Again, sorry for the repost...last one.

>From: Dan Snow <dieselvanagon@HOTMAIL.COM>
>Reply-To: Dan Snow <dieselvanagon@HOTMAIL.COM>
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: Dead diesel diagnosis/postmortem
>Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 22:19:24 -0700
>
>Ya'll may recall that I have an '82 Diesel that was free. It made an
>atrocious skreech, skreech, skreech, skreech when the motor ran. It sounded
>terminal. So tonight I finally pulled off the oilpan to find...
>Enough bronze shavings to cast a statue with. Then I peered up, rotating
>the
>motor with a 17mm socket. The cylinder walls looked shiny and unscored, but
>that is a very preliminary judgement. The crazy thing was this: the big end
>bearing cap on connecting rod #2 (second from the back of the van) looked
>funny. All the other rod ends were nice and wet with oil and are smooth and
>metallic. #2 looks like someone sandblasted it with iron oxide, and it is
>bone dry. Furthermore (those of you with tender stomachs might want to skip
>this part) there appeared to be a little bit of thin metal, like a piece of
>aluminum foil, stuck between the con rod end cap and its next door neighbor
>crankshaft piece. I got out the trusty 14mm and, on further inspection
>found
>that this foil is in fact steel or iron and it is literally being extruded
>from where there should be bearing. I was able to pry some of it away. It's
>awful.
>
>I have a friend who will sell me an apparently good dasher diesel block
>(minus head and accessories for cheap, so I am not without hope. I do have
>a
>few questions, however:
>1) Did #2 get oil starved somehow? It seems odd that this would only happen
>to one con rod. I guess engines are pretty complex systems and some
>randomness might have accumulated into a local problem...? Or is #2 a
>design
>problem?
>2) I am very poor (and even more lazy), and I wonder if there is some way I
>might just, you know, emery cloth that particular piece and put in a new
>bearing?
>3) If you are appalled by #2 and insist that I use the dasher engine, is
>there anything I should be aware of as I do the transplant? I will use my
>own head, and I wonder if bronze shavings made their way upstairs. That
>would be bad.
>4) Anything else?
>
>Daniel Snow
>PhD Student
>UC Berkeley
>
>'82 Vanagon Diesel
>'78 Puch Maxi Luxe Moped
>'72 Motobecane Mobylette Moped
>'01 Xootr Scooter
>
>
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