im screwed

acme · Post by **acme** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 7:03 pm

ok where to start.....march 06 i was able to purchase a 92 cab for $3000. Sure i thought it was kind of steep but i went for it anyways being that i always loved the car (and my mom had a rabbit when i was a kid.) The car looks mint from the paint job to the interior. The kid had it all hooked up with a pioneer soundsystem, stereo, tune up, new windshield, new tires, h.i.d.s, etc...therefore i knew that in a way it really wasnt that much of a rippoff. Thats when i made one of the most stupid decisions ever when i bought it... and i still dont care because i cream in my pants just looking at the car. Ok... first week was fine until it started overheating real bad with white smoke coming out of the exhaust and the oil light always on. I had the car towed to the bodyshop at the previous owners expense to check it out and the mechanic told me my car was posessed. (hes a douche cause everyone knows why white smoke was coming out.) whatever hes really busy to pay attention to my car. So i took it upon myself to flush out all the hoses, radiator, etc before anything else. The car was fine for a week till it started overheating again and antifreeze burst all over the place. From there on i would just drive around with coolant and oil all the time and use it every 40 miles because it would always drain out. Did that for about a month cause it was my only ride and then out of nowhere when i would shift from 2nd to 3rd gear the car would lose power... meaning there wasnt as much push while i was driving. A week after that there was a really bad thunderstorm and my car was stopped in water up to the mirrors. Pushed it out of the water to a safe spot and i was able to bring it back to life after a new starter, air filter, fuel filter, and alternator. So i attempted to change the head gasket myself (mind you i dont know shit about cars) and to my surprise the inside of the engine was covered with this hard black substance that looked like electrical tape but was hard as a rock... you couldnt even chip it off. Sludge? I dont know cause it was really hard. So whatever. Put everything back and tried to take it for a ride and it still kept on slugging along. So fast forward a couple months and here i am with my car in the garage just thinking about the day when we'll drive again. Mind you i dont regret buying the car but i wish i could drive it. Moneys tight but i have to do something about it and i dont wanna get ripped off, you know? It has 107,000 miles on it (at least thats what it reads) so im just stuck for now... any advice?

Post by **Calimus** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 11:45 pm

Is the sluggy stuff int he oil pasages? A few things you can do is flush the engine and the coolent system if you've already replaced the headgasket.

Be carefull about doing both. Flushing the oil system will strip all oil from every surface. It very well could solve your slugging problem and is the cheapest and easiest thing to try first.

What you need to do is buy several quarts of engine flush from your local autoparts store. Also pickup enough oil & oil filters to change your oil at least twice. Also pickup a new oil pan gasket.

Drop your current oil, add the flush per directions. Some say to add 1-2 quarts of flush and top with oil, other say to use straight flush, read the directions.

Once you have the flush in there, fire the car up and run it. Do not drive it, I don't care what the directions say in that case. It's fine to let the engine idle for a bit and then reve the snot outta it a few times as needed, but never put the engine under load with flush running through it. Once you've run the car long enough, let it cool down a bit and drop the oil & flush. Change the oil filter and put in fresh oil. Again, run the car, but do not drive it. Let it come up to temp, rev it a bit and then shut it down. Once cool, drop the oil again, change the oil filter and drop the oil pan.

Clean the oil pan out real well, look for metal flakes and chunks of sludge. By cleaning out the pan, you make sure that anything knocked loose doesn't end up getting picked up by the oil pump and making it's way back into the motor. The reason for the oil change right after the flush is because you want to make sure all the flush is out of the engine, or as much as possible anyway. You never want that stuff sticking around stripping the oil from parts.

Now, put the pan w/new gasket back, fill up with oil and move your attention to flushing the coolent system. You can be pretty safe fallowing the directions for the coolent flush.

If you continue to over heat, there are still several things it can be, one of them being a faulty water pump or clogged/leacking heater core or even the main radiator.

Oil system issues could stem from blocked oil passages or a tired oil pump. If you are to replace the pump, I suggest picking up the pump for the 2L 8v. It's only a little extra $$ and it will move the oil much better.

Worse case for the engine is a warped head, which means that even with a new head gasket, it won't last long. VW heads can be shave to make them straight again, but not very much at all. A machine shop can tell you if the head is warped and how much they would have to shave to make it right.

Other option for the engine is called a hot tank. This is where the engine must be totally torn down. I would almost see about picking up another engine rather then go the hot tank method. Unless you want to build a massive motor, then hot tank away and start ripping into that bad boy.

Post by **Briano1234** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 11:22 am

Also the Radiator needs to be flushed, that is where you run Rad flush throught the entire system then break the hose connection at the upper radiator and with a hose run clear water throught the hose till is stops spewing out the block with clear water, then take the hose and flush the block till it comes out clear in the radiator side.

Then you can break the hoses on the heater core mext to the fire wall and do the same.

Replace the Thermostat. This is the cheapest form of insurance. This will finish draining the block.

Add coolant to system you should be good to go......

If you start your car, and the water hoses pressurize then you still probably have a blown head gasket.

You didn't say if the smoke (white) was sweet smelling as that indicates a blown head gasket, or it if was oily. possibly still a blown head gasket there too.

If there is black goo in the radiator res, then that is also a possible head gasket too.

Caddycabby · Post by **Caddycabby** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 2:51 am

did you say black goo? sorry to but in but when I was in b.c. the cabby would overheat and i'm going "what the crap" right. I opened the coolant reservoir and pulled out some black shmeng. Havent had a problem since. does this mean bad for the future?

Post by **Briano1234** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 7:37 am

Caddycabby wrote:did you say black goo? sorry to but in but when I was in b.c. the cabby would overheat and i'm going "what the crap" right. I opened the coolant reservoir and pulled out some black shmeng. Havent had a problem since. does this mean bad for the future?

Yes and no, if you ahve an oil cooler that may be the cause a pinhole leak that sealed itself... Or a bad head gasket...

Oil in water is never any good, and water in oil ain't good either...

Caddycabby · Post by **Caddycabby** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 12:33 am

whats an oil coooler?

Post by **Briano1234** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 1:24 am

Its a thing that attaches to above your oil filter that runs to your radiator hoses and keeps the oil at the rad tempratures