Overheating motor on my crewcab

[flatfourfan]

I read through the beetle overheating thread and didn't see anything, so i thought I'd post my dilema.

1600TP, when I got this motor it was running fine, a *friend* (uhuh)needed some cash so I let him do an oil seal kit replacement on the motor. After 3 weeks I pick up the motor cause he's still not done and found this.





He'd left the carb of the baseplate and water went down the intake, passed the pistons and ended up in the sump. I stripped the motor down to pistons and rings, luckily there was no damage. Here's the deal, the bus overheats after about 20 minutes of driving.

It has a 009 on it, and has been like that even when the motor was owned by the previous owner, The motor is 100% stock.

I've replaced the fuel pump, timing is spot on, but this sucker overheats. All engine tin is in place, engine compartment seal is there, but this problem persists..I'm pulling the motor tommorrow and I want to strip it down again. Any help?

What's the chance some sludge has ended up in the oil cooler and it's blocked? Wouldn't it blow the cooler seals though?

[calooker]

VW built in pressure relief valves in the case, so no, seals on the cooler will hold out even if the cooler became blocked. I would have rebuilt the motor just for peace of mind water seems harmless to start but it can quickly corrode and pit any internal parts as you found externally, but it is no use crying over spilt milk, you can do it now. How do you tell if it is hot? do you have gauges? I take it that this motor is running in a T2. Firstly I would dump the 009 dizzy it has no place in a std motor, they tend to make the motor run hotter especially on No.3 cylinder use the std. vacuum advance dizzy (a WBX one would be a bonus they can even retard timing) as intended by the factory, it will be more efficient on consumption as well, and normally the motor has a flat spot with the 009. If your carb runs lean it will cause a increase in temp, it will be better to run slightly richer than slightly leaner mix, if you are running a standard Solex 34 PICT 3 it is likely got a 127,5 main jet get it opened to a 130 or get a main jet from the old golf1 solex 34 PICT 4. Timing is another issue that can be addressed, you say your timing is 100% but you need to remember that many different pulleys were made with slightly different timing marks from 1100 to 1600 they are no all the same even the 1600's have different ones, the notches on your pulley could be wrong for your particular motor. To check timing exactly 100% you need a digital timing light that gives you all the details, timing revs, dwell etc. it is a big help, no fidling no guessing, advance the timing to a max of 28 deg. @ 3000 rpm with the vac hum pipe disconnected. Another issue is CR. heads could have been fly cut, and the case decked both things affect CR. higher CR. increases temp. There are a couple of things you can do, If you are running a generator make sure that it has the later model fan on the back the wider on as used in with alternators are wider and blow more air, make sure the groove on the genny backing plate is pointing down, another thing you can look at is the fan cowling, use the one for the larger offset oil cooler (doghouse) as well as the cooler, you can also fit an external oil cooler in the air flow by the box. (I'm getting good at typing, never typed so much in my life)

[vader]

Two things i would check... are you sure your buddy fitted the "Forget me not" plates below the cylinders on both sides. And the other thing I did was to buy 3" aircon ducting and attach it to the rear suspention on both sides and then feed it up behind the fan cowl. Place a fine mesh over the inlet to stop leaves and shit gettin in. This will supply ample air flow to the engine and increase the cooling. There is an artical on the Guides section which will explain it in more depth.

[flatfourfan]

Thanks for the input guys.

How do I tell if it's hot?..................it cuts out and you can't touch ANYTHING on the engine bay.......... ..........that day out to swartkops, it cut out and I had to be towed the rest of the way to the meet.

I would have loved to rebuild the motor, but at that stage money was tight and my bus had been standing for over a year at dirks house and HAD to get out. The motor is in my type 2. The 009 is going anyway as it was only ever bought for my *other* motor. Pretty much all of the things with the exception of the larger jet on the 34 has been done.

I fitted the latter doghouse oil cooler with the bigger fan as well. The timing was done using a digital timing light. Once my bench at home's been cleaned I can start with teardown.

Funny thing is this motor ran for over a year perfectly in the fleetline that it used to be in...........only started giving grief with me.

[calooker]

If it has got so hot that it causes the motor to cut out I'm surprised it didn't seize, maybe you got lucky, this is a good time for a rebuild, if it has overheated several times it probably warped the cylinders, and you are looking at a re bore and new pistons, get the heads fly-cut to make sure they seat nicely again, while they're out get them rebuilt, a light port job on the exhaust ports will help get rid of a bit of the exhaust heat quicker (they are very restrictive in std form), if you are not using the heater boxes for the heater get rid of them use J-pipes (less heat under the heads) as well as a 4-1 branch, block off the heater outlets on the shroud, check the CR, stay under 8 to 1, buy a new fan belt, make sure it doesn't slip, get the block hot dipped, then clean all the passages real clean, get the oil cooler flushed out at a radiator place, it can collect a lot of crap over the years, it is amazing the abuse a air cooled motor can handle.

[flatfourfan]

Yup......I'm thinking the same. Rebuild time.

I'm also surprised that it didn't seize up already. I'm seriously thinking of letting the big motor project go and sell all I have on that side to fund my new build.............

Anyone interested in a set of 36 DRLA's with a rebuild kit, manifolds and a complete brand new airfilter/ linkage kit???