Lifter carnage

[JFettig]

A local on TDI Club heard some ticking, then two "pops", it died. Towed it after some attempts to re-start it, then tried to re-start it a few more times. I dropped in to diagnose and after about 15 minutes I moved the crank back slightly to align TDC and the timing belt went slack then I pulled it off... without touching the tensioner




My theory is that #1 intake lifter shredded itself, ticked, popped, then the TB tensioner failed


Then slipped... and munched every valve.

If anyone is interested, I can take some pics of it as the head comes out and the carnage it left behind. Depending on the carnage, this car may get rebuilt, may get parted.

[Crispy222]

That thing is done fore.....

[isonic]

A local on TDI Club heard some ticking, then two "pops", it died. Towed it after some attempts to re-start it, then tried to re-start it a few more times.

Didn't hey say too that when he was cranking it to try and start it that there was white smoke coming out of the front of the motor? What would have caused that?

[JK9K]

Oof. Looks borked!

[JFettig]

yeah... starter is probably toast too.

metalmanparts has a ~$1200 kit that includes pretty much everything to get it back on the road if the bottom end isn't damaged.

[sprstu]

That sucks.
Where I had my IDI head rebuilt, Tom at cylinder head service, had a few TDI heads he was also working on. If its fixable and you don't have a guy, check him out.
The engine bay looks really clean, too. How many miles? When was the belt changed?

[JFettig]

First two lifter bores are probably shot, it could potentially be repaired but I can buy that metalman head for about the same price as repairing it.

I will probably just get it a new one if the owner wants to keep it. If I buy the car off of him, I might wait it out and buy a used head and refresh it with some new valve guides.

The timing job had 50k on it. I don't think it was the cause of the failure.

[JFettig]

I'm a little unclear if one thing lead to the next or if it was just the perfect storm.

Turbo blew, lifter shredded, cam sprocket spun on cam, tensioner failed and valves hit head.
Lots more details but I'll make sure the owner doesn't care I post them first Overall its very fixable, it a toss-up for the owner whether to pay me to fix it and drive it or sell it, or just sell it as-is and cut the losses.








Little hydrolock action going on there, likely just 1 bent rod.

[3L3M3NT]

Talk about a bad day

[isonic]

Little hydrolock action going on there, likely just 1 bent rod.

How can you tell from these pics that there is hydrolock action going on? Also, how can you tell how many of the rods are bent?

[JFettig]

See the oil inside the bowls and covering the piston on the last pic? That shouldn't be there. I also measured all the piston protrusions and #2 is .010-.015" lower than the rest of them. I pulled that rod and its definitely bent, just a slight tweak and the rod bearing is slightly worn on the one edge that would have been pushing against the crank harder(crank journal not scored).

On order:
Used set of rods and pistons(easiest, cheapest, quickest option)
new head
new turbo
new bearings, seals, gaskets, nuts, bolts, timing gear, etc.
new oil pump

Parts total is nearing $3k

It could be done cheaper, like if I was doing it for myself, I'd save lots of money buying a used head and having it rebuilt, used or different turbo, etc. Time is not on our side for this project and out of the box reliability is a must for this guy.

I kind of wanted to buy this car, I have all the parts to upgrade my Passat, everything but a head, bigger injection pump and clutch to make a 200+hp car(last few items already in the Passat).

[joey944]

Having wicked flashbacks now!!!! Ugh what a mess.