1982 T3 AHU

[erste]

Over the weekend I made a bit more progress on the van.

I replaced all of the seals on the driver's door, along with adding dynamat extreme and a reflectix barrier where possible. There was the same amount of rot on the pop-out window frame, but less rust on the door.

On sunday I drove to Napa and bought some parts from a samba member.

This was a good haul.
brown Z bed - no headrests which I'm happy about
brown camper front seats
brown front carpet, although it's dirty
front foam under carpets
rear seat belts
rear heater plastic cover
front lower grille

The front seats went in easily. I can hardly believe there's not even a bolt holding them in place. This van has a swivel on the passenger side, and the camper seats will work a bit better there. I'm losing the adjustable armrests, but I'll figure that out later.

Z-bed was a lot more work. The z-bed in the van was from a carat, and it's narrower (3-4 inches?). It took me a little while to figure out what needed to happen. I had to remove the carat panel on the passenger side, then remove the carat 'stand-offs' that threaded into the body where the mounting bolts go. Then it was just a matter of wedging the seat in there.

By then it was dark and I didn't take any other photos. The seat belt install will come next, and I'll either make some panels for the rear with this thin walnut plywood (mdf core) that's laying around or find brown panels.

There's so much wasted space behind the panels that I'm inclined to vacuum form some plastic pockets and create little cubbies throughout the van.

Still looking for brown speakers / grilles, and now the only thing left that's grey is the front carpet. Swapping it out will give me the chance to dynamat everything and eventually I'll spray the dash brown.

But first....
I have to replace the two seals on the injector pump. It's leaking like crazy out of the lower seal.

I have the seals and the triangular bit, and a mightyvac is on the way. I have vagcom but no pc laptop, but that'll be easy to figure out.

It started leaking after I put 99 biodiesel in it in santa cruz. Only 4 gallons, but I guess that was enough for the old seals.

The good news is that the oil and transaxle leaks have more or less stopped. Blue Devil in both seems to have worked.

Locally I can get RB20 (20% pure domestic biodiesel, 80% renewable diesel).
My plan is to run biodiesel, but this leaking pump has me kind of worried about long road trips and switching back and forth between fuels.

[?Waldo?]

It is very doubtful that the biodiesel caused the pump leakage. It is far more likely that it was just coincidence. All of the Bosch seals prior to the AHU production have been 100% biodiesel compatible.

Which two of the 15 or so seals/orings do you plan on changing? I'd do them all while the pump is off.

[erste]

Hi Andrew,
Thanks for the reply. I'm going to replace the upper and lower seals on the quantity adjuster. As shown here: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?p=2733762%20

I don't plan to remove the pump or do the head seal right now. I'll probably take it to a mechanic with more TDI experience if / when that time comes.

I did call a nearby shop with 'certified' TDI mechanics about doing these seals but they "don't work on vanagons..."

Good to know about the biodiesel. I've only read about ultra low sulfur diesel shrinking seals, while biodiesel causes them to swell.

[Zeitgeist 13]

That's crazy. I'd much rather do pretty much any servicing of a TDI in a longitudinal configuration like the Vanagon, as opposed to transverse applications like the Golf/Jetta
_________________
Casey--

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

[?Waldo?]

The switch from low-sulphur diesel to ultra-low sulphur diesel 'caused' quite a few pumps to leak. It is not that the ultra-low sulphur diesel causes new seals/o-rings to shrink, it is that the 'esters' that were removed along with the sulphur previously caused the seals/orings to swell and then years of service hardened them in the 'swelled' state. Then with the removal of the esters, the old seals shrank. Seals that are exposed exclusively to biodiesel and ultra-low sulphur diesel do not typically leak because of either.

Those two seals are not difficult to change.

[macjack]

[erste]

Zeitgeist 13,
I know... Kind of a joke of a shop if they have such a policy, but they've got their reasons, I'm sure.

Andrew,
Thanks again for the info. I really appreciate it, very helpful for a new diesel owner like myself.

macjack,
Thanks for the reply. That pic is actually of my '85 golf, but you're absolutely right. I got flashed a few times and at some point during the middle of the night I re-aimed the headlights. (I'd just swapped it back to square lights so I could keep the round h4 e-codes for the vanagon).

Resealing the IP went smoothly, despite it raining for most of the day. Photos before replacing the seals:

I scratched a few marks on the quantity adjuster so I could line it back up, then I started taking things apart. There was some corrosion on the seals, so I cleaned that up and replaced the two main seals. It took a few times to make absolutely sure the pin was lining up with the 'groove', but it lined up right the first time after bolting it back together.

Then I pulled a vacuum on the pump with my new mightyvac until fuel came out, which was pretty quick. Then cracked the injectors, let my girl crank it for a bit, cracked the other two, cranked again, and then buttoned it up.

It started after 3 or 4 cranks, then it was running again. When we hooked up vagcom, IQ was at 15. Got it back down to 3 with some tapping on the QA.

Tomorrow I'll get the engine nice and warm and check it again just to be sure.

This gives me confidence to replace the IP head seal if/when it starts leaking.

It also has me looking at kermatdi's site again for larger injectors.

[?Waldo?]

When replacing the distributor head o-ring with the pump on the car, you *must* keep pressure on the plunger at all times, or a small shim disc can fall out of place resulting in quick and thorough destruction of the injection pump. Many online sites describe the process without that critical step as it often works due to the surface tension of the diesel fuel keeping the shim 'stuck' in place. It also occasionally results in total pump destruction...

[erste]

Thank you Andrew, I'll keep that in mind when that seal starts leaking. I think dieselgeek sells a seal kit that includes a longer bolt to prevent you from removing the pump while giving you enough room to slide the new seal in place.

A few weeks ago I ordered Bullihutzen scoops from T3, along with a Samos Beige Aerosol Can from Paintscratch, not cheap but the color match is pretty good. I glued the vent in place with Liquid Nails, riveted it together, and painted it. Right now I've just done the driver's side because the intercooler is down the D pillar.

First pass, I found it nearly impossible to get that back screw in place, so I zip tied it for now. One of the mounting ‘pins’ at the top of the vent is broken off, so I’ll pull the vent and figure out a fix.

The interior is looking better. Still messy and over the long weekend I’ll probably try to cut some panels for the rear.

Got some seatbelts installed.

Want to work on making the space underneath the rear seat usable. Right now the wiring on the right side is all over the place, so I’m going to clean it up and build a wall to block it off so I can store things in there.

Fire extinguisher is now mounted.

I have an ARB on board compressor to install. It will probably end up in the battery box under the passenger seat. This way I can run the wires to the aux battery under the driver’s seat. I’m also thinking about mounting it under the van so I don’t lose that storage space.

I'm trying to figure out what to do with the air intake and am close to ordering a donaldson airbox / filter, but don't quite know where it will fit. I'd like to keep the battery back there and other installs I've seen have the filter where the coolant tank is, so let's see.

Most importantly it’s now registered in CA! The guy at AAA made sure the VINs matched, and that was that.

[macjack]

[erste]

[macjack]

[erste]

[erste]

First of all, CA plates. Wasn't cheap, but worth every penny with the engine swap and no smog from now on.

On-board air compressor is installed and working! I tapped into some empty +12v ignition pin at the fuse box and put a toggle switch where the diesel choke used to be. I removed the extra wiring for lockers from the harness. The compressor will only run for a few seconds until the manifold is full - this was confusing me, so I thought it wasn't working off the aux battery, but that's not the case.

The DLC1019 Nozzle install took me forever. I got the nozzles from Kerma TDI through their hot swap program, which is really a great service.

Installing the nozzles was easy. They provide a slide hammer and nothing was very corroded on this engine, so the nozzles came out easily. It helped to have a small vacuum to suck up the debris after removal and q-tips to clean out the holes.

With the nozzle install complete, I went to set the ignition timing through VCDS and made the mistake of rotating the engine at the injection pump pulley instead of the crank. The pump pulley skipped a tooth on the belt and it would start, but it smoked like hell.

At the time I wasn't 100% sure what had happened, I didn't see it skip, but I heard the gear jump on the belt so I had a good idea. In trying to fix it, I made it worse and it jumped some more. At that point I didn't even try to start it.

I ordered the timing tools from dieselgeek and waited until the next weekend to get the mechanical timing where it's supposed to be.

In the meantime I installed the Defender mirrors with adapters from rowlsey on brick-yard.co.uk. LT mirrors were really tempting, but they're also really expensive and I don't really want to drill holes to install them.

I could have made my own bracket, but he has it all figured out and shipping from the UK was actually really quick. I painted the brackets black with appliance paint.

The mirrors are convex vertically, so you see a lot more than the stock mirrors. They can also be extended even further (there are two detents in the mechanism to lock them in place, if you're pulling a trailer?) You can also get heated elements for them.

This is a really a huge improvement and helps me parallel park and see cyclists in the bike lane.

When it was raining and I didn't want to remove the valve cover to dick with the timing, I got the ARB awning installed. The mounts are from vanagonlife and bolt through the Thule cross bars. If I had to do it again I'd have ordered the ARB universal mounting brackets, but I didn't even know they existed at the time.

It wasn't raining on Sunday so I took the valve cover off and found TDC at cylinder 1.

From there I did my best to find TDC with a dial indicator and coat hanger so I could make a mark on the flywheel (the 1.6 diesel bellhousing viewport doesn't line up with the mark on the TDI flywheel).

Basically what happened next is a half day of me checking and re-checking everything. Crank at TDC, cam locked with cylinder 1 at TDC, injection pump locked... but then I couldn't get the cam sprocket back on until pulling the pin at the IP pulley. I cranked it over 2 times by hand to check for interference and then tried to start it.... Nothing. The glow plug light didn't even turn on...

I felt defeated and woke up early to look things over the next morning. Tried a few things engine related with no luck. Unplugged the ECU and looked around there. Turns out the 109 relay needed some tapping before it would work again. NOW the glow plug light turns on. Still not turning over though. I loosened the tensioner and rotated the pump pulley clockwise so it would advance one tooth.

FINALLY IT STARTS!

Then I moved it out of my girlfriend's driveway (that's her vanagon behind mine) and drove it to work, 15 miles away, without issue, even after driving over some gravel on the freeway without the timing belt cover installed and nearly freaking out...

I tried setting the pump timing, but the line in VCDS was always advanced. I think this is because the engine wasn't warm. It may still be too advanced, but I went back and forth with the pump and found a spot between smoking and stumbling, so the ECU should be able to adapt.

The nozzles made a nice difference. There's definitely more power. Kerma recommended the DLC1019s because they make good mid range power. I rarely shift over 3500 so that's perfect.

I have some more parts on the way that I'm really excited about, and hopefully if the weather is decent this weekend I'll get to try out the new awning.

[?Waldo?]

[erste]

Hi Andrew,
I did take the cam sprocket off, but I couldn't get it back on until I removed the IP pin. When everything was back together, the pin wouldn't go into the hole. After I advanced the pulley, the pin goes in the hole, cam plate locks down, and the crank is at TDC based on my new mark on the flywheel.

I did torque that bolt to 45 as well. And set the tension just like you said, pin removed, cam loose, idler pulley in place.

I just want to say thank you again for your input. In all the searching I did to figure out the order of things, you wrote the clearest step-by-step I could find (quoted below)

It was a really good learning experience, albeit stressful at times.

[?Waldo?]

Right on. To be clear, when the crank is at TDC, the cam slot must be aligned. That alignment between the crank TDC and the slot of the cam is critical. Whether or not the pump pin fits is not really critical. The pump pin is really just to get the belt on the pump on the correct tooth alignment. As you know, actual timing of the pump is done with vag-com.

If vag-com shows the pump timing as overly advance, then you should loosen the four pump mounting fasteners (3 at the sprocket, 1 at the injection lines) and rotate the top of the pump away from the head/injectors. It's a good idea to scribe a mark between the pump case and pump bracket first in order to be able to return it to baseline if necessary.

[erste]

[macjack]

Glad you got the timing sorted. That' must have been disconcerting trying to track it down!
The carpet and insulation look great and your compressor install is sweet. Like that port. Well executed. How's the sound?
Is the plastic baggin supposed to be effective at keeping out condensation from the insulation? I want to tackle that job next summer and am getting ideas from what you are doing.
How come the air scoops aren't in the recent pics?
And congrats on the full CA plates.
_________________
87 TDI Syncro Westy
81 Westy (sold)
80 Rabbit Wolfsburg (rolled)
Bike as primary transportation

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