Hello

Thought I had better introduce myself - I've been logging on to this site for a few months now and picked up loads of good info - thanks. I have a beautiful powder blue air cooled 06 called Ellie. I picked her up almost a year ago now and - until last weekend - we have had the time of our lives in her - surfing in Devon and Norfolk, Camp Bestival in Dorset and 2 glorious weeks in Northern Spain. Unfortunately, last Sunday whilst travelling back from a weekend in Cheddar Gorge, she started to sound like a bag of spanners before giving up the ghost and coming rather violently to rest on the side of the M5 - AA man told me I had thrown a rod and would need a new engine. I will start a thread on air cooled page asking advice about the possibility of fitting a bigger engine but for now - thanks for running such a great forum and I look forward to joining in. Rgds John

Hi and welcome, though sorry your first post is one of woe. Hopefully you will be back on the road again soon.

Don't know much about air cooled (or water cooled for that matter) or about putting different engines in, other than I have seen 2l Subaru lumps bolted in at various shows, so it is possible. But then again, most things are if your wallet is deep enough

Again, best of luck.

Hi and welcome. Sorry to here about your engine woes. I'd be interested to know exactly what went wrong. Are you sure you need a completely new engine? Can you not just replace the rod? I'm certainly no expert though!

Hi John

Firstly - welcome

Secondly - I think the AA are talking out of their backsides. That sounds like a classic case of the tappets going out of sync. Which once you've got the van to someone who knows what they're doing can be sorted quickly. Where is your Kombi now?

On my drive - but unfortunately I think the AA man is right. I have hole in the side of the engine and a small but obvious piece of a con rod along with other assorted bits of twisted metal around the engine bay. I will try and post a picture tomorrow but it does look terminal.

Ok now you've added that detail I guess it's not so simple. I'd like to know what's caused such a catastrophic failure though. All is not lost I'm sure. You need to find a competent VW mechanic that has experience of both Aircooled and Watercooled. I bet it's possible to get the block from a classic 1600 and rebuild using parts from yours. Dazdub would be the guy to help here.

He's usually online early in the morning.

I wish I knew what caused it too. I had checked the oil that morning and had travelled no more than 100 miles or so before it went bang. I may have been pushing it too hard, we were fairly heavily loaded and had been going up a long hill at maybe 55mph, but I was conscious about not over revving it so there must have been another fault in there somewhere. I'm not downhearted - if I had wanted an easy life I wouldn't have bought a T2 - in fact I am looking forward to helping someone more knowledgeable than me piece it all together again. I am thinking of asking if I can put a slightly bigger engine - I don't want a subaru or porsche - but a bit more oomph would help in the mountains. Should I start a thread on the air cooled engine page or do you think it is a non starter?

By all means start a thread but yours is the first I've heard of suffering such a failure. But it probably won't be the last so it will be useful to get it all logged. A 1700 or 1800 would be useful.

Not sure whether to be proud of being the first or embarrassed..!

Nothing to fear ... it's a shared experience here!

Hi & welcome sorry to hear about your engine will post on air cooled bit

Hi & Welcome from another blue Air Cooled Kombi
Sorry to read about your troubles
It does sound like you are putting a positive spin on it though - if that is possible!
Hope you get it resolved soon
All the best
Rooby Roo

Hi from an aircooled that has just recovered from a front beam failure - engine ok though, or shouldn't I say that!

Sorry to hear about your Problem, I have a Imported VW and live just outside Lisboa I had a very simular problem a few years ago.
All my tappets were set correct oil changed regular etc and it let go at 19K.

I rebuilt my engine totally using the best parts on offer, mine now is a 1800cc remapped ECU and with a Golf GTI Oil cooler full flow Oil Filter and additional sump, in addition I installed a OIL Temp system.
I check my tappets each time I change the oil at 3000 miles. Since the rebuild she runs great will cruise at 70 no problem.
I think I put around 900 Euros into the parts etc, nows the time to do it lots of good companies out there.
Incedently which rod was it ? Number 3 prone to overheating?

just a bit of advice etc

Thanks Fly Tap and others - I'm not sure which rod it was that went - as you look at the engine from the back it was the closest one to you on the left hand side. I have been advised that I have 3 options;
- a replacement 1600 (or actually 1584) which would be a straight swap
- fit a 1641 - which also would not need any mods and would give an extra 60 odd cc more power
- fit a 1641 with a long stroke crank - which gives more power but may cause problems with fuel injection and need an external oil circuit - but improves torque, which I guess is what I was after.

All options are considerably more expensive than I thought which is a bit of a setback - I will let you know which option I choose.