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Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:28 am

So I just got my first vw inspected for the first time today - finally legal! On my way there, she is backfiring a little and every now and then loses power. When I get back, I looked at the engine and there appeared to be oil seeping out around the #4 exhaust "place" (sorry, cant think of the name right now.) I felt the exhaust pipe and it was only warm, not hot like the others. Soooo, all this leads me to believe that #4 cylinder is bad. Any suggestions or ideas of what to do? It is a 1600sp. I appreciate any help. Thanks,

Keith

Wed Nov 03, 2004 10:07 am

It does sound bad...if you want a diffinative answer you can do a compression test. If the cylinder is bad I'd go ahead and rebuild the engine. As for what to rebuild it as is up to you and your bugget. :D

Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:38 pm

Check spark at that cylinder (plug, plug wire, etc). Then, I'd adjust the valves. If still no improvement, I'd check for intake leaks....just some ideas.

Wed Nov 03, 2004 7:05 pm

thanks, ill try all that.
on the valves...
this will be my first time! I dont know when the last time the valves were adjusted. ok, before you start yelling, i bought the bug a while back and havent been driving it b/c its hasnt been legal until today. anyways, i am having trouble finding TDC. there are no marks on the outside of the flywheel and there are two notches on the inside. which (if either) of these indicates TDC? i would like to avoid the whole "wire on the piston" technique if possible.
this confusion is caused by the muir book (didnt think that was possible, huh?) where he says to make the mark (indicating TDC) on the "pulley where you can easily see it by the notches". by the notches seems kinda vague and leaves a fair amout of room for error if i am reading it correctly. thanks

Thu Nov 04, 2004 2:11 am

Are you absolutely sure it is coming out of the exhaust port it could be leaking elsewhere and traveling to that spot where it finaly starts to drip off. The push rod tubes are famous for leaking. Check thoroughly before you get too far into it.

Sat Nov 06, 2004 4:47 am

Might want to look at this page on the same site above if you are unsure about finding TDC.

http://www.vw-resource.com/tune-up.html#tdc

Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:12 pm

ok, so i finally got around to adjusting my valves ( i also changed the plugs, wires and will do the dist. cap tomorrow). the intake valve on the #4 cylinder, the one that wasnt running, was very, very tight. when i loosened it, the rocker arm moved quite a bit just to get back to its normal (resting) position. so i started it up to see if that fixed the problem. the exhaust pipe got hot fast, so i assume the cylinder is working now. however, there was quite a bit of smoke coming out of the exhaust. it never did that before this problem. any suggestions on what that could be? should i run it a while and see if it burns off or not start it again untill...

keith

Mon Nov 08, 2004 7:09 pm

sounds like there might have been an issue with #4 and someone hung a valve open to keep it from getting compression. maybe a ring broke and they hung the valve to keep it from pouring oil out the pipes.

or it could be that some dumb phuk did not know what they were doing and tightened the valve up to much