Hapy not Spittin Fuel

I managed to get Hapy, the 1972 TDI-powered microbus, over to Justin to get the injection pump re-sealed this weekend. Today's post covers that adventure as well as a quick trip thru a K'Lack (2004 VW Jetta Wagon) issue.

 

Getting There

head seal complete

It has been 2 years since Hapy really went much of anywhere. Most of that time, he sat waiting for attention either in an unknown, but unstartable state or in pieces. Once I had him re-assembled with a new flywheel/ring gear and had a test drive, the original reason for him to have starting problems re-appeared: Injection Pump losing prime. I was able to prime the pump with a MityVac and then crack the injectors to get him running. And, in that way I took him on a short test drive, found some issues with the lights, etc. There remained many other issues, but at least I could get him running, stopping and had my lights so I could drive him an hour and 20 minutes to Justin's shop.

 

The night before our start-of-day appointment, I got Hapy out of the back and filled with B-20 biodiesel ($6.40/gal. same as dinoDiesel. Thanks, Trump). That morning, I filled up with coffee and hit the road. Most of the drive from West Beaverton to Justin's shop is on back country roads with few other drivers on an early Saturday morning and even fewer traffic lights. It was in the 50's (F low-teens C) and clear, making the drive very pleasant. At some point after I fixed the rear speakers, the stereo lost access to 12V so I drove in silence, a familiar scene for Hapy. The road was so easy, the thermostat never opened. I had the cabin heat on, so I may have been pulling just enough heat off the engine to keep the thermostat closed. Based on the UltraGauge, the engine temp was hovering around 180*F so running "cold". When I pulled into town off the country roads, I had a few cases of not finding 2nd gear. I noted that for followup later. When I arrived, Justin and I hung out for a bit before getting started. He has so many interesting projects all going at once, you have to absorb it all. I mean, who puts a TDI in an Audi TT while also putting one into a Rabbit pickup? Love that! The way he scraps discards and re-uses them for the basis of tools is pretty awesome too. He's even teaching himself TIG welding. Small crush, maybe. Okay, fine. He does do some impressive stuff.

 

Injection Pump (IP) Reseal

hammer mod perfecting IQ

Justin had encouraged me to get the seal kit from Cascade German, since they are local-to-Oregon, when we first set the apointment. I had already purchased the deluxe kit from DieselGeek. I didn't understand the difference. These 2 kits definitely vary in their intended purpose, so they have some meaningful differences. The Cascade German version is actually less expensive, but it includes all of the little seals usually replaced when a legit shop does the re-seal. The DieselGeek kit has far fewer seals (just the 2 on top and the head-to-base seal) and it is designed for the home-mechanic to re-seal the pump in their garage without removing the pump from the vehicle. The DieselGeek deluxe kit is more expensive because it includes specialty bits a car owner probably does not have, but are needed for the job. This differentiation is important and your case may lead you to the larger kit even if you do not intend to replace much more than the 3 included in the DieselGeek deluxe.

 

Once Justin discovered the gap, we made-do with the smaller kit. Justin replaced the top 2 seals first and then moved onto the head-to-base seal. Rather than use the included "retraction limiting bolt" and try to fit the new head seal over the top of it, the head was removed, and I held the guts of the pump in-place while Justin cleaned all the surfaces and installed the new seal onto the head. Once installed, he hooked up the VagCom and hammer-mod'd (link to Hammer Mod thread on TDIClub) the injection quantity (IQ). Justin was aiming for 6.0 mg/stk because the engine was cold (54*C).

 

The engine bay was pretty dirty, so lots of time was spent getting the IP clean before we began as well as afterwards when the whole engine got a cleaning. After it dried off a bit, we let the engine idle and we looked for leaks. None found. Justin did ask about how the starter was mating to the flywheel. It does sound loud, like it may not be meshing quite right. I'll need to remove and reinstall the starter and the starter adapter to see if I can get things to sit right. The original adapter and starter that I put in just worked for years. I would expect the new-also-stock starter would fit the same. Since this is a new adapter, that is actually designed for the application, versus one I dremel'd to fit, I would think it would fit better. It's a puzzler, but one I will consider carefully as I remove/reinstall (R&R) the starter to get it to hit the ring gear more cleanly.

 

Getting Home

If there is anything we have learned over the years about Hapy, its that he loves going places and really does not like going home. How many times have I left home and the road trip to 4 Peaks or some camping spot went great and the drive home was either very challenging or partially performed by a flatbed? Too many. This trip was no different. At first, Hapy ran great. The engine was responsive and stayed cool. Somewhere around McMinnville a charged air pipe popped off, leaving me running naturally aspirated the rest of the drive home. This served as yet another reminder to never leave home with Hapy without some tools. While the turbo is great for the overall power-band, its absence is really noticeable when trying to leave the line and get up to traffic speed. Now that it was about noon on an absolutely stunner of a day, the roads were busy where they had been empty a few hours before.

 

By the time I was approaching the Dundee Bypass, I was having increasing difficulty finding 1st and 2nd gear. Sometimes, one or the other would be right there. Other times, it was a "can't find it, grind it" experience. This persisted all the way home, forcing me to sometimes leave a stop line in 3rd. When you add in the no-turbo, I had some dissatisfied fellow travelers around me. I did get home, however, and I drove Hapy all the way into the shop so I can chase these issues.

K'Lack

After having something to eat, I switched over to K'Lack, the 2004 TDI Jetta Wagon with a BEW motor. It had been throwing a crank position sensor error, lighting up the check engine light (CEL), preventing it from passing smog. I had ordered a replacement from Cascade on Thursday, and it was in the morning mail on Saturday when I got home from Justin's. The removal/replacement of these is not complicated (remove bolt, unplug from harness, install is reverse), but getting to the sensor and the weird bolt head complicate things. The sensor sits right behind the oil filter on the front, when the engine installed transverse like normal. The bolt head is a 9mm 12-point. Half of my sockets are 6-point and the other half are 12's, designed, I think, for easier application onto hex bolts. In this weird case, that socket set perfectly onto the 12-point bolt head. With the right socket, short extension and ratchet the bolt comes out fairly easily. The plug end is fitted into a metal tang, but otherwise once unplugged, the whole thing can just get dropped through the gaps onto the ground.

 

To install, I plugged it in first and then covered the sensor with a rubber glove to lower it past the engine ick and then below the car. Could I have cleaned the engine bay before starting? Yes. But then I would have been lying in mud since the car was on my front lawn, not back in the shop and I didn't want to lay in a puddle. At this point, I found having another person to be your eyes is very helpful. I got under the car, un-gloved and suspended sensor in hand and had Boo tell me east-west, up down until I was able to send the sensor into the hole. By doing it in this order, the sensor wanted to be oriented such that the bolt holes lined up naturally. I sent the bolt thru, tightened with the socket/ratchet combo and I was done. Since I cleared the code we need to run a few cycles until it is ready to smog.

 

For the legal-minded, Oregon cops are interested in registration violations after years of looking the other way post-CoViD. K'Lack got a registration-violation ticket while legally parked in downtown Portland. Drivers beware.

 

Hapy Wrenching

Feeling confident, I switched back to Hapy, and re-connected the charged air hose. As I suspected, it was one of the rubber-to-metal bits. I cleaned both the outside of the metal pipe and the inside of the rubber with brake cleaner so they were more apt to stay together and then tightened the clamp down.

 

I next wanted to chase why the lower gears were sporadically missing. I checked the front of the transaxle to see if it was out of position at all. Nope. Right before Boo and I bought this house, I bought a Gene Berg shifter. The new-at-that-time seats were higher than stock, moving the approximately-stock-length Scat gear shift further away. The Gene Berg shifter is a few inches longer, so I figured there would be less leaning. I had not gotten to installing it before the house was bought and life took a turn. Anyway, at this point I looked at the Scat shifter I had installed, probably over 15 years ago and slid the vinyl boot up the shifter. The plastic bits on either side of the shifter appeared to be allowing more play than I remembered. Hmm. Then, I looked at the rest of that mechanism. It was very rusty, especially the foot that rests on the floor. I shot the bolts with Kroil and after waiting a couple of minutes, removed them with a 13mm spanner/socket combination.

 

rust under shifter

The floor under the shifter had meaningful rust to match the rust on the shifter foot. I don't know how much play was created by the plastic bits, nor how much may have been introduced by the rust. I do recall, however, that the Scat shifter instructions did not account for adjusting the placement of the shifter front/back nor left/right. When looking at the foot profile, it looks very much like it is designed to sit squarely in the oval without any adjustment at all. I don't know if this was a terribly good design, but I will be installing the Gene Berg shifter which does allow for adjusting. I cleaned up the rust dust, shot the floor and the shift-rod end with brake cleaner and got everything as clean as I could. Then, I painted the area with Eastwood's Rust Encapsulater (the new stuff is even better than the original) and called it a day. I still need to treat from below. I shot the picture on the right here as I was almost done applying the paint.

 

Wrap

Well, that's where we stand right now. I have been in and out of the shop a few times since Saturday and there is not a single drop of fuel on the floor under Hapy. So, we can close the book on the IP leak. I intend to complete the shifter swap and then R&R the starter next. I hope that will be the end of both issues, but I suspect there will be more to do than that. Then, of course, there are all the other things like a fuel level gauge, the radio, and the diesel heater just off the top of my head. There are many incomplete items on Hapy. Now that I have a mostly-inside (one doorway remains), concrete floor'd space to work, my desire to work on these cars has really kicked into a new level.

 

Thanks, as always, for following along and more next time-

Diesel Dumping Discontinued

In my last post, I discovered that the injection pump was leaking fairly badly. Today's brief post covers my replacing the 2 top seals.

Symptoms

If you don't open your hood very often, especially while the engine is running, any leak may not be obvious. With the engine under the rear deck, and the rear deck often having stuff on it, I hadn't seen the leaks evolve. On my last few drives, I had smelled diesel fuel, and I had made a mental note of it. Honestly, I thought it was related to the now-not-operational furnace which still had a diesel line filled with diesel running to it. I suspect I fueled with something which was not B20 and that caused the seals to shrink. Recall, I wanted to run the air out of the new heater so I popped open the rear-deck engine lid (I cut in years ago) and fired up the engine. I walked to the back of the bus and could see fuel dumping down the sides of the injection pump. I dashed to the driver seat and turned off the engine. Returning to the engine bay, I added coolant, but tried to figure out where the fuel was coming from. It looked like it was coming from the black plug on the side, and maybe out of the edge along the top on the opposite side. The top seals had finally shrunk to the point of being compromised.

DieselGeek

There are lots of sources for seals and seal kits, but IMHO, the best is from DieselGeek (like here). The operator is a TDI owner and only sells things he actually uses. His opinions are highly regarded on Fred's TDICLub forum too. The kit is complete; and you will want to include an anti-tamper socket (here) to get that one fastener removed. His product page contains a link to a complete how-to (also linked here) that will take you through the process. Since it is so well documented, I will not repeat it here. I will only highlight things that I discovered that either differ or underscore that documentation.

Clean and Mark Pump Location

After ordering the kit, I went out to Hapy and cleaned outer case of the Injecion Pump with degreaser. I paid special attention to the seams where the seals would be replaced. Once clean and dry, I applied the JB Weld (as instructed) on 2 corners of the pump covering the lower seals both above and below. This will allow for a more precise re-location of the pump after the lower seal has been replaced. I also took a chisel and made a clear mark that crossed the seam. For good measure, I added lines with a Sharpie. Although diesel fuel can remove Sharpie lines, I did not suffer that fate.

Top Seal

Following the instructions, I replaced the top seal first. Before I started, I wrapped the Injection Pump below the lower seal with a ratty old towel to capture spilling diesel fuel. This turned out to be an unnecessary precaution, but when I need to replace these seals again, I will do the towel wrap again anyway. Better to be safe. I left the return fuel line attached and tilted the cover far enough so I could reach the old seal. With a watch-repair slotted screwdriver, I picked out the seal. It looked fine, but I did notice that it was practically flat with the edge of the cap, so I could imagine how it could be leaking. Once removed, the groove was perfectly clean. I gave it a cursory pass with a paper towel anyway and the new seal slid in perfectly. Before returning the cap to the pump, I noticed some gunk buildup on the black-plug side so I carefully scraped it off with a razor blade and then wiped it clean with a paper towel. It is little things like that which can prevent a complete seal.

Bottom Seal

The lower seal is a little tricky, but, again, the instructions were spot-on with only one exception: The Torx bolt holding the corner directly below the fuel return may not be easily addressed, depending on your tools. The picture below-right illustrates the issue. My Torx socket fits a 1/2" ratchet so it's rather thick. It is also kind of stubby, so the socket itself needs to occupy the space where the fuel return is. So, either have longer throw Torx sockets or do what I did: Remove the cap to remove and install that once fastener. Yes, that's a pain in the butt, but I found no alternative other than loosening the banjo bolt, and after the power steering debacle with Flash all those years ago, I want nothing to do with a banjo bolt if I can avoid it. I just went looking for the post and I can't find one. I can't believe I didn't post on the saga of replacing Flash's steering rack, like, 10 years ago. The banjo bolt was nearly the death of me; my thumb swelled up from applying pressure to get things bolted together... it was a nightmare.

Similar to the upper seal, once the unit was unbolted, the TDIClub documented process was spot-on. Even the "smack it with a bit of wood to crack the JB Weld worked as written. I did not remove the hose from the fuel return line, however. I just tipped the unit back far enough to remove the seal without fear of something dropping into the top of the pump. I also found some gunk build up along one side on this piece, like I did on the cover. So, I did the same thing: slowly scraping it clear and then cleaning the metal with a paper towel. With the seal in place, I again followed the instruction to make sure the little drive stick entered the hole on the piston (you can feel it locate) and set the unit in place, using the fracture lines in the JB Weld to position. Because of how thick the new seal is compared to the old one, there was some wiggle space in the fractures, so the extra marks, bot the chisel and the Sharpie, were necessary to get the unit in the right spot.

Because of the Torx socket challenge, I got 2 of the fasteners on, then removed the cover, put the other Torx fastener in place. At this point, I re-set the location of the top unit comparing the lines again. Then, I tightened down the 3 Torx bolts hand-tight. Since these are brass bolts going into aluminum, the threads can strip, so mind your torque settings (less than 8 ft-pounds). Content, I put the cover back on, added the anti-tamper bolt and the cover Torx bolts.

Testing

At this point, it is recommended to prime the system with a MityVac. I read some comments by users who did not need to do so. I thought I would try starting before getting into the hand-vac, and Hapy fired right up. I walked around to the back and there were no leaks, and he idled nicely around 903 rpm like always. The test for whether the little drive-stick is in place is simply to try the accelerator. If the engine RPM's change, it's in there. Success. So, we took a quick drive around the usual test loop. Hapy was responsive and slowly warmed up. As part of my test drive, I tried the heater.. that worked too! I could feel warm air blowing up through the defroster.

When I got home, I noticed that Hapy was having a harder time maintaining a consistent idle. He would drop down around 875 and go up around 950. I vaguely remember this being a thing for him and a quick tap on the accelerator settled him down. I don't know why this is a dynamic for him, but with the seals replaced he is acting exactly how he used to... without dumping fuel.

That's it for today. I hope to get after the furnace next. We'll see what the future holds. Thanks, as always, for following along-

Flash Panzer Plated

I had an unexpected gift this past weekend.  My wife, Boo, took a brief trip to the OR coast with a girlfriend, so I had Saturday to myself.  It being NHL playoff season, I caught 4 games, of course, but I also finally addressed the old Jetta, Flash, with a long-awaited Panzer plate.  I'll give a run-down on that today.

Panzer Plate?

Evolution plate

So, what's a Panzer Plate?  In the early 2000's, VW engineered a very tall diesel engine to tuck under the bonnet of the Jetta IV, Passat and New Beetle.  I say "very tall", but its really relative to the available height between the underside of the bonnet and the ground.  From the factory, the underside of the engine was shielded from the ground by a thin sheet of padded plastic.  This kept dirt and small gravel from getting up under the hood and into the engine bay, but did little to protect the engine from rocks, manhole covers and any other kind of road-borne debris that we regularly encounter.  The most exposed part of the engine, down below the front beam, is the oil pan.  Many engines have given their lives to road hazards because the hazard popped a hole in the pan and all the oil ran out before the driver knew anything was wrong.  There are aftermarket oil pans to help address this, but they don't act like a skid-plate defraying the impact along.  They are designed as a hard-edge that is simply strong enough to take a frontal impact.  I'm not convinced they can withstand the same abuse that a skid-plate can.  If they did, off-roaders would do that instead of installing skid-plates.

Which One?

DieselGeek
full metal jacket Panzer Plate

There are at least 2 skid plates available on the market, one from Evolution and one from DieselGeek.  I've heard there's a VW one made of steel, but I've never seen one.  I tried to find one via an on-line vendor, but it wasn't nearly as clear what I was looking for as, say, a rear tail light.  If VW makes one, why wasn't it part of the car in the first place?  Or, why wasn't it part of a recall once they realized it was necessary to save your engine?  Last, why are they so hard to find?  Sigh.  Anyway, I read a little about the Evolution, and it seemed as good as the Dieselgeek one except for issues stemming from the way the oil-drain hole was engineered.  There was some feedback about the support around that hole actually causing a puncture in the oil pan.  Yikes.  While that played in my mind, the need for the "full metal jacket" available from Dieselgeek was a real decider.  I had long lost the padded plastic shield and the side supports went with it.  All-in, I paid around $380.  That's painful, but killing the engine would have been 10x that cost.

So?
It was so easy.  I read the printed instructions while watching hockey Friday night and they didn't make any sense.  Re-reading with a beer didn't help, so I just pulled out the parts and made sure I had everything in the parts list.  Check.  Saturday morning, with KBOO's bluegrass show playing in the background, I drove up on the ramps and took my college try.  Once you get under the car, the instructions make sense, everything is where they describe them to be, and it all fits right together.  Even the RivNut installations were easy.  It took me less than 3 hours to get the thin aluminum sides in, the front mounting posts in and the Panzer plate on.  Before KBOO switched over from bluegrass to the Grateful Dead & Friends show, I was done.  Shazam!

Unrelated, I drove the bus to work today.  So nice sitting behind his steering wheel :)
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