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Sat May 09, 2009 2:19 am

Today in traffic my engine (1200cc/40hp 6 volt) started making a strange sound, kind of metal on metal smacking sound. Lost a lot of power as well. Seems Cylinder #4 is no longer firing. Checked distributor, plug, and wires, all in order. Managed to limp back home, after starting it again later to take a closer listen, it barely idles as well as it did on 3 earlier. Generator light is flashing to the tune of the missing cylinder. No difference in sound removing #4 plug wire. Does this sound like somethings going to get expensive here?

Sat May 09, 2009 4:51 am

The head of one of your exhaust valves broke off. Teardown time if that happened.

Sat May 09, 2009 5:27 am

If that's what happened plan for at least a new head, new piston, new jug, probably a new rod plus related parts.

Sat May 09, 2009 10:49 am

So yes this is indeed going to be expensive :/
I wonder if its worth it to fix this engine, or do all the work to get my 1600cc Autostick engine out of my other Beetle and drop it in here? At least then I get the 12v upgrade. Kind of apprehensive as this is the cars original motor...

Sat May 09, 2009 2:02 pm

You will need to do the 12 volt conversion. Index the transmission housing, get a 12 volt starter and then replace all the 6 volt components with 12 volt stuff. Lots of posts regarding the conversion here on the Samba. If your car is still all original it might be a good idea to get your motor rebuilt.

Sat May 09, 2009 6:59 pm

So I called a local mechanic about the problem who specializes in VW's, he asked me to start the engine so he could hear it. Started it, heard a cracking sound, and then the engine made a sound like newspapers being crumpled up, stopped it right away but it sounds like something snapped off inside :(

$$$$

Sun May 10, 2009 4:43 am

Cerot wrote: So I called a local mechanic about the problem who specializes in VW's, he asked me to start the engine so he could hear it. Started it, heard a cracking sound, and then the engine made a sound like newspapers being crumpled up, stopped it right away but it sounds like something snapped off inside :(

$$$$

It may have just become a whole lot more expensive!! :shock:

Time to pull the motor and pull a head to have a look around, and what were you expecting to do for Mother's Day?

Dave

Sun May 10, 2009 12:23 pm

Haha, work actually :(
Hes rebuilt many a VW engine and has helped me out many many times, so Ill probably get a reasonable price. He has about 6 40hp engines sitting in his shop so no shortage on parts here. Ill be sure to furnish you guys with pics of whatever carnage we find in there, people do like pics of carnage dont they :evil:

Sun May 10, 2009 2:28 pm

Pics of carnage!! :twisted: :twisted:

Mon May 11, 2009 2:54 am

Anytime the car does something strange, especially BAD engine noises, SHUT IT OFF IMMEDIATELY!

Trying to limp it home will usually cost far more in the end then calling a tow truck, Plus you put yourself at risk if it suddenly locks up while you are in traffic.

All those bad noises are parts colliding with each other that shouldn’t be. Each time, it makes that noise, parts are being damaged. You end up tearing up things that could be saved and reused.

In this case, you have the original engine. You may have damaged enough pieces that even the crank case with the original engine number can not be reused.

Fri May 15, 2009 1:30 am

Not as much carnage as we were expecting, many parts are salvageable. Here is the culprit, say hello to Piston #2 or what remains of him, I'm going to piece this back together with JB weld and and keep it in the car as a reminder to take every "funny" noise very seriously:

Fri May 15, 2009 1:45 am

SWEET JESUS! I think I just died inside a little! That sucks man, my condolences!

Fri May 15, 2009 3:54 am

That's great to know the piston "fell apart" but why? Pistons don't often do this for no reason. Something got in there and probably started it by bashing the top of the piston is and it went downhill from these.
Keep looking for the cause. Could be a nut dropped in the carb during a repair or any manner of things. How are the valves on that cylinder?

Dave

Fri May 15, 2009 12:03 pm

No idea what caused it but we are pulling down the whole motor to find out and changing out many worn things. The top of what remains of the piston has many dings in addition to the grand finale:

Sat May 30, 2009 6:20 am

Motor is almost reassembled now, whatever happened in there took every other piston with it (one exploded, 2 cracked down the side, one had a giant chip out of its skirt). Mechanic (Old time VW Guy, knows his stuff) says hes never seen anything like it, also said that whoever rebuilt the engine before torqued everything to the maximum possible limit :(
Good news is, cylinders and heads are all fine, only thing I had to replace were pistons, which luckily he had in his shop. Replacing all the other little now-easy-to-get-at things as well.

Sat May 30, 2009 2:08 pm

I am just amazed that it still limped home........... Look at that mess.......

Sat May 30, 2009 9:36 pm

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you are wasting your time and money!

If the pictures you posted are from your engine, it needs much more then just pistons.

How can you break the rings and not score the cylinders? And how much metal went through the oiling system? And how the heck did it not damage the case? And why would you think about reusing a case that has been over torqued? And how did this not damage the heads?

Just because your VW guy has built a lot of engines, dosn't mean he knows what he is doing. This sort of reminds me of the automatic transmission commercial where the guy says the transmission shop is good because they fixed his transmission 19 times.

You have a lot of broken pieces, and a lot of metal went through that engine. You need to think about that before you slap another set of mismatched pistons on this thing and try to get on down the road.

Mon Jun 01, 2009 7:13 am

It may well be totally buggered inside, but for now I'm going to trust his judgment. He did a very thorough cleaning in there so I doubt he would have missed something obvious. The way I am currently looking at this is:
I CANNOT afford to buy a new engine, for a long long long time. So I need to work with what I've got. Worst case scenario is he was wrong, and the engine really is hooped. In which case he owes me a new engine, which he has in large supply. With his experience though (he worked for VW for 15 years from the 60's through the 70's), and the fact that he is the ONLY person willing to touch a VW engine in my area, and he services just about every air cooled in this town, I figure if he messes up he will make it right.
I appreciate the opinions and fully realize that the odds of such catastrophic piston failure not affecting anything in their immediate vicinity are slim, but I don't have a whole lot to lose. From what people are telling me, the best I can possibly hope for is the exact same problem in 2 months, so I'll just have to cross my fingers.

Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:09 pm

Well despite the grim prognosis, I got the engine back today, and for a very reasonable price. Its beautiful and runs very nicely with good compression, just have to remember to bring it back to him for the 200 mile checkup, ill post a vid of it running in case im missing some gruesome sound....

Fri Jul 03, 2009 9:48 am

Good job... glad to hear it went well. I have been where you are and sometimes you got to do what you got to do!