What's the first thing to fail?

[foreverska]

The beetle is my daily driver right now. The other day I goosed it from the light and the oil dummy light came flickering on. This a boy who cried wolf scenario as the wire sometimes falls off anyway and bounces around the engine bay. So I kept driving. After several miles it started making a terrible squealing noise. I knew that was a bit of a swan song so I pulled it over and had it towed. Did an oil change and everything looked fine but it was a bit low (and it normally sweats oil anyhow). I filled 'er up and it squealed once or twice but quieted down when oil started flowing.

But it developed a bit of a noise at high RPM (right around stock shiftpoints on the speedo). It sounds like a metallic card in wheel spokes just barely louder than the other noises the engine makes. But otherwise it ran fine so I kept using it. Today I got up on the highway and came to a stoplight. Before getting there I let off the gas and let it coast and it made the noise REALLY loud. So in a bit of a panic I took it out of gear and the engine instantly died. I coasted it to safety and tried to restart it. It would spin but very slowly like with a low battery. I tried to turn it over by hand but it wouldn't budge. So I got it towed again (luckily my insurance company has up until now given me free tows).

Now that it's home I tried turning it with a 2ft breaker ratchet and it turns. So what normally goes wrong with these first when it runs low on oil?

[FJCamper]

Hi Oreverska,

The pistons and rings are the first to suffer low oil. The cylinders and pistons get very hot, and the friction siezes the pistons.

Sometimes, once cool and with new oil, if you are very lucky, the rings didn't break and they pop back out of the ring grooves.

The engine may start and run as if nothing ever happened. But, if you are getting high resistance to rotation, I'd do a disassembly now to replace the pistons and cylinders and check to see if the rod bearings are coming apart.

The first thing I'd do is pop the valve covers to see if there is bearing metal in the oil. It looks like flecks of silver and copper. Also, remove the oil drain plate and see if there is bits of piston rings, more bearing metal, and general tell-tale debris there.

Good luck -- FJC

[foreverska]

In the cold of the morning it's pretty easy to turn. Yesterday when I got it home I found I could remove the crank pulley bolt without turning the engine. This morning I can grab the generator belt and turn it.

Maybe this is more a symptom of overheating than the oil issue. Plus a weak starter. No telling how old it is... I've seen several OE parts on this car.

[foreverska]

Drained the oil today and there are pieces of metal on the oil filter and maybe some tiny flecks of something in the valve covers.

So I proceeded to try and drop the engine but it's not budging a centimeter. I'm not a very big guy but all of me straining against it should get something out of it. I think this is the culprit:

engine_bolt.jpg

I found that instead of a nut and at first I said "Oh neat, the nut has fallen off somewhere" but upon closer inspection there is a bolt inside of there and threads on the inside of that cylinder (I think). I've tried a pair of vice grips but I can't get a good enough bite. Anyone know what this is and how to remove it? Or is this a normal outcropping of the block and I have to tap the bolt out of it?

[trbugman]

The upper driver side is a bolt that is threaded in from the transmission side.

[foreverska]

Now I feel silly for not looking. Once I removed the bolt it fell right out.

Thanks

[Marc]

From the scenario you've described my "remote diagnosis" is a rod bearing has disintegrated. Sounds as though you at least managed to avoid the rod coming apart and ventilating the crankcase, but the crankshaft's likely to be beyond salvaging. All that rod bearing material has circulated throughout the oil passages; typically some lodges inside the cooler, waiting to rear its ugly head after you've rebuilt the engine...so if you're going to try to reuse that cooler, be sure to flush the bejeesus out of it.

[foreverska]

Yea the shards seem like the metal they use for those.

Well if I'm rebuilding anyway the crank would have been due for replacement. I'll have to see if I can afford for it to be down for awhile and give the case/heads to my local machinist and get him to prep it for 94s. No better time than now.

[Steve Arndt]

Did you say the crank pulley bolt was loose? That can signal the flywheel is about to fall off. I know it sounds backwards (wrong end of engine) but it happens.

Once it is out you will see what's up.

[Marc]

I took that remark to indicate that the crank had seized enough that the bolt came loose before it could be budged in a CCW direction...but that's a good point, he should be sure that the dowel pin holes in the crank are still good before investing any money into having it machined.

[Steve Arndt]

It happened to me when I was 16 years old, after goosing it from a light, lost the flywheel. Brought back good memories

[foreverska]

I took that remark to indicate that the crank had seized enough that the bolt came loose before it could be budged in a CCW direction...

That's how it meant it. I put some weight into the end of a 2ft breaker when I was turning it. It would be pretty easy to overcome proper torque for that bolt like that. I'll give it a look though.

Got the heads off today and there is some pretty serious carbon build up on the right cylinders of the engine. I can't remove the cylinders though. I've watched a few videos and everyone just kinda wiggles them out of the block. Any tips?

[Marc]

When dealing with "tight" jugs I use a block of soft wood (Hemfir, for example) placed squarely against the top fins; put it in the top side and smack it with a big hammer, then move it to the bottom side - repeat as req'd until the cylinder loosens enough that you can wriggle it out. The wood will distribute the force of the blows enough to prevent breaking off any fins so long as you don't introduce any angle into them.
If you have a seized rod bearing as I suspect it could be challenging to remove the wrist pins...usually you can get into the basement with a 14mm socket on a long extension (perhaps with a universal joint) and loosen the nuts on the offending rod so the crank can be rotated to facilitate piston removal. If it's in fact a MAIN bearing that's holding things up, loosening the 6 big case nuts and all of the small ones around the perimeter should help.
Like Frank said above, the pistons/cylinders tend to get scuffed up pretty badly by running with insufficient lubrication...take a good look at the piston skirts and measure the side clearance on the top rings; if the pistons exhibit nasty scoring or you can stuff a .004" feeler gauge in alongside the ring, they're not anything you'll want to reuse...otherwise be careful that you don't cause any more damage so you'll retain the option of recycling them if this ends up being a low-budget job. In other words, if you get the first jug off and the piston's a nasty mess, it'll be safe to assume you'll be replacing the pistons/cylinders so there'll be no need to be gentle when removing the others