Oil Leak

[CatDaddy]

Hey Folks,:)

I just bought my Ghia not long ago, It had been sitting awhile and had some dry rot on it. I had a bad gas line which I replaced last week. It had been blowing oil but I figured it was because they had been running about a quart to much. Well.....Today something gave out...I was thinking it was an old hose dry rotted going to the oil cooler....Not:eek: I started pulling the engine this evening and probably will end up putting new seals in. It was a little distressing at first....but I enjoyed myself and am getting to know my car better, I drained the oil, disconnected and removed the air-conditioner, exhaust, carbureters and most of the electrical components in the way. Then it got dark. I 'll be pulling the engine tommorrow. I am anxious to have a look back there. I couldn't see from underneath exactly where it was but it seemed to be coming from around the flywheel. We'll see..... to be continued....

[CatDaddy]

Continued....

With the help of Mr. Bob we pulled the motor(good to have friends that love to work on vws;). it turned out to be a hose after all:o . I have a modified oil cooler underneath the car. the place where the oilcooler was on back of the motor has a machined plate with hose attachment that lead to the oil cooler of course. It seems one of the hoses was not put on properly(let's hope) and the pressure from the high rpms I sometimes put my ghia through:rolleyes: blew the hose out. Well we modified it a little. Put some very strong cement(3m) on the attachment and also twisted stailess steel wire on the back so if it does get ready to blow again it won't just go all of a sudden, it might not blow off at all.....though I wonder if this could lead to another problem. Now as I said before they were running way to much oil in the motor so this could have definitely had some effect on what occured. Any way We got the motor back in and Bob left me to putting everything back together again. I worked till after dark and used some flood lights but at 10 pm I was just too tired. Could have tried to start it but wanted to wait till morning to be wide awake and do a double check.So if it starts and works ok here in a couple hours all that will left to do is put the bling bling and fufu on. I'll let you know what happens.......

[CatDaddy]

Well Folks.....

It has been a long day. I got every thing back together, took off the spoked wheels and replaced them with Stock Ghia rims with some dynamite stainless steel beauty rings....but I am looking for some nice Ghia hubcaps if any one has some they would like to sell let me know.... Any way I took the Ghia around the block a couple times and no oil leaks ....that was good.... but it is now missing though that nasty back fire is gone. So any way I was doing the work on it in Moody Texas and was driving it back home to Cedar Park and decided to stop and check to make sure everything was good..... it seemed the engine was hotter than usual. Checked for oil leaks...none...checked the oil on th dipstick....fine, turned the ignition on so I could listen for the oil cooler fan...heard it....ah well maybe my imagination....so I kept on...well by the time I got to Cedar Park a good 65 miles down the road and after several stops to check things I knew that engine was running hot:mad: ...but I don't know why....I am hooking the engine temp gauge back up tommorrow( I neglected to do this which could have cost me an engine) to see how hot it is running....I called Kurt who owned the car before me and whose house I was doing the work at....and explained to him the problem....he stated that it could be we hooked up the hoses backwards.....:eek: If anyone has any Ideas on this let me know.....I guess I will take the upper part of the motor (the Fan housing) off tommorrow and take another gander. Anyone not doing anything and wants to check it out come on by...just drop me a line, I check things here regularly.....To be continued again:o

[CatDaddy]

Well folks now that I have hit the bed and am settling in forthe night....I started thinking about the people that have helped me in my endeavors in the past few days. Without these people it would have been a lot harder for me to accomplish any work on the Ghia. Even though there are some things to be done and probably mistakes made they helped in teaching and enlightening me on Ghia mechanics. Kurt and Joe who were the guys that restored the Ghia, let me use thier garage, gave me valuable information on the mechanics of the Ghia and how to take it apart.(and then let me do it). Bob who also had a hand in the creation of the Ghia's oil cooler, who helped me remove the motor and find the fawlty hose that popped.....repairing the hose and making it better. Kurt also let me use his new Silverado while my car was down to get back and forth to my wife in the evening.....my experience with VW enthusiasts so far has been all positive. Though I am new to this culture I am looking forward to future experiences. The last few days have been fun and challenging. I like that. Till tommorow.....

[CatDaddy]

Hey y'all,

Well I hooked up my temperature gauge and low and behold I was imagining all of it. Just tired and paranoid I guess. That and the car was running so badly I thought for sure I f---ed something up. So I called my favorite mechanic.....my Dad. Told him what was going on and he knew exactly what it was...one of my carbureters was not sealed good enough....I took a wrench and low and behold there was a couple bolts that still needed torqued down. The hint was that the motor would rev itself up....Sucking air, running lean...that was why the backfire had disappeared. Guess what came back after I torqued those bolts down? yep.... the back fire. So I looked at the Idle adjustments and realized just how off they were.... Got the idle down to about 8to 9000 and ABRACADABRA no backfire. It was running so smooth I thought it had died at the light a couple times. But.....after running to Jonestown and back. it was back to 12000 rpms again and the backfire was back....so I adjusted it again.....It ran great and then back to 12 thousand RPMS again and the backfire.... It keeps coming out of adjustment....Though it gets me around and runs decent on the highway it is not right and needs some resolution... the backfire is a poppingnoise like popcorn cook'in after it is almost done...just a pop here and a pop there. I am no mechanic but I am learning in my old age....I like this stuff....If anyone has any Ideas why this is coming out of adjustment let me know. I am just so relieved I did not burn my motor all to hell:D