While you're fiddling, a good thing might be to jack the van right up on stands at the back. Room to work, and with luck the oil will run to the front end of the box.
If it just spins just keep undoing it till it falls out and fit a timesert. The torque wrench probably clicked to signal correct torque but your lad must of just kept going .. no big deal ..timesert or bigger plug
I bet this is a random M12 plug in an M14 hole issue when the truth comes out .. the outer edge of the M12 plug thread just catches on the tips of the M14 thread, then when its all the way in, theres a thinner unthreaded bit on the M12 plug just below the bolt head, or the M12 plug just chews the tips off the thread..
Haven't had time to do more than trying to pull it down with grips which hasn't worked. Might get the chance to try some of the other approaches over the next day or two. On the other hand, for completely unconnected but engine related reasons, I was going to take it to a VW specialist quite soon any way. Might let them do it as they've got more equipment than me and will probably take the engine out to do the other stuff anyway.
Far as I can work out it just keeps spinning in both directions so I'm not sure it'll ever fall out without some help.
Most unfortunate, it must have been cross threaded at some point? I can really hang on mine, I had to use a monkey bar to loosen it last time and I was thinking I should treat it to a new crush washer.
Probably worth enumerating here all of the other engine problems here before handing it to a specialist, partly so that you can be 100% clear what to tell them to look for and do to the engine while they have it. The drain plug is in the aluminium of the engine block, not much higher torque (2.0 kg/m) than the dreaded oil strainer cover / engine block cracking bolt. If you wedge some fork shaped item under both sides of the plug, or two screwdrivers to provide some "up" force then turn it, it should come out, cutting a "new thread" as it comes . Then you will have to drill and tap for a larger plug. Or remove the strainer cover and strainer plate and push down on the inside end of the plug while turning it from below. (if you go this way, the re-tightening torque for the 13mm head strainer cover bolt is 1.3kg/m, well below the average Halfords torque wrench). Using one of those sump plug rubber blocker things may come unstuck afterwards, the picture I have of the inside of the case shows a stiffening rib near the top of the hole through the block. In the extreme the plug may have to be carefully drilled out while it is clamped stationary. Plenty of metal there to drill and tap a hole of your choosing.
Basically the engine seems a bit sluggish and has done since I bought it. To be fair, the previous owner made no secret of this. Priorities were to get a bit of welding done and change all the fuel pipes so I could get a CT and register it in France before getting insurance became a problem. Since that was all sorted I've been meaning to get onto the motor which is an 1800 type 4. Have to use a thick oil (20 50) filled right to the top to avoid extreme rough running and tappet noise for the first ten minutes. Runs a lot better after that but still lacks power at speed and on hills. Even though it has Dellorto 44s and a stainless sport exhaust it struggles more than you'd expect on hills and isn't too happy trying to go over 60mph. Gets through lots of oil - I worked out that I'd added 7 litres of top ups between two oil changes, probably explained by the oil that is coming out of the exhaust and ending up on the back! It isn't obvious immediately but over time it builds up and is pretty obvious. The carbs were rebuilt and it was tuned around 3,000 miles ago. It improved things a bit but it has never felt quite right so I'm thinking of getting the very trustworthy blokes at Speedshop near Toulouse to have a good look. I've used them before for a previous van and a Beetle and they were dead straight so I'm not worried about a giant bill for unnecessary work. I'm guessing the hydraulic lifters and cam aren't great and the pistons might need looking at too. It isn't the original motor but it is old and I don't think it has been rebuilt so maybe it's time for a thorough going over? Any other suggestions are very welcome though, I'd happily avoid spending lots if I could.
It does sound like it is losing compression because of wear and tear, leakage past the pistons if the oil is coming out of the exhaust . Its interesting that some people reckon that 20W/50 is too thick for hydraulic lifters - it does make sense as the thick oil may need a lot more pressure to get through the tiny holes into the lifters, and the clattering only stops once the oil is thin enough to go in, and still has pressure. Also with the blow-by its probably blasting the oil mist back out of any breather, also made a bit worse by higher oil levels, as the crank is splashing it for more of each rotation.
What do you mean by ‘filled right to the top’, how much over the top mark on the dipstick? And what’s a ‘sport exhaust’? The Speed Shop could sell you a 78mm crank and 96mm barrels and pistons (2258cc) that would be a much better match for those 44 Dells, ditch the hydraulic cam of course.
By "filled right to the top" I mean to the mark on the dipstick, can't see going over it being anything but bad news. By sport exhaust I mean a wider stainless one. I appreciate the Dells are a bit excessive for a normal 1800 but they were on there when I bought it and I wasn't going to ask to have them taken off. Not sure if I can afford to upgrade everything to match them but its a nice thought! Anyway, going to call in on Tuesday to test the compression and oil pressure and have a look and a chat and then weigh up possible improvement against cost.
Thanks, I had a talk with them today and they're thinking along similar lines. As I said to 77 westy, going to call in and have a compression test, oil pressure test and a poke about before thinking about options.
You might be able to sell the Dells and afford a pair of something smaller that will be better suited to the life of a bus with a normal engine. If it were not for the condensation/icing issues, even a tweaked single carburettor could provide a better fuel/air mixture than too-big run too-slow. Its quite possible that the life of your piston rings was shortened by being washed with too much fuel from the Dells (depends on how badly they ended up tuned) .
I use the top mark on the dipstick as my minimum level and run with ½ litre more oil, the crank is at the top of the case and there is no possibility of it reaching the oil and I can’t think of any reason why it would result in ‘bad news’. And if you’re getting through 7 litres of oil between changes it will give you a little longer before you run out of oil. Massive carbs on a small engine really hurt low rev performance but don’t let anyone persuade you to fit a single progressive, that would be the worst possible choice. The Speed Shop are into engines for racing and might do you a deal for carbs to suit your engine capacity so they could use the 44’s on a high revving engine.
Larger carburettors also go "off tune" more easily with smaller engines. And after a few years, the aftermarket linkage between the carburettors may be wearing out. Even stock linkages from originally carburetted T4 engines may show signs of age. Please dont get a progressive...
