Engine touble with my 89 scirroco.

I have a Big problem wit my beloved car. I was sat at a roundabout and the engine was idling away merily and the it spluttered and just died on me and now it wont restart at all. Everything still turns on the alternator side of things but it doesnt fire at all!! when turning the engine over it doesnt sound riht and not beng a mechanic i dunno what im doing i only have my trusted haynes manual which isnt really helping me at the moment. My first thaught was that the cam belt had gone but i removerd the top cover plate and loe and behold the belt was still tight and showed moderate wear and tear but no signs of a break but i was unable to get access to the bottom cover as i couuldnt get the bottom two pulleys off. Will the belt still be tight if it had snapped?? I had problems with it before this happened it idles irratically when cold (fine when warm) i REALLY does not like the damp conditions here between 2-3000 rpm it has nothing and the engine cuts in and out but is fine past that (again fine once warmed up). I had the cover off and i tried to start her up to see what was going on there was a momentary judder of about 1cm max! then nothing moved but srill the alternator belt turned and the starter is still doing its the but the cams arnt turning. Its an 8v engine and i was idle so i dont thinks the engine suffered if it has snapped but why would the belt still be tight if it had??????

PLEASE HELP ME I MISS DRIVING HER!!!!

Reply to
ShaunM
Loading thread data ...

Worn tensioner and/or cam belt broken. Other damage may have occurred as consequence.

You have to remove the AC belt, AC compressor pulley, alternator belt, coolant pump pulley, and crankshaft pulley to remove the bottom camshaft drive belt cover. See Bentley manual.

Reply to
Jonny

You say 89 so I assume this is a 16 valve ?

When I lost the timing belt on mine failed I was sitting at a stop light. As I started to move, the engine just died. This car doesn't have the timing belt cover, so I coudl SEE that it wasn't broken. What I couldn't see was that all the teeth has stripped off the belt at the crank shaft pully. Yeah, it sounded odd when I cranked it. I assumed the engine was toast since the 16V ones (at least here) are interference designs. I figured I'd lost many of the valves. However, the garage guy said there were two possible orientations of a the 16V engine where no damage would occur. So, there was a slight chance it might be OK. The fact that I was idling at the time would improve the odds. So, they put a new timing belt on and it started right up. Compression checks showed that all four cylinders were the same pressure they'd been a couple of months before at last tune up.

Right. Is the belt, itself, moving? Probably not. Or, if it is, probably ALL the teeth have been stripped off.

I didn't think they made any 8V's after 87 or 88. Maybe that was just USA, or I as just mistaken.

Anyway...

The 8V engines, I was also told, are NON-interference. The valves won't hit the cylinders. So, you probably just need a new belt and, maybe, to figure out why it got stripped. In the case of my car, the maintanence record was filled out incorrectly and it was 20K overdue for replacement while I thought I had

40K to go.

- Bill

Reply to
William J. Leary Jr.

Just wondering what is pointing you at the timing belt? Is it "when turning the engine over it doesnt sound right"? You say it is not firing at all. Have you checked the basic things, like fuel and spark? You mentioned that it is tempermental in damp conditions, and that is often a sign of high-voltage going astray, due to dirt/corrosion/tracking on ignition coil, spark plug wires, distributor cap or rotor. Or, maybe the wire to the ignition coil primary has been wiggling around since 1989 and finally gave way? Verifying a healthy spark at the spark plug is relatively easy. And, repairing/replacing electrical parts is somewhat easier that timing belts and such.

Good luck!

ShaunM wrote:

Reply to
walter_wpg

Yep someone else said your timing belt has some broken teeth............he/she is right! Just change the timing belt and the tensioner. The hardest part of the job is removing the little allen bolts on the crankshaft sprocket and the water pump pulley. Everything else is pretty easy. ;-)

Oh and inspect the seals of the camshaft and the other shafts since I usually find them trying to pop out and leak oil.

later, dave (One out of many daves)

snip

Reply to
dave AKA vwdoc1

Reply to
Tom Zurrick

'88 was the last year of the Scirocco in the US but it did continue on overseas for a few more years. Since he says it's an '89 and since he used the word "roundabout" to describe the road he was driving on, my guess is he's in the UK. Could very well be an 8V then.

Reply to
Matt B.

I knew that they'd been available other than in the US after '88, so the '89 didn't surprise me, and, as you say, the "roundabout" made that clear too. But I'd always thought they were only available as 16V from 88 on, worldwide.

A "learn something new" experience. Thanks.

- Bill

Reply to
William J. Leary Jr.

Probably was an available option (16V) somewhere out there but Europe almost always has a broader range of engine choices then we do. :(

Reply to
Matt B.

Perhaps your fuel pump died? also check the fuse under the dash it will be in on a relay. If your timing belt really breaks its going to come off the pulleys and its unlikly its just missing teeth to make the engine stop. I drove a 82 Jetta for months with missing teeth on the timing belt before I realized it was bad it ran fine.

Reply to
tacurong

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.