'71 Type 2 Engine knock before dying - FIXED! UPDATE 6-03-07
Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 6:38 pm
Under the heading of “Don’t ever assume anything”.
Just got back from a lovely 3 week trip up and down the East Coast visiting friends and relatives. Left the bus at home during this time away and I think it got mad.
The day after we get back, I jump in the bus to go run a couple of errands and he runs great. The work that Colin did with me getting in the way has paid for itself a thousand times over in the sound of that purring engine. This morning I jump in to go to work and after a couple of miles there is a loud knocking sound coming from the engine. I immediately get off the road and into a parking lot before the motor shuts down. I try to start it again and only get the click-click of what sounds like the starter engaging but the flywheel doesn’t move. My lovely and very understanding wife drives me into work (its 5am and understandably she is not happy) and later I get back to the bus to see what I can do with it.
My wife, Z, has a way of diagnosing trouble that is pretty accurate and hard to believe unless you know her (I won’t get into it here) and she is telling me to look at wires that may be frayed as well as a leak of some sort. Sure enough there are a couple of wires that had come loose (the oil pressure for one) and after checking the dipstick there is very little oil at all, just a little at the very tip of the dipstick. Z runs to the store and gets some oil and when I put in the third quart it starts spewing out of the valve cover gasket like it wasn’t even there (my leak). I straighten out the gasket and put it back on. After a couple of tries the engine starts and we try to limp the bus back to the house. The engine is running pretty quiet when we start but after about a mile or two the knocking starts up again. I immediately pull over and shut it down. While I am trying to keep from getting hysterical, Z looks up the number for a tow truck and we get it towed home.
At this point I have not taken a hard look at the valves or anything else. I am hoping that any of you all who may have gone through something similar can give me an idea of what to look for and double check to make sure that I am taking care of any side issues that may have resulted from this. I am still not sure exactly what happened but as soon as I have more of a clue then I will update. Z has suggested the possibility of drive shaft or cam shaft gears being screwed (which scares the hell out of me). We’ll see.
Jeffrey
Just got back from a lovely 3 week trip up and down the East Coast visiting friends and relatives. Left the bus at home during this time away and I think it got mad.
The day after we get back, I jump in the bus to go run a couple of errands and he runs great. The work that Colin did with me getting in the way has paid for itself a thousand times over in the sound of that purring engine. This morning I jump in to go to work and after a couple of miles there is a loud knocking sound coming from the engine. I immediately get off the road and into a parking lot before the motor shuts down. I try to start it again and only get the click-click of what sounds like the starter engaging but the flywheel doesn’t move. My lovely and very understanding wife drives me into work (its 5am and understandably she is not happy) and later I get back to the bus to see what I can do with it.
My wife, Z, has a way of diagnosing trouble that is pretty accurate and hard to believe unless you know her (I won’t get into it here) and she is telling me to look at wires that may be frayed as well as a leak of some sort. Sure enough there are a couple of wires that had come loose (the oil pressure for one) and after checking the dipstick there is very little oil at all, just a little at the very tip of the dipstick. Z runs to the store and gets some oil and when I put in the third quart it starts spewing out of the valve cover gasket like it wasn’t even there (my leak). I straighten out the gasket and put it back on. After a couple of tries the engine starts and we try to limp the bus back to the house. The engine is running pretty quiet when we start but after about a mile or two the knocking starts up again. I immediately pull over and shut it down. While I am trying to keep from getting hysterical, Z looks up the number for a tow truck and we get it towed home.
At this point I have not taken a hard look at the valves or anything else. I am hoping that any of you all who may have gone through something similar can give me an idea of what to look for and double check to make sure that I am taking care of any side issues that may have resulted from this. I am still not sure exactly what happened but as soon as I have more of a clue then I will update. Z has suggested the possibility of drive shaft or cam shaft gears being screwed (which scares the hell out of me). We’ll see.
Jeffrey