Rear Main Seal

[geo_tonz]

Well hopefully he has figured it out in the 3 years since this post was last active!
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"Ron Burgundy": 1991 Vanagon Multivan (Weekender) 2.1L Auto - Driver/Camper

[[email protected]]

It looks like there may be some damage to the case - maybe or maybe not.

Unless you have a bunch of experience on water boxers, Open it up to see for curiosity sake. I have not found anybody who is capable of line boring a 1.9 Case, and machining the crank.

options:

1. buy an engine from somebody like the bus depot: http://.busdepot.com
2. buy an engine from Westy in Denver - not cheap but good.
3. spend the 10 grand for a Subaru 2.5 installed
4. I have my 1.9 L wbx down to about 1,000 prices. all kinds of problems - sealers, adhesives, bearing sizes, heads $500.00 each.
5. Contact Quality German motors - provider of diesels, 1.9 L diesel - not cheap either. about $2700 complete, 800 adapter kit. other costs to find a mechanic who can work on a vw diesel. [email protected].

Good luck

[?Waldo?]

[tencentlife]

Standing on the clutch all the time seems like a pretty good theory, insofar as that may overheat and deplete the film separating the endplay shims, which would begin to spin faster against the bearing thrust shoulder and then chronically overheat the thrust surface, weakening it over time. It would have to be chronic and severe abuse to produce that result, but people are very good at abusing vehicles so that's not out of the realm of possibilities. You would think the TOB would wear out first and make a hell of a whine, or the bearing knocking would get their attention, but some people just turn the radio up louder instead of calling their mechanic.

The thing that normally goes wrong with this bearing type is due to poor fitting when the engine was built, especially if it got a careless align-bore job. It's the "crush" of the case saddles gripping the bearing that really holds it in place; the dowel pin is mainly an alignment aid so the oiling holes line up, and the thrust shoulders offer some initial support but if there is insufficient grip of the bearing by the saddles as well as not enough fit interference between the thrust shoulders, then the thrust force causes a bit of material compression, which allows minute axial movement to begin. Once the bearing can move axially, however minutely, it will bit by bit pound out the thrust shoulders and case saddle sidewalls, increasing the amount of movement, and the thing snowballs until the bearing is hammering in and out within the case. By that time the bearing is probably shifting circumferentially as well, until the dowel is what is limiting that instead of the saddle grip. Once axial movement is sufficient, if left unremedied it may just be a matter of time 'til the thrust shoulder breaks off like in these pics, although in my experience it's rare to see them get that far. Usually the deep knocking noise it produces alerts the owner to the fact that there is a real problem before it gets that far.

The later wbx bearings are a great improvement on the original design. The bearings are located by tangs and gripped by the saddles as any bearing, but the thrust control is separated from the journal bearing and thrust loads are borne by two heavy tab-located thrust shims and adjusted and cushioned with the usual pack of three rotating shims.
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Shop for unique and useful Vanagon accessories at the Vanistan shop:
https://intrepidoverland.com/vanistan/
also available at VanCafe.com!

Please don't PM here, I will not reply.

Experience is death to doctrine.

[Wildthings]

If you look at this photo, there is what looks like preexisting damage to the crank, just to the left of top center. I would guess that the crank was dropped at some point prior to installation and the damage not corrected. It actually looks more like damage from the use of a BFH, but I don't know why anyone would have used a BFH on the crank.

[cannonfodder4j]

i really doubt that you did that damage, in any case youll need a new engine or get this one rebuilt, since the bearing is shot. ive decided to embark on a subaru swap. im just gathering the funds now!

[Escorial Syncro]

I bought it that way, just recently. And your assessment makes sense in my case. The clutch was bad and the van had thick homemade floor mats that made it impossible to fully depress the clutch. So the previous owner could have been a clutch rider. But from the way mine came apart, I fear I trashed the bearing removing the seal.
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Joel Lane
1985 Vanagon converted to syncro, ALH TDI w/GTB2056 turbo, Reimo clone top with Westy interior
2002 Toyota Tundra 4x4

[cannonfodder4j]

[ftp2leta]

[Escorial Syncro]

Ok, back to the OP's issue. What causes the rear main bearing to come apart like that? Over heating, lack of oil, sloppy forceful rear main seal removal? Forgive my silly question, but I've never split a WBX lower end, so I'm not sure I'm understanding what causes this. I have a motor sitting here in my garage with a rear bearing that looks like this:

Is it possible that I or whoever removed the rear main seal damaged the bearing by levering against it? This motor had a significant oil leak coming from the rear main seal area prior to removal. Can this motor be run this way? (I assume not) Thanks for the education, just trying to learn something here. Joel
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Joel Lane
1985 Vanagon converted to syncro, ALH TDI w/GTB2056 turbo, Reimo clone top with Westy interior
2002 Toyota Tundra 4x4

[tencentlife]

I am so in awe of your massive training and experience that I'll wear your disdain proudly.
_________________
Shop for unique and useful Vanagon accessories at the Vanistan shop:
https://intrepidoverland.com/vanistan/
also available at VanCafe.com!

Please don't PM here, I will not reply.

Experience is death to doctrine.

[joemac]

I've been around the block a few times.
I started fixing VWs in 1968. I was a factory trained tech who has built thousands of engines. You can balance a nickel on the crankcase of one of my engines while it idles
My engines last for years and accrue hundreds of thousands of trouble-free miles.
My instructors were the best of the best, many of them trained in Wolfsburg and Weissach.

I won't bother entering into a pissing match with you, or anyone else. I'm getting close to 60 years old, been around long enough to know it's not worth it.

You, on the other hand, don't know what you're talking about.

[tencentlife]

Yup, you're splittin' that baby.



On another note, I just have to straighten this stuff out:

[cannonfodder4j]

ok everyone i finally had time to get to that seal change after forever and after removing the shims found that the bearing had split the whole way around . it looks like that subaru swap is gonna come sooenr than expected!

[Zeitgeist 13]

Good golly, this left-handed metric adjustable wrench was installed on the right side--blasphemy!!!

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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[iltis74]

So is the guy in the jump seat looking out back through the windshield? I mean, the factory did orient him that way. Man this is funner than I thought. In the end of course you can call it whatever you want, don't bother me, I know what it is.

[Wildthings]

[?Waldo?]

[sanchius]

[Wildthings]