Gsrob

I was just thinking about your status the other day when I was putting my control arms in my car. Glad to hear you got stuff together, not so glad that it's not starting. How bad was it putting in the power steering rack? Also, I'm about to replace the spider hose and related items. During the replacement, did anything else break that should be on hand so I don't get stuck without the car?

Last time I changed my spark plugs, about 3k ago, I also had some oil on most of them. Definitely time for a valve cover gasket/seals but I want to make sure I don't have any breather assembly issues first that will blow them out again.

jseklund

The spider hose is the most likely thing to break I think when you are putting it back in - be careful. I've done it a dozen times on two cars over the years and it is still tricky to squeeze it back in there and I always feel like I'm about to break something.

There is a pancake valve that connects 4 hoses on the rear driver's side of the upper intake - one of the hoses is a hard plastic line that goes over the valve covers...be careful with that hard plastic hose and that pancake valve. They snap easily.

The power steering rack would have been a 1 hour job if it were not for this ONE bolt that they put in a black hole that you can't reach. It took me forever to get the bolt out, and forever to get the bolt back in. It was one of the least fun jobs I've done on this car, and I have replaced 2 heads on my mom's Audi.

jseklund

I'm glad you somewhat concur - I'm scratching my head a little on this one. It started fine up until a couple weeks ago. I had the battery out of the car for most of the time too, and it is still showing over 12V on the meter - but even connecting my portable jumper doesn't get the car to start cranking.

I got some new gaskets yesterday and will tear into the gaskets today and hopefully get her going....this has turned into quite the journey.

Just Me

Sounds like a bad solenoid then. Generally part of the assembly with starter.

Solenoid is the e/m activated mechanism that moves the starter gear into mesh with the flywheel when you turn the key, and before the started begins to spin. With dying batteries its the click you hear

Looks like 4d4 has one for ya.

Grant

jseklund

Got her started! I replaced the valve cover gaskets (but not the cam seals or cam adjuster seals, because they were not available this weekend and the work involved wasn't going to be worth it in my mind...if oil leaks OUT of the engine, I can monitor it until the next timing belt change.

At any rate, I took the plugs out and they were pretty heavily covered in oil - both the tip and the electrode side. There was such a pool of oil in the plug valley of each cylinder, my initial idea was that the oil filled the valley and then seeped into the cylinder around the plug threads - but these should be pretty air tight so that thinking must be wrong....I'm concerned that my rings or my valve stem seals are letting oil pass into the cylinder. My guess is that the clogged breather system could have screwed up the valve stem seals - should this be a concern?

Once I got the plugs out I decided to throw in new plugs after I did the gaskets, and after that I cranked away on it with the peddle pressed to the floor for a while. At one point is coughed like it was going to turn over and then stalled....I let it sit for a while and kept at it and it finally started up, with the power steering pump making a horrible racket. I feel relieved that at least she is going again, now I can put it all back together and flush out the rack and get it back on the road tomorrow!

Gsrob

Are you experiencing the blue smoke of death at start up?

jseklund

Yes, it was smoking a bit at startup, but after letting it run for about 1-2 minutes it pretty much died down. I had a clogged breather hose, so now that I'm thinking of it, the pressure could have been forcing oil everywhere. Maybe once I burn though what is in their, the valve seals will be OK - but I suspect this is optimism at its finest. Not sure what I will do if I'm leaking that much oil internally to the engine...

Airbag

Firstly I think you were confusing people when you said the car wasnt cranking. I think what you meant was the car wasnt firing .. "Cranking" means the Crank shaft is turning , as it was as your cams were turning.

Anyway sounds like you will have to just run it now and see . Was your spider hose completely clogged ? That is unusual. Or maybe I missed soemthing. Did you just break it while reapiring our venting system.

Regardless now, going into the engine wil be expensive. Just get it running and limit the amout of coin and effort you are throwing at the car.

Good Luck and I hope your smoke and issues both clear up

jseklund

Yes, there was some confusion on my part at first and I think some people missed the corrected post. At first I thought the starter was spinning and the engine not cranking, because that is what it sounded like when I sat in the car and turned the ignition switch. Then, when I finally got someone to hit the ignition for me I realized I was wrong and it was cranking - but I think everyone missed that update....

The breather hose was pretty clogged, and I was blowing smoke on really cold days. I started it again today and it actually ran much better. It misfired a little at first, but a lot of the noises were gone and it smoothed out nicely and the power steering wasn't making so much noise.

I also thought about the spark plugs some more and it is near impossible to tell if the oil was INSIDE the engine. There was so much oil in the valley, it could have been getting on the threads as I was unscrewing it, making it look like they were covered in oil, but the oil was really just coming from the valley.....maybe more wishful thinking....but I think you are right, the best thing to do is wait and see. If I have to do valve stem seals, it'll at least have to wait until I do the timing belt change again (if ever - I have 265,000 on the car).

Airbag

the oil in the valley did NOT go into the cyliders and burn... you have one oftwo sceanarios.

1. The oil in the valley was shorting out yor plugs somehow so it couldnt run on all cylinders. when you did start it eventually you were burning of all the crap from the attempted starts.
2. You do in fact have internal issues that are totally unrelated to your gaskets and oil on the spark plug wells.