Aircooled VW South Africa

I actually towed the trailer to the show with the T4 and did the same on the way home. Driving home I had to keep the revs up to prevent stalling and the power was right down.
Tudor came up to look at the engine on Thursday and discovered that there is no compression on cylinder no. 4. 1, 2 & 3 are perfect.
This is very worrying and now I have no choice other than to pull out the engine to strip it.
What a nightmare!

Well Tudor and Mike came up today and started stripping the engine, they had a bit of a nightmare, the LPG wiring is spliced into the ECU harness , we had to cut this cable as it would stop the engine coming out. The exhaust probe bracket also had to come off, they managed to get the the exhaust probe louse but its stuck in the exhaust. Tudor and Mike were on the engine from 4 till 10 tonight, they had a real nightmare. Tomorrow it will be out for sure, I'll take some pics in the morning.

Good luck with the engine, not a nice job,

Scary till you know whats wrong, then its just painful.

Herman

Tudor and Mike came back up this afternoon and finally got the engine out. They had hell of a job, the LPG ECU had been spliced into the engine loom, this meant that all the cables had to be cut to get the engine back in. When I put the engine back in I'll solder in a plug and socket. The exhaust had a probe fitted which is about 18" long it was jammed all the way in.

Well as you can see the Crank Shaft Oil Seal is leaking its brand new, only 18 mths old and was fitted properly.
The oil dipstick bellows from VW Heritage is balloned up and ruined after only 18 mths.
The oil pressure switch from GSF is leaking from the centre it is also only 18 mths old.
Tudor rang me up and gave me the bad news. Both heads are fried, the guides are ruined, the valves are ruined and so are the seats.
Its the worst case he has ever seen, it seems that the LPG is to blame it has been washing the oil out, the good news is that the pistons, cylinders and rings are good.
Apparently the LPG should have an oiling system fitted and it hasn't been done.
I can't believe how scruffy the engine looks and how there are rusty bits on the tinware.
Oh well I'll just have to clean it all up again.

Sorry, must have missed it, but are you running on LP Gas, from a gas bottle, or are you talking of Petrol with a low lead content.

If it is Lead free petrol you use, then the type 4 engine should be able to run on it.

Just asking...??

Herman

retrovan wrote:Sorry, must have missed it, but are you running on LP Gas, from a gas bottle, or are you talking of Petrol with a low lead content.

If it is Lead free petrol you use, then the type 4 engine should be able to run on it.

Just asking...??

Herman

I have a separate tank for LPG, this has destroyed the heads on my bus. I can use unleaded petrol no problem.

Went down to see the engine today & its shocking:-


Engine mounts are shot that I bought from VW Heritage only 18 mths ago, when will these people stop selling us crap!






You can see that both exhaust valve guides are really badly worn, one has totally worn through. The exhaust valve seats have been hammered, one has gone through to the head. One inlet is badly worn on the seat and guide the other one is OK, these are the harder unleaded versions.
Tudor spoke to Richard Hargreaves who is an engine machining specialist today, for a second opinion, he said that LPG heads need specialist hardened valve guides and seats, they also need extra lubrication. Normal engines are not suitable for LPG conversion.

Tudor also does a mod to do away with the bellows:-


This another type 4 getting the Tudor treatment:-

Had a good day yesterday in the Bristol Volksfest Show:-
http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread ... 22&page=75

Still not checked the servo, but I did start pulling out the LPG. The tank and all the fittings are out.
Just got 4 big holes to weld up and 3 little ones. Too be fair 2 of the big holes are from the Propex.

Its about time I updated my thread, Tudor has been working hard on the engine I'll let the pictures do the talking:-