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new owner of diesel VW Westy - soon

howdy group,

'bout this time next week I should be "sportin'" about in an '82 Diesel Westy.

Short range plans; install Greasel kit and run veggie oil. Mid-range plans; start making biodiesel with friends. Long range plans; drop in 1.9 or TDI. Ultra-long range plans; retire and travel the country, independent of oil tyrants, cruising at 60mph. Now that's not too much to ask for, is it?

I've owned two gasser westies before, but am new to diesel. Does anyone have any recommended reading on the workings of a diesel engine. Would like to understand this vehicle a little better. Like the whole "glow plug" thang 'n how's all this work. And why is it SOOOO SLOW.

I'm not looking to become a certified mechanic or anything, just a basic understanding of how it works & why it's different than a gas engine.

Thanks - donna

Reply to
pokeswagon
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It's soooo slow because it's 48 or 52 HP pushing a big box. My 78 rabbit diesel was even slow with 48 hp. Glow plugs are simple. The non tdi vw diesels have a pre combustion chamber that the glow plus and injectors stick into. diesels are "compression ignition" engines. Meaning the heat from the air being compressed to a much smaller volume is hot and when the injecors spray fuel into it it goes "bang". Well and good but what happens when it's cold outside and the engine is cold? The glow plugs get red (glo) and the fuel is sprayed on to them and then it goes "bang". TDI's on the other hand are "direct injected" (no precombustion chambers). Also the tdi's rarely need glowed to start. Use the vary finest oil you can get on that poor overworked engine and don't push it hard at all. Vanagon diesels were originally in town delivery trucks in Germany and VW brought them over during the energy crises and we pushed them down the interstates much harder then they were intended to be. I've owned many VW diesels but no vanagons diesels. 2 tdi's and one gas 1.9 vanagon. Be carefull with making your own bio diesel because any alcohol left from the process will kill the injector pump.

Reply to
Jo Bo

I don't disagree with anything else you've said, but my advice is to push that diesel as hard as you want to. One thing I loved about those little

1.5 and 1.6 diesels is that they loved being flogged. Wind it out, make it work, never let up on it.
Reply to
Brian Running

I'd use Mobil Delvac 1 oil.

I would also make sure the timing belt is replaced no later than every 3 years or 50K miles.

I have owned 7 VW diesels - the above is based on LOTS of experience.

Reply to
EC

That's true for a passanger car but the vanagon is way different! It's geared so numerically high (nomally called "low") that the engine screams at

60 MPH. Again, it was made, geared and intended for intown delivery. Driven as you say, it'll blow in a day or two for sure.

JoBo

Reply to
Jo Bo

For a diesel engine, choose an oil with the appropriate diesel ratings. If the manual specifies an older API diesel rating like CD, the current API diesel rating of CI-4 is the best thing to look for in an oil for that engine (API CI-4 is usually found on 15W-40 conventional and some

5W-40 synthetic oils).

Don't neglect the timing belt. If it breaks in a diesel engine, valves will hit pistons.

Reply to
Timothy J. Lee

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