Southern California Rattus Rattus
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2015 9:37 pm
Owing to difficulties with scheduling, on both my and Colin's parts, we arranged for a half day in the middle of the week. There didn't seem to be any pressing issues, so a lazy half-day setting timing, cleaning this and polishing that seemed in order. The weather cooperated, and was nicely in the high 70s-low 80s.
My primary concern was rough running (surging and stalling), occasional difficult starts and doing the timing from the valves up. A cursory inspection of the engine showed a bit too much wetness on the top of the engine in the general vicinity of the oil tower; so we tightened that up (all four nuts were demonstrably loose) and I was instructed to "keep an eye on it" to see if the dampness returned. However...
The fuel lines run right through there, and you may or may not remember that I had to replace leaky fuel line at the injectors
here: viewtopic.php?f=42&t=12541
a few months ago, so I guess it shouldn't be a surprise, but when we were moving the fuel lines around a bit, significant seepage emerged.
I'm always amazed at how fuel line can look just fine, but even a simple nudge will show that it's completely failed and gas starts seeping out.
Luckily, I had on hand a good length of BMW corded fuel line, enough to do the other injectors (I'd only done the driver's side earlier) and the return lines from the fuel rail. The inbound (inflow? influx? gas-putting-in-direction?) lines seemed OK ~ at least no obvious problems, so those did not get done. I will be acquiring more fuel line shortly, and that will be addressed.
An issue that was new to me, and shows how valuable it is to have Colin (or anyone who knows what they're doing I guess) emerged with the fuel lines to the injectors. When I replaced the fuel lines a few years ago there, I removed clamps on the fuel rail side of the short hoses that go to the fuel injectors, then pulled the old hose off, saving the small metal collar that butted up against the injectors. I carefully replaced them when I installed the new hose.
Because I was now working on the passenger side, I did the same thing, tossing the little collars into the magnetic nut bowl so I could carefully replace them. As I did so, they drew Colin's attention and he looked at me puzzled and asked, "why did you put those on?"
"I didn't," I replied, "they are original to the engine; that is, it came that way to me. It's how the factory does it I guess."
"No." piped Colin. "If they came from the factory, they'd be swedged."
"Swedged. Swejud. Suegued." I turned that over for a moment; I had never heard this word before, and didn't know what it meant, so I did what any 15 year old would do, and pretend like I did know what it meant. "No, they're never 'squeegeed' from the factory..."
Colin: ". . ."
Me: "So, um... what does swedged mean?"*
"It's a kind of crimping," drawled Colin. "See, these collars are supposed to be crimped down to hold the fuel line on the injector side. Right now, there's nothing holding the fuel line on that side, because the collars are just sitting there." He arched his eyebrows at me, and let the implications of that sink in.
Off he went to his van to get more clamps. You will be not be surprised, dear reader, to discover that my clamps were insufficient for Colin's exacting standards. (In fairness: his argument was that the clamps were too large for the application, meaning that in order to get them tight enough to hold, they clamp will be out-of-round such that it won't be able to properly do it's job. Point taken.) He returned with a few clamps of moderately better fit (but lower quality...) and realized we didn't have enough. Not to worry though; I have a bunch. I. Just. Have. To. Find. Them.
See, we recently moved; most everything that isn't immediately needed is in a state of disarray so complete you'd think it'd been achieved with eons and a steady application of entropy. I went off in search of clamps, while Colin enjoyed a diet Coke and a regular smoke. I returned with my clamps (and a plethora of original VW items ~ drain stoppers, outlet plates... I tell you my friends, that stuff is gold. Gold!) and resolved the fuel line issues, putting everything back together.
With only about 1.5 hours left (Mr. Colin was on a schedule) we attacked the original problem of rough running. We assumed the valves are good (set last year) and checked the timing. All looked as it should, so we drove around a bit, got some gas, and gave Colin quite an excellent sense of the running problems. "Surging" was the word of the moment, and well... why? Why should it do that? We made some adjustments at the gas station (now doubt offending some of the nouveau riche in their Lexi and BMWs) and disconnected the oxygen sensor.
It drove much more sedately now, then for a moment returned to it's surging ways. It was as if there were one last gasp of ornery rat stuck in there, the ethereal remnants of the once numerous rodent denizens who made this old van home. A few more adjustments to the idle and the air did the trick. The van is running so sweetly that it shall soon appear in another spot here. I'll be taking a few days off and driving up to see family ~ 1700 miles round trip through lovely western US summer days. If all goes well, then I'll start posting in the camping section, and you can all see just how far a rat can go.
*************************
*Swedge: swedge (third-person singular simple present swedges, present participle swedging, simple past and past participle swedged) To shape metal using a hammer or other force. (colloquial) To leave (a restaurant etc.) without paying.
My primary concern was rough running (surging and stalling), occasional difficult starts and doing the timing from the valves up. A cursory inspection of the engine showed a bit too much wetness on the top of the engine in the general vicinity of the oil tower; so we tightened that up (all four nuts were demonstrably loose) and I was instructed to "keep an eye on it" to see if the dampness returned. However...
The fuel lines run right through there, and you may or may not remember that I had to replace leaky fuel line at the injectors
here: viewtopic.php?f=42&t=12541
a few months ago, so I guess it shouldn't be a surprise, but when we were moving the fuel lines around a bit, significant seepage emerged.
I'm always amazed at how fuel line can look just fine, but even a simple nudge will show that it's completely failed and gas starts seeping out.
Luckily, I had on hand a good length of BMW corded fuel line, enough to do the other injectors (I'd only done the driver's side earlier) and the return lines from the fuel rail. The inbound (inflow? influx? gas-putting-in-direction?) lines seemed OK ~ at least no obvious problems, so those did not get done. I will be acquiring more fuel line shortly, and that will be addressed.
An issue that was new to me, and shows how valuable it is to have Colin (or anyone who knows what they're doing I guess) emerged with the fuel lines to the injectors. When I replaced the fuel lines a few years ago there, I removed clamps on the fuel rail side of the short hoses that go to the fuel injectors, then pulled the old hose off, saving the small metal collar that butted up against the injectors. I carefully replaced them when I installed the new hose.
Because I was now working on the passenger side, I did the same thing, tossing the little collars into the magnetic nut bowl so I could carefully replace them. As I did so, they drew Colin's attention and he looked at me puzzled and asked, "why did you put those on?"
"I didn't," I replied, "they are original to the engine; that is, it came that way to me. It's how the factory does it I guess."
"No." piped Colin. "If they came from the factory, they'd be swedged."
"Swedged. Swejud. Suegued." I turned that over for a moment; I had never heard this word before, and didn't know what it meant, so I did what any 15 year old would do, and pretend like I did know what it meant. "No, they're never 'squeegeed' from the factory..."
Colin: ". . ."
Me: "So, um... what does swedged mean?"*
"It's a kind of crimping," drawled Colin. "See, these collars are supposed to be crimped down to hold the fuel line on the injector side. Right now, there's nothing holding the fuel line on that side, because the collars are just sitting there." He arched his eyebrows at me, and let the implications of that sink in.
Off he went to his van to get more clamps. You will be not be surprised, dear reader, to discover that my clamps were insufficient for Colin's exacting standards. (In fairness: his argument was that the clamps were too large for the application, meaning that in order to get them tight enough to hold, they clamp will be out-of-round such that it won't be able to properly do it's job. Point taken.) He returned with a few clamps of moderately better fit (but lower quality...) and realized we didn't have enough. Not to worry though; I have a bunch. I. Just. Have. To. Find. Them.
See, we recently moved; most everything that isn't immediately needed is in a state of disarray so complete you'd think it'd been achieved with eons and a steady application of entropy. I went off in search of clamps, while Colin enjoyed a diet Coke and a regular smoke. I returned with my clamps (and a plethora of original VW items ~ drain stoppers, outlet plates... I tell you my friends, that stuff is gold. Gold!) and resolved the fuel line issues, putting everything back together.
With only about 1.5 hours left (Mr. Colin was on a schedule) we attacked the original problem of rough running. We assumed the valves are good (set last year) and checked the timing. All looked as it should, so we drove around a bit, got some gas, and gave Colin quite an excellent sense of the running problems. "Surging" was the word of the moment, and well... why? Why should it do that? We made some adjustments at the gas station (now doubt offending some of the nouveau riche in their Lexi and BMWs) and disconnected the oxygen sensor.
It drove much more sedately now, then for a moment returned to it's surging ways. It was as if there were one last gasp of ornery rat stuck in there, the ethereal remnants of the once numerous rodent denizens who made this old van home. A few more adjustments to the idle and the air did the trick. The van is running so sweetly that it shall soon appear in another spot here. I'll be taking a few days off and driving up to see family ~ 1700 miles round trip through lovely western US summer days. If all goes well, then I'll start posting in the camping section, and you can all see just how far a rat can go.
*************************
*Swedge: swedge (third-person singular simple present swedges, present participle swedging, simple past and past participle swedged) To shape metal using a hammer or other force. (colloquial) To leave (a restaurant etc.) without paying.