[diesel_mercedes] Engine Failures

 

Oh, yeah ~ the #3 exhaust valve in air cooled VW engines would slip it's collets and drop into the cylinder and often would flip 180 * and when the piston came back up again an instant later, the valve would get pressed right through the piston .

If you were lucky, it's remain stuck there and the engine could usually be saved .

More often the cheapo two piece alloyed valve's head would detach and be punched right through the piston's crown then get pinched between the #3 rod as it came 'round and blow a 2" hole in the top of the crankcase .

There were _so_ many such destroyed engines littering the shop that I listened to a Muldoon kinda guy and taught my self how to patch the hole in the block and them install one good used rod with a new bearing shell, re assemble with good used cylinders and heads after thoroughly washing the crud and bits of alloy out in the greymills solvent tank, re dress the engine and put it into a cheap used VW ~ I sold dozens if not hundreds of cars so repaired , because they all got new seals and cleaned up, re painted sheet metal , careful tuning so on and so forth, I never had a single one fail or come back .

In fact, many told me I'd sold them a tremendous bargain with a rebuilt engine, I always said 'not, it's not rebuilt' but they were happy Customers getting clean strong running Beetles for about $600 .

On the shop desk (an ancient oak thing) I also had a BIG Diesel piston and a tiny Honda 50CC piston plus a whole shelf of broken cranks and other grenaded/ruined parts to show Customers what could happen if they didn't take care of the car .


Many bought a $600 Beetle and ran it into the ground in 5 ~ 6 years them sold it back to me to repair, repaint and sell again .

Good times, happy Customers .

BTW : all this smoking and fuel problems I have suffered make me worry endlessly about how long this 300CD engine will last......

-Nate
       Max   wrote :

Wow. Good info. I trust this guy. The shop I worked in back in the 70's in Oregon, was Vw, Mercedes and Volvo. Kind of like Muldoon's out in Arizona. Anyway the guy had a Vw piston, #3 in the window for viewing, yep had the valve stuck to it. Any old Vw mechanic has seen that. I wonder how many guys on this list have taken their injectors out, or even know how to time one of these engines. I learned that once, but have forgotten. Used a coke bottle and a vinyl tube, hooked up to #1 injector line on the pump and blew. The idea was to just hang a bubble in the coke bottle with water in it. Something like that. I have never done anything to any of my Mercedes injectors. I don't think I have that much energy anymore. Max

On Tue, Jan 16, 2018 at 3:12 PM, vwnate1@... [diesel_mercedes] <diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com> wrote:


That's a good one Brian ;

I hope everyone watches it .

Working in any shop that does overhauls/rebuilds, teaches you quickly that routine HOT oil and filter changes are critical to long engine life .

-Nate
        Brian   wrote :

Having worked in an auto parts machine shop when I was a wee lad, this video brought joy to my heart.   https://mercedessource.com/ problems/engine/what-causes- early-diesel-engine-death

Brian from 98338
with May and Martha
Twin 1983 300d's



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