Its April Fools Day, so what could possibly go wrong? Warm sunny morning so decided to change the engine oil. Engine started on the key as usual and I ran it for a few minutes to warm the oil and engine sounded normal but then a loud ticking noise followed quickly by a loud clatter and sudden stop. The ticking and clatter sounded to be on the right side of the engine around 1 and 2 cylinders. Checked the oil, up to the mark. Drained oil, no fuel in it, no visible metal. Removed rocker cover and inspected 1 and 2 rocker assembly all appears ok, nothing loose or obviously damaged, push rods all there . BUT, when I turn the engine with a spanner it partly turns and then stops at a seize point. I can turn it back a little and it reaches another seize point. Checked fan housing, fan is still bolted on and no dynamo bearing slack. Very slight crank shaft end float as its always had. So where do I go from here?
Bugger - doesn`t sound good ... First thing is to take off the fan belt , remove the spark plugs and see how well (if) it rotates by spanner without any external resistance to eliminate the fan and compression . Next step would be to see where the rockers are sitting (normal or not ??) and if all that checks out remove the rocker gear and see if that helps .... Hopefully it could be a valve issue but probably not to be honest
If it’s getting jammed, can’t really take the first step of whipping the rocker covers off and seeing if the valve movement looks sane. Might be worth having another look, tho’. But as above, engine out to inspect things properly. I reckon you’ve dropped a valve, with the head jamming one of the pistons
I think thats most likely. It could be a screw dropped down the inlet manifold if you are lucky. But its engine out head off, dont force it round.
Great idea, but my son has never helped me with the van or mgb in all the years I've had them. One of my neighbours has offered to help and he knows the van and has helped me before.
Or if you have one of those USB inspection cameras, you could try poking it down a spark plug hole. The next thing is to work out what happened the last time you used the bus - valves dont usually fall off unless stressed first.
That's a bugger, it does sound like a valve head has possibly parted company and causing the jam. Fingers crossed it's nothing too drastic
Lets hope that whatever stopped it did so close to idle so nothing important got bent. This was not stopped by a valve head at 3500 rpm. The valve head stopped it. I drove the bus onto the hard shoulder then turned off the engine.
He needs a talking to ... Good if your neighbour can help. As you know from here, taking out a type 1 isn’t that difficult. Shout if you get stuck!
I expect you have a glass cabinet full of specimens of broken Vw engine’s, We await your Trilogy on ....How to drive a VW Van on the M4 Motorway without blowing it up ! And ...Why your VW Van blew up on the M4 Motorway ? and ....How to coast your VW Van into the M4 Motorway hard shoulder!
Foot hard on pedal unless speedo over indicated 75 or CHT over 130C (attached to head bulk metal not plug), or oil over 115C ... I have only had two yellow taxi incidents on the M27, both within half a mile of each other. Westbound dropped valve and drove it for maybe a quarter of a mile. Eastbound rocker clip broke, nursed it almost off the Fareham West slip road.. On the M4 it was only the poptop coming up at 60mph into a gale. Tied it down, carried on. I have driven my bus about 80000 miles. I broke a worn out VEGE recon after 28000 miles (rocker clip snapped, shook flywheel loose with backfiring) and then broke a home build slapped together engine (dropped valve , recycled heads from previous engine : stainless valve lasted 50000 miles ?) engine wrecked after about 28000 miles.
The good news is my van was on the drive way and just idling. The engine was a recon when I bought the van and always had a tendency to pop and low key ticking on the right side which I never resolved and just assumed it was a quirk of the engine and just lived with it. The van has a 5 rib gearbox and no doubt originally had the 1800 engine to match and when the previous owner restored the van, shoved in a cheap recon 1600. I reckon something had been wearing for some time and the lack of regular use during 2020 and this year and suddenly waking it up yesterday was a shock for the engine. I like the usb endoscope down the plug hole idea, sounds fun. I will try that. Sadly my son does not share my interest in the Bay and mgb. During lockdown he bought another air cooled T25 to replace his other one which is now a rust bucket so has his work cut out making a good one out of the 2 vans. The rust bucket is a high top air cooled and the new one is a pop top air cooled Devon with auto gearbox. Eventually the rust bucket would be disposed of. Grandson has a mk2 Golf 1.3 project so that will keep him busy between A level studies.
He has two engines but can only use one. You need an engine. Do you know anyone with an engine they can’t use?
Could be several months for my son to sort out his 2 T25's. I think he wants to focus on the 'new' T25 which is the pop top he always wanted and it seems to have a good CU engine and a working auto box and the van is useable with year's mot. The old rust bucket has a good refurbed CU engine with manual box, but the bodywork is shot and not economic to repair. Both are Devons and the plan is to strip out the new van interior which is scruffy and replace with the old rusty van's interior which is in very good original condition. So its unknown if one of the CU engines would come my way. Its unlikely.
Would you really want the conversion hassle anyway? It might be more straightforward to tackle what you have.
You'd be entering a new world of pain swapping engines. I've got an endoscope you can borrow if you want, but...you'd just be putting off the inevitable: engine out to properly investigate and fix. Ticking might have been a broken ring?
