On 26 Jul 96 at 12:59, Martin Jagersand wrote:
> Sorry, I don't have any better hypothesis than you. Can't think of anything
> other than coolant that leaves a white crusty deposit, that scrapes
> off easily. These kinds of leaks can go on for quite a while. If the leak
> is small enough the deposits tend to clog the hole, and slow it down.
> Eventually
> corrosion and gasket faliures set in though, so it's good to get it fixed.
> Is the pitting only in the combustion chambers? VW doesn't recommend
> resurfacing
> the diesel head (because of the prechamber inserts of different material),
> but some shops claim they can do it anyway.
> 
> A better source for advice is Jack Ewald. I'm not sure if he's still on the
> net,
> (last heard from him several months ago), but you can try:
> 
>     vwdiesel@jackewald.win.net
> 
> And of course, a post to the vw newsgroup reaches a bigger audience of
> diesel owners. Please keep us posted about what you find out.
> 
Thanks! It fired up last night & sounder much smoother - after full 
warm up, idle seemed about 100-150 rpm higher (on the tach) which is 
a good sign. (my neighbors just *love* the sound of a diesel at high 
idle at 11:30pm... ;) I used an oil flush during the initial warm up -
and will do a coolant flush tonight before test driving, since the 
rad is still original & probably has a bit of oil sludge in it.
'twas a beautiful sound to here it running after 4 nights of working 
in the heat (still 22c at 11:00pm last night...)

Shawn
'88 Westy 332k (Kyra)
'85 Jetta TD 350k (Jenni)