Hello. I was driving home and lost a cylinder. I removed
1 lead at a time until it made no difference (rear left no3?)
pulled the plug, cleaned no better, tested out and I have spark but is a little bit orange as opposed to blue. rotor and cap seem good.
I tried to do a compression test and got zero but Ive only got a press in tester and I have to poke it through a little hole in the tinware.
Is it common to lose all compression?
nicolasw ·
it'd be pretty hard, unless you've got a nice big hole in your cylinder. try testing the cylinder on the opposite side of the motor just to see if you can actually get the tester in there properly.
bajachris88 ·
I lost compression completely in one whole cylnder, the piston broke in two, the man who did the post-mortum with me couldn't stop laughing and saw nuffin like it lol.
That wasn't a dub engine though Stuck valve perhaps?
dogo ·
Take all the spark plugs out.
Adjust the tappets (cold) or at least make sure there is some clearance. Pay attention to #3 ex valve.
Get somebody to help you check the compression properly.
Your engine could be about to drop a valve.
A little money spent on a proper diagnosis could save you heaps!
Dave
stilson ·
Thanks Dave I'll get out there now.
I have a Gregorys manual and a torch,
tools and some beer.
Cheers.
waveman1500 ·
Yeah, definitely check it out. The #3 cylinder is usually the first one to give trouble because it has to share its cooling air with the oil cooler, so it always runs hottest and wears fastest out of the four cylinders.
baghall ·
Good luck, ope it all works out OK. Not much an be worse than having internals going bad.
68AutoBug ·
stilson wrote:Hello. I was driving home and lost a cylinder. I removed
1 lead at a time until it made no difference (rear left no3?)
pulled the plug, cleaned no better, tested out and I have spark but is a little bit orange as opposed to blue. rotor and cap seem good.
I tried to do a compression test and got zero but Ive only got a press in tester and I have to poke it through a little hole in the tinware.
Is it common to lose all compression?
Hi
not normally common...lol
but You could have a burnt exhaust valve which means You don't have any compression...
not sure about the orange spark...
all the spark plug leads should have the same colored spark ??
I would certainly replace number 3 spark plug lead to check that the lead hasn't broken down inside...
also check Your valve clearance...
if number 3 exhaust valve has a lot of tappet clearance..
it means Your exhaust valve has stretched...
and is about to snap off and cause major problems...
for excellent info on checking Your valves and everything else... lol
Best of Luck
LEE
stilson ·
Gregorys manual really confused me but rob and daves aircooled was a big help.
I was counting the cylinders incorrectly, my problem is number 4. I found 3/4" of the intake push rod floating in the rocker cover.
everything else looks OK. Can I slide in a new push rod?
bajachris88 ·
Did u pull out the rest of the push rod? or is there some still missin inside the motor?
If u can be sure its all out just slap in a new one, check ur tappet clearances and ur set...
The scary thing is, the dubs neva had a factory oil filter to pick up that kind of debree 🙁
68AutoBug ·
stilson wrote:Gregorys manual really confused me but rob and daves aircooled was a big help.
I was counting the cylinders incorrectly, my problem is number 4. I found 3/4" of the intake push rod floating in the rocker cover.
everything else looks OK. Can I slide in a new push rod?
Yes,
No problem...
See if You can find the other part of the pushrod..
it may still be stuck in the end of the cam follower...??
Odd one that.. broken push rod??
it can't have gone far... lol
LEE
stilson ·
all metal present and accounted for.
second hand push rod $10
half a turn to get 006"
spun it over by hand a few times without any funny sounds so I took it for a lap of the block - all sweet.
Ill give it a warm oil change i think just in case any leftovers.
Thanks to all
Seanan
68AutoBug ·
stilson wrote:all metal present and accounted for.
second hand push rod $10
half a turn to get 006"
spun it over by hand a few times without any funny sounds so I took it for a lap of the block - all sweet.
Ill give it a warm oil change i think just in case any leftovers.
Thanks to all
Seanan
Well that's the kind of engine failure I like... lol
great news...
LEE
waveman1500 ·
Hmm, breaking a pushrod is a very strange failure. They're usually good for a lifetime. No doubt that there's some deeper problem, either that or witchcraft afoot! Usually the 'deeper problem' that most VW owners have to deal with is that their engine was previously rebuilt by muppets! Be on the lookout for errors by clumsy engine builders!
HappyDaze ·
waveman1500 wrote:Hmm, breaking a pushrod is a very strange failure. They're usually good for a lifetime. No doubt that there's some deeper problem, either that or witchcraft afoot! Usually the 'deeper problem' that most VW owners have to deal with is that their engine was previously rebuilt by muppets! Be on the lookout for errors by clumsy engine builders!
Maybe it has had a 'big rev'?
The push rods were the first thing to fail when I started racing the Beetle in 1961 (40hp motor with actual 69hp).
As soon as the revs went over 7000, the push rods started breaking. This was soon cured by knocking the tips off, and replacing the alloy tube with chrome moly. I even put the balsa 'sticks' inside, as per 36hp, to save weight.
Cheers, Greg
waveman1500 ·
Well, I've never turned a VW motor that hard so thankfully I haven't had to deal with such breakages! I don't have a tacho, but I don't think that I would have gone past 5000rpm in khanacross, usually because I'm so conscious of the need to drive home again. You definitely know your stuff though Greg, so I bow to your superior wisdom.