1978 vw bus FI 2.0

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khargis
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Re: 1978 vw bus FI 2.0

Post by khargis » Thu Aug 06, 2015 7:24 am

After!
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'slow n' steady'

Jivermo
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Re: 1978 vw bus FI 2.0

Post by Jivermo » Thu Aug 06, 2015 9:39 am

All right!

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Amskeptic
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Re: 1978 vw bus FI 2.0

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Aug 10, 2015 12:09 am

khargis wrote:After!
Man, my fingers are crossed for you, looks really good.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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khargis
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Re: 1978 vw bus FI 2.0

Post by khargis » Mon Aug 10, 2015 7:30 am

Yesterday was day one on the road to work, smooth as a whistle. Will check valves tomorrow morning and continue to break her in slow. Feels Purd good I must say!
'slow n' steady'

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Amskeptic
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Re: 1978 vw bus FI 2.0

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Aug 13, 2015 11:07 am

khargis wrote:Yesterday was day one on the road to work, smooth as a whistle. Will check valves tomorrow morning and continue to break her in slow. Feels Purd good I must say!
A proud moment that I will never get was my first engine overhaul drive.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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khargis
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Re: 1978 vw bus FI 2.0

Post by khargis » Thu Aug 13, 2015 11:46 am

I have a question for y'all. I recently finished a top-end rebuild after my no. 1exhaust valve almost blew thru the piston and ended up installing a Oil temp gauge for now, instead of the Dakota Digital (which will probably be added in time), but as I was driving today in Boise, ID (103 degrees at 12pm), I found myself getting nervous that the Oil temp gauge was around 225'. I am still in the 'breaking in the engine stage' and I didn't drive that long, but found myself a slave to the gauge. Is this normal? What is the normal running temperature? In hot weather? When should you pull over in the shade, soak your feet in the river, and let your engine cool down? Thanks folks.
Kris
'slow n' steady'

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asiab3
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Re: 1978 vw bus FI 2.0

Post by asiab3 » Thu Aug 13, 2015 2:03 pm

khargis wrote:I have a question for y'all. I recently finished a top-end rebuild after my no. 1exhaust valve almost blew thru the piston and ended up installing a Oil temp gauge for now, instead of the Dakota Digital (which will probably be added in time), but as I was driving today in Boise, ID (103 degrees at 12pm), I found myself getting nervous that the Oil temp gauge was around 225'. I am still in the 'breaking in the engine stage' and I didn't drive that long, but found myself a slave to the gauge. Is this normal? What is the normal running temperature? In hot weather? When should you pull over in the shade, soak your feet in the river, and let your engine cool down? Thanks folks.
Kris
Hi Kris,

Where is your temperature sender located? Measurements from different parts of the engine will give drastically different readings. For instance, oil in the rocker area of the head will be hotter than oil in the bottom of the sump. I'm not one to stress over oil temperatures; the water-cooled mentality of "oh no you're going to boil over!" doesn't happen much, if at all, with these engines. Too little oil is an issue, sure, so keep it around the full mark. I KNOW that if I had an oil temp gauge I might freak out on hot summer days. I have a pressure gauge, and in three years with it I've never saved myself an engine failure. Once, on a hot day, it showed slightly low pressure on a highway flog, and at the next gas stop, where I was going to check my oil level anyway, I found it to be low.

Some people put their temp senders in the relief plugs (ew) or pressure sender gallery. None of those locations see constant circulation, so you're only really going to be reading the case temps there. I like the T3 dipstick block off plate for a sender, or a drain plug sender that I saw on an old bug I looked at. But again, different locations will give different readings. Where's yours?

Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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khargis
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Re: 1978 vw bus FI 2.0

Post by khargis » Thu Aug 13, 2015 3:08 pm

Hey there Robbie. It is located in the inspection plate.
Kris
'slow n' steady'

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jcbrock
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Re: 1978 vw bus FI 2.0

Post by jcbrock » Thu Aug 13, 2015 3:52 pm

khargis wrote:I am still in the 'breaking in the engine stage' and I didn't drive that long, but found myself a slave to the gauge. Is this normal?
If you are asking if it is normal to be a slave to the gauge, based on Colin's very frequent CHT postings I would say it is. This makes the assumption though that Colin (or indeed any of us) is normal, which would be a much longer conversation.

If on the other hand, you're asking if 225F is ok, I can't answer that. Ours doesn't have a gauge.
'76 Type II Station Wagon - in the family since new!
Corvallis, OR

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Randy in Maine
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Re: 1978 vw bus FI 2.0

Post by Randy in Maine » Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:02 pm

No problem with 225º Oil Temps.
79 VW Bus

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khargis
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Re: 1978 vw bus FI 2.0

Post by khargis » Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:08 pm

jcbrock wrote:
khargis wrote:I am still in the 'breaking in the engine stage' and I didn't drive that long, but found myself a slave to the gauge. Is this normal?
If you are asking if it is normal to be a slave to the gauge, based on Colin's very frequent CHT postings I would say it is. This makes the assumption though that Colin (or indeed any of us) is normal, which would be a much longer conversation.
That was pretty funny. Thank ya folks.
Kris
'slow n' steady'

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wcfvw69
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Re: 1978 vw bus FI 2.0

Post by wcfvw69 » Thu Aug 13, 2015 4:52 pm

Gauges? I don't need no stinking gauges!

I've never ran gauges on any of my VW's over the past 40 years. I'm pretty anal about insuring my engines are tuned, timed and serviced correctly, with all the parts on them that them smart German engineers designed. I don't want to be focused on my dash. I'd rather be looking outside the windshield at the beauty passing me by.

This is a frequent topic on classic air cooled VW websites. Some swear by gauges, while others (like me) never saw a need for them. We also realized that millions of these air cooled VW's drove all over the country in the 60's, 70's and 80's just fine w/out them.
1970 Westfalia bus. Stock 1776 dual port type 1 engine. Restored German Solex 34-3. Restored 205Q distributor, restored to factory appearance engine.

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Bleyseng
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Re: 1978 vw bus FI 2.0

Post by Bleyseng » Thu Aug 13, 2015 6:30 pm

khargis wrote:I have a question for y'all. I recently finished a top-end rebuild after my no. 1exhaust valve almost blew thru the piston and ended up installing a Oil temp gauge for now, instead of the Dakota Digital (which will probably be added in time), but as I was driving today in Boise, ID (103 degrees at 12pm), I found myself getting nervous that the Oil temp gauge was around 225'. I am still in the 'breaking in the engine stage' and I didn't drive that long, but found myself a slave to the gauge. Is this normal? What is the normal running temperature? In hot weather? When should you pull over in the shade, soak your feet in the river, and let your engine cool down? Thanks folks.
Kris
225F is just great as its boiling out the water vapor but 250F is pushing it..

I like gauges as then I know what is going on vs my head in the sand until it blows up.
Geoff
77 Sage Green Westy- CS 2.0L-160,000 miles
70 Ghia vert, black, stock 1600SP,- 139,000 miles,
76 914 2.1L-Nepal Orange- 160,000+ miles
http://bleysengaway.blogspot.com/

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wcfvw69
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Re: 1978 vw bus FI 2.0

Post by wcfvw69 » Thu Aug 13, 2015 7:31 pm

Bleyseng wrote:
khargis wrote:I have a question for y'all. I recently finished a top-end rebuild after my no. 1exhaust valve almost blew thru the piston and ended up installing a Oil temp gauge for now, instead of the Dakota Digital (which will probably be added in time), but as I was driving today in Boise, ID (103 degrees at 12pm), I found myself getting nervous that the Oil temp gauge was around 225'. I am still in the 'breaking in the engine stage' and I didn't drive that long, but found myself a slave to the gauge. Is this normal? What is the normal running temperature? In hot weather? When should you pull over in the shade, soak your feet in the river, and let your engine cool down? Thanks folks.
Kris
225F is just great as its boiling out the water vapor but 250F is pushing it..

I like gauges as then I know what is going on vs my head in the sand until it blows up.
There was a shop bulletin from Volkswagen of Australia in the 60's about engine oil temps. I've seen it on the Samba posted by a VW guru down under. It stated oil temps up to 250-260 would be acceptable in certain conditions. I lost a copy I made of it but it was interesting to read it. I'll have to see if I can find it again.

I've seen temperatures in the 220-230 range in summer time Phoenix heat, during freeway runs in perfectly turned, stock engines and didn't get excited about it. I'd quickly pull over and shoot the engine sump with a laser temp gauge.
1970 Westfalia bus. Stock 1776 dual port type 1 engine. Restored German Solex 34-3. Restored 205Q distributor, restored to factory appearance engine.

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Amskeptic
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Re: 1978 vw bus FI 2.0

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Aug 18, 2015 7:26 am

wcfvw69 wrote:
Bleyseng wrote:
khargis wrote:I have a question for y'all. I recently finished a top-end rebuild after my no. 1exhaust valve almost blew thru the piston and ended up installing a Oil temp gauge for now, instead of the Dakota Digital (which will probably be added in time), but as I was driving today in Boise, ID (103 degrees at 12pm), I found myself getting nervous that the Oil temp gauge was around 225'. I am still in the 'breaking in the engine stage' and I didn't drive that long, but found myself a slave to the gauge. Is this normal? What is the normal running temperature? In hot weather? When should you pull over in the shade, soak your feet in the river, and let your engine cool down? Thanks folks.
Kris
225F is just great as its boiling out the water vapor but 250F is pushing it..

I like gauges as then I know what is going on vs my head in the sand until it blows up.
There was a shop bulletin from Volkswagen of Australia in the 60's about engine oil temps. I've seen it on the Samba posted by a VW guru down under. It stated oil temps up to 250-260 would be acceptable in certain conditions. I lost a copy I made of it but it was interesting to read it. I'll have to see if I can find it again.

I've seen temperatures in the 220-230 range in summer time Phoenix heat, during freeway runs in perfectly turned, stock engines and didn't get excited about it. I'd quickly pull over and shoot the engine sump with a laser temp gauge.
Your sense of smell will tell you all you need to know as far as oil temps. Once you have smelled the acrid stench of burnt oil, you don't forget it. Normally oil has a very nice almost sweet smell.

I hit 264* with RandyInMaine's Commemorative Loaner VDO Oil Temperature Gauge in 2005 I think it was, with a heat soak at a gas station of damn close to 280*, but the oil looked fine, smelled fine, the head surfaces inside the valve covers were clean wet caramel, so don't worry about it! If you change your oil every 3,000-5,000 miles (once a month for me :geek: ), you are very very very very unlikely ever to see any evidence of oil breakdown, so drive already.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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