Saturday, March 28, 2009

Scirocco

I have a 1985 Volkswagen Scirocco. I’ve had it as a daily driver for about two years, and have done almost no work on it since I got it. I had the alternator replaced when I bought it (it was dead at time of purchase). It was a long towing trip across Seattle when I first got it, but an alternator wasn’t that much, and I replaced the leaky fuel line from a scrap yard.

Other than that and a set of 2 new tires, I’ve done nothing to it. It drives well, and the engine seems to run well. The only mechanical issue I’ve had is with the starter motor sticking on one day. It only has 240k or so, so I should be able to get much more life out of it given it is a basic VW engine and looks to be in reasonable condition. The car beyond the engine however has issues. And not just that the radio was stolen out of it at my old apartment. The wiring harnesses are failing, the insulation has been cut through all over them. I’ve had several purely electrical issues. Honk the horn and the radio restarts. Also, the engine bay needs extensive cleaning. I am talking here about oil and grease buildup on everything, but also half-finished projects from various previous owners.

Now that the Land Cruiser is down here and I’ve done all the preventive maintenance (PM) work I can do until I drive back to Seattle and get my floor jack and stands, I think it is time to look at the Scirocco. So I pulled it into the garage, removed the hood and went to work. First thing I discovered, this car has two radiators. Unlike the Land Cruiser where the extra radiator was a part of the towing package, this extra radiator is floating. It has hoses running from only one port, and they run around the engine bay a bit and then end where they were cut. As far as I can tell from the Bentley manual, this second radiator (with the cut hoses) was not the original radiator which is still the active one. I have no idea what the installer was thinking/planning by throwing this radiator in there. All it does is restrict flow to the primary radiator. So it’s now taken out and loose in my garage. Anyone want a radiator?

This is not the only cut hose that goes nowhere. As far as I can tell there are parts of a vacuum system in the vehicle, even though the Bentley makes no mention of a vacuum system in this model configuration. There aren’t any complete parts though, the hoses sort of run to nowhere. I haven’t found any sort of vacuum pump under the hood.

I also discovered that solving the issue I had with the starter motor is going to be challenging. It should be held on with an allen head bolt. Instead I have a bolt which has been stripped to a near perfect circle. It’s going to be great fun getting that apart.

The more I think about it, the more I just want to pull the motor out, clean it up, strip it down enough to replace any seals, and then reassembly the vehicle with only the necessary components. This car has no power steering, no A/C, I wish it had no sunroof (leaky and pokes my passenger). It is fuel-injected, so not as basic an engine as they come, but just about. I think it would be a great experience for me to pull it all and understand the use of everything as I put it back together.

But as the car does work now without any major issues (save the starter motor), just stuff that needs to be tightened up, or having bushings replaced, I’m hesitant to take it apart. Primarily form a monetary point, once I start tearing into things, certain seals and gaskets will need to be replaced before I can reassemble it. I also need to buy a lot of wiring to replace that which is failing. Some of this could be done with the engine in the vehicle, but I have a feeling it would be much easier if I could pull it out first. Things could conceivable add up quickly, especially if I have to buy an engine hoist and a stand just to start the process of pulling the engine. I’m hoping I can borrow one from someone.

There are some pictures I want to add to this post, like the damn rounded bolt on the starter motor, but Whitney went off hiking for the day and took my camera. I have too much of a sore throat and on-coming cold to be up for hiking today. Yesterday’s romp in the snow was good though.

• Posted by jfs at 12:36:43 in Scirocco
• 1 comment