Replacement engine

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alexperkins
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Re: Replacement engine

Post by alexperkins »

Do you think the tappets were mainly excessively worn and that wouldve solved it?

Presumably, you cleaned the piston faces before reassembly?

My pleasure 8)
littlepolo
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Re: Replacement engine

Post by littlepolo »

I think excessively worn is an understatement, one or two seemed to have disintegrated.

The other problem was lack of oil pressure which most likely contributed to the decline.

Performance (not that it had much) and fuel consumption was poor too.
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alexperkins
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Re: Replacement engine

Post by alexperkins »

Interesting. Yes, i'd probably agree the lack of oil pressure has possible been a driving factor. None-the-less, VW have screwed up on tappet material before so it wouldnt be unbeleivable that they did it again this time.

Worn tappets would ultimately effect the valve opening so probably the root cause.

Come to think of it, I worked on a 1.4 16V 6N2 which has a very similar engine to the BBY a few years ago and it had a very similar issue to this. Excessive tappet wear causing damage to the camshaft and poor performance. It had actually worn one of the lobes down in this case, so it had to be replaced.
littlepolo
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Re: Replacement engine

Post by littlepolo »

Just a quick update after a couple of hundred miles.

Overall, things seem OK.

Had a slight recurrence of light tappet noise (just one or maybe two) which was still noticeable when warm. So I decided to swap the oil (Shell Helix 5W 30 - which is supposed to be very good at cleaning) with Quantum Platinum 5W 40. This was also good timing to replace the faulty (third-party) oil level sensor.

When I rebuilt the engine I used some Graphogen and was intending to replace the oil soon anyway. When I drained the oil down into a pan it was evident the graphogen was being carried in suspension and some of it settled after a while. The oil was a light brown colour but not very clear. Would the graphogen cause the oil to discolour as it did? I guess there could have been some deposits in the oilways of the donor head but wouldn't expect much.

Fitted a new Mann filter and refilled with Quantum Platinum 5W 40. Took the car for a drive and it was already quieter. Came back from a run and it's as quiet as it's ever been. Still a very light tappet noise but nothing unusual for this engine.
bvs
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Re: Replacement engine

Post by bvs »

I am very pleased that the engine seems to be behaving itself :).
I always use 5w40.
On these 1.4 engines - the oil always turns a strange browny colour,I would have worried about it myself if I had not done a couple of services for a friend with a 1.4 9n3.
Our engine always sounds a little 'tappety' until fully hot.
I always use Mann oil filters - they seem decent quality,it seems a good idea to standardise the oil filter make - as different manufacturers put slightly different 'hex' sizes on their filters which is bloody annoying :)
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alexperkins
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Re: Replacement engine

Post by alexperkins »

Glad it’s running well :) I like 5W40. Used that on my TDI and use it on my 1.8T TT aswell. It’s just that little bit thicker and works well with higher mileage noisier engines
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Re: Replacement engine

Post by RUM4MO »

I've tended to run my VW Group cars on 5W-30 now to save having to hold 5W-30 and 5W-40, the late 2009 Ibiza 1.4 is very noisy and always has been, much more so that the BBY engine in my wife's old Polo ever was, that is maybe made worse by the fact that the engine "muffler" has disappeared from these engines and the air filter is located behind the engine than on top of it.

Mann oil filter, my 2011 Audi S4 always had one of them, though with an Audi branding while it was under the dealer's service control, now same filter type/version just no Audi branding on it. My wife's August 2015 Polo 1.2TSI 110PS SEL also uses Mann oil filter - again while under warranty it will be getting one that came with VW branding but I'll be using the ECP supplied one after that.

I've forgotten who the other brand that VW Group tend to use, is it Mahle, could be as they come only in black! Newer versions of Mann tin can filters only come in silver/grey - which I find strange, I thought that the plan would be to disguise the filter manufacturer's original/source and keep you believing that if it has not got VW Group branding it is nit right, both the Mann oil filters I've mentioned above, when coming out of a VW Group branded box, still have all the Mann identifications on them, plus a bit of VW Group branding.

I'd be a bit wee'd off if any proper manufacturer was supplying equivalent filters that had slightly different hex or ribbed sizes on them, that might work in the old days where you used a chain wrench, but not so much now if you have bought a specific "cup" to get them off.

Edit:- glad you sorted out all your engine issues though!
littlepolo
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Re: Replacement engine

Post by littlepolo »

Something of a thread resurrection here but wanted to share my MOT (pass) results since the engine was rebuilt.

Fast idle
CO 0.00 (previously 0.05) - max 20 (previously 30)
HC 0 (previously 46) - max 200
Natural Idle
CO 0.01 (previously 0.45) - max 0.30 (previously 0.50).

Based on this the old engine would likely have failed emissions with the lower CO limits
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alexperkins
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Re: Replacement engine

Post by alexperkins »

That’s a perfect result. And yes it would’ve definitely failed
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