TDI kakaboom

[Golf Loon]

Kakaboom. Thats the noise my TDI T4 made today.

We were hardly moving, maybe 50 tops and it made a massive bang and I couldnt get any gears.

Stopped straight away at the side of the road and we had oil everywhere, closer inspection showed it to be engine oil, not tranmission.

Was thinking up all sorts of possibilities whilst waiting for the NRMA. Out best theory was that the dual mass flywheel exploded and punched a hole in the sump! Argh

Got it back to the workshop at 8pm and jacked it up to see the damage.
Removed the undertray and there were lots of bits of sump and the hole was at the other end, not the gearbox end. Argh. Feeling pretty bad now about the engine, I crawled under to check it out.

What happened is the bracket that supports the long leg of the transmission has broken and the leg has swung the broken end of the bracket into the sump and sheared the bolts out of the CV!!!

However, its hopefully not so bad as other than the oil pickup being dented and the sump being destroyed, the engine seems ok, it turns nicely by hand and the crank has not been touched.

At least I dont need to take the gearbox out, or find a motor!

The only reason we can think of is that when we were putting the subframe in, maybe we were a couple of mm off centra and so there has been lots of stress on the bracket.

Gonna chase up a bracket and sump on Monday, wish me luck.

[Jmac]

Oh man thats no good. All the fingers are crossed mate. Ill tell you something for nothing these engines are hard to kill mate. Of the topic slightly back in around 2000 i was working for a VW Dealership and one of the guys got a T4 5cyl petrol engine to do - it had been driven and cooked so f ing hot that the alloy housings had actually been dripping and when it cooled the drips hardened!!!! That T4 ran till it ground to a halt mate and let me tell you that took a bit of doing to cause that kinds of melt down.
I have faith in your TDI mate - they are very strong.
Jmac;)

[jets]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. I know your vans in good hands & you will soon be driving again. Just think of it this way, you are adding to your already vast VW experience.[ I know you probably don't need this] Don't forget to take some pics.

[DVR68U]

bloody hell, ive got a sump for a 5cly petrol are they the same ? get homie onto it lol
cheers brenton

[The_Hawk]

Loon you have to put up some photos, the damage looks... interesting.

[Golf Loon]

OK, here is a pic of the sump! You can imagine how much oil came out of it!

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2008/03/18march006-1.jpg

The main difference between the TDI sump and the diesel or 5cylinder petrol sump is that the TDI needs the sensor in the bottom of it.

So I went into work early on Monday to start the hunt for a sump, only to find my crazy mechanic Beau had gone in, in the middle of the night and had made a flat bottom on the standard diesel sump, located the sensor, changed the oil pickup and swopped the bracket, which is the same as a 5 cylinder petrol one!

We then changed the driveshaft as mine was rooted and put some oil in.

All is now well it would appear. :D Horrah for Beau.
And cheaper than having to find a TDI sump.

[ontarv]

good to hear that all seams well
didn't think a support braket would do that damn!!!
how did you go getting the stain out of the drivers seat ?? :)
hah

[Golf Loon]

Ok van was all fixed after that incident.

But anyone who tells you that a 2L petrol driveshaft is the same as aTDI one is lying.
They looked the same and the petrol one fitted so we used it.

It lasted 300ks till I had a car on the trailer and had to do a hill start. As I crested the hill, something gaveway and the CV had no balls!

Beau came to rescue me with a rebuilt diesel driveshaft, however, he had not put the circlip on! Try doing that at the side of the road with a leatherman!

Got there in the end, slapped it back together and all is now ok.

1500ks since friday and all is good so far.