thanks folks, somethin to think about, either it will b really really cheap or really really expensive to fix *sigh*

ok so stripped engine out today, cylinder head came off without breaking bolt nuts or studs so phew, only thing ive noticed is two of the pushrods are slightly bent, are they easy to source? who sells em? looked briefly online at jk, brickwerks, and gsf, n cant see em listed, are they known as something else? and can i use the bent ones for the time being without ruining engine while i source some new ones?
advice much appeciated

try elite vw the engine rebuilders, the Micks should be able to help, failing that classic parts in germany have them

bit of an update n some advice needed please.

basically since last post have
replaced water jacket gasket, refitted cylinderhead and rockers
done tappet adjustment to advice given to a separate post.
refitted waterpipes and exhaust bits and silencer
refitted carb and manifold.
refitted new sparks and dizzycap n leads.
checked all other electric connections that were disconnected
added fresh oil and coolant
reconnected battery.
rechecked everything and tried to turn engine over and..... nothin *sigh*
well thats not entirely true, can hear the starter motor trying to turn motor over but its not firing.
i recently changed the starter motor because the old one burnt out( right after doing what this one is doing now) cuz i kept turning and turning it till it fried, dont want to do that to this one obviously.

would love any suggestions as to what i need to look at or what i might have missed wen putting all back together that could be causing this.
any ideas folks?
spike

Can be a pain getting fuel through after a rebuild. I've been known to suck it up the pipe just to give it a head start. But try this. small capful of fuel down the carb/carbs, then try and start it. If it splutters into life then quickly dies, fuel isn't getting through. If it just doesn't fire even with a drop of fuel like that, then consider dizzy/coil etc. Sometimes two goes get the engine turning fast enough to pump fuel through and away it will go.