Karl,

Thanks for investigating and sharing the cause of your 1.9l TD's
untimely passing away. Hopefully this info will save someone else's.

> my shop (to change the oil!), the oil light was flickering on and off, and
> the brake vacuum pump was not working well.

In addition it is usually possible to hear the timing belt screech - even
in the rear installation.

It makes sense to periodically inspect the timing belt for tension and
wear. It should twist about 45degrees at correct tension. If you see
black dust in the timing belt cover and traces of several groves on the
belt it is the intermediate shaft that's slipping. If it is one ridge
on the middle it's the tensioner pulley. (Replace pulley).

Another possible failure mode is that a large piece of debris gets sucked
through the oil pump screen and jams the oil pump.

/Martin
--
Westy 1.9l Turbo Diesel
Quantum 1.6l Turbo Diesel

Martin Jagersand                 email: jag@cs.yale.edu
Computer Science Department             jag@cs.rochester.edu
Yale University

        Slow down and visit the VW diesel Westy page:
          WWW: http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/jag/vw
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