Excessive Endplay After 2 Years 35k miles

[Ian]

OK, here is the story. Customer needed a rebuilt engine in a pinch, bought a local rebuilt engine, locked up within a week. Returned engine got another. Ran great for 2 years 35k miles. Leaking oil from rear main seal...I checked the endplay, massive. I wondered what shavings behind flywheel were from, flywheel is shaving down the engine case!!!! Anyway, nothing to do but reassemble with new main seal, customer was there to see the damage. I also checked rear main bearing which is now "wiggling" side to side in the engine case, no beuno.

Anyway, WTF is going on. Is everybody's align bore bars out of spec??? Motor came from a very reputable local shop.

Do Bug engines only last 35k?? I find that hard to believe.

Sorry for crappy photo, in the heat of battle, I only had my cell camera. But you can see the about 6-8" round area that the flywheel is shaving.

_________________
All your Buses are belong to us.
Love and good roads!
IN LOVING MEMORY OF ROB CRESS 1968-2012
**ACHTUNG DO NOT USE AA BRAND PRODUCTS OR BUY ANYTHING FROM PACIFIC PARTS INTERNATIONAL IN CALIFORNIA**

[58Dub]

reputable shop or not....its obvious they arent checking everything when the assemble an engine....or they are getting a longblock from someone else. eitherway, with that much movement, its probably time to find another
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58 Beetle (now just a pile of parts in the corner)
60 Beetle (2221 turbo under construction)
70 Beetle Baja project

[Bashr52]

Is this an autostick car? Cam plug is in that way around.

[Ian]

No, it is in a 1971 Bus.

2 things of note:

first engine locked up rear main bearing, flywheel one. After that, customer was instructed to never push clutch in while starting, or hold clutch in while at a stop sign/light. He has adhered very strictly to that policy.

2nd thing of note is that the t/o bearing is not dead center on the transmission shaft, and therefore not dead center on the clutch disc. It has been wearing out pressure plate collars (van has earlier transmission in it).

Replacement engine was built with different case, still align bored, but not the same case as the one that locked up. I'm assuming the builder set the endplay a little looser, say around .006", when the 2nd engine was built, to help prevent locking up that flywheel bearing. But now the bearing is wiggling side to side, basically only being held in by the dowel pin and not the crush of the engine case.
_________________
All your Buses are belong to us.
Love and good roads!
IN LOVING MEMORY OF ROB CRESS 1968-2012
**ACHTUNG DO NOT USE AA BRAND PRODUCTS OR BUY ANYTHING FROM PACIFIC PARTS INTERNATIONAL IN CALIFORNIA**

[Alstrup]

No need to invent the wheel again. Its just one more severely out of balance rebuilt engine with stock or stockish parts. On top of that it has most likely run on the warm side.
The line bore could have been bad from the beginning, but I´ll bet that was not the main problem.

T

[Max Welton]

Ian, did you check end-play on the second engine when it was installed?

Max
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1967 Type-3 Fastback
Under the Knife https://shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=151582
Home Stretch https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=767836

[Ian]

[miniman82]

Couple things, just for clarity we're not talking about V8's. The 'rear main' bearing on a VW is the one nearest the pulley, not the one nearest the flywheel. That is the front main. If it's that far gone, either the engine is being abused or something is eating the bearing. I've seen cranks that weren't perfectly smooth where the thrust surface of the bearing rides, that would definitely reduce bearing life.
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Build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=212747

[modok]

[volksworld]

back in the day type 1 engine daily driver busses beat their rear bearings loose about every 50,000 miles dependent on driver abuse...that's why they put type 4s into them...