I didn't do a post-mortem as it was at the restorers. Just seized solid one day as they were moving it around the workshop. Who knows why? The replacement ran quite well - still does - but has a lot of end float and minimal oil pressure. Still runs ok, tho'
I had a yes engine years ago for a bug. Seized it solid on top of Bodmin It had done about 50 60 thousand and had crud bolt on rocker covers. (My bad). The oil pressure light switch wiring broke and I didn't know the oil had dumped. I had thrashed it and it went like stink and I am sure it would have kept on if fate hadnt determined otherwise
I got a new one from The VW Engine Company. Very impressed with service. Done 500 miles so far and goes in next week for its first proper check over.
I put a TES 1641 in my bus. Only done about 400 miles but seems fine so far. I've been paranoid about damaging it so I've put a lot of time onto sorting out air leaks to get the mixture right and am being gentle with it as it runs in. I've also already changed the oil twice! I had it put in initially by a 'specialist' well-known vw camper garage before I started restoring the bus. It soon wasn't ticking over properly so I started investigating and found several air leaks. I also found they'd put the fuel filter in the engine bay and the metal fuel pipe passing through the tinware without a rubber grommet on it! I learned a lot about the vw engine and also learned not to trust so-called specialists. The engine pulls nicely and holds good oil pressure, settling consistently to an indicated oil temp on my vdo gauge of about 75 degrees Celsius.
Not much you can do about it but 75C is too cold – oil should be at a minimum of 80C to reduce contamination build-up.
Well I could write a list of reasons why you should spend your money elsewhere. Not Been to the new workshops, but went to the Depford one and it was like an upmarket breakers yard. When building engines every thing should be built in a clean environment it wasn't!!! Again I can only offer a view on a type 4 engine. I'm still finding bits that on a rebuild should be changed but weren't. Your engine will be returned all nicely painted and with a few shiny bits to make it look new. Staff are pleasant to deal with, but I'd still rather cut holes in the floor like Fred Flintstone than have an engine from here.
Seizing solid whilst on tick over in a workshop is highly unlikely. A friend of mine took his Alfa in for a paint job - and they phoned him to say the engine had seized backing it out the garage. To cut a long story short - we could prove that it had been driven the night before and had done over 150 miles in the 48 hours they had had it!
So your dissing them because ? What bits weren't changed ? ..You need specifics , you can't say don't buy from them because they deal with dirty engines and it was like a breakers .....your forgetting that these are cheaper lower end rebuilds not a stateside 5k build ....does your engine work or did it not .....
Well I did type a long reply on my phone but when I tried to add the picture, I lost what I typed. So in short and in answer to your question. " Did it work " " No". No power due to faulty rocker stud ( Broke off) poor fitted carbs ( Didn't fully open), Grey paint over my newly painted bus (Same colour as the exhaust paint). Then recon gearbox (Jumps out of 4th) Another one fitted (it leaks). I have recently removed the new alternator as its never worked properly (Please see pictures of the rubber cooling pipe which is perished and takes 2 mins and £26 to change which wasn't changed).So if this wasn't changed what else was missed? This is just a few issues I had. I've never said don't use them, but thought I try and offer a balanced view. I have seen the positive replies so it could just be my bad luck. I do wonder why a negative response needs explaining more than a positive one, as the reply stating " I've had 3 engines and they have all been good " did not require the reasons why they were good. Its possible one of these engines went into the Editor of Camper and Bus's van as he did a nice review of this company ( I bet he had a nice bill !! ) I wonder how many like me decided to go with them after this review. As I said in my first post the staff were friendly, but the quality of the work was poor. Make your own minds up and spend your cash where you want and can trust. On a posive note the year or so this dragged on was the best year I ever had on fuel economy, even though the bus traveled more miles than it's done in years, that's because it went on a recovery truck backwards and forwards trying to get the issues sorted.
