[1.2 TDI] - ANY - Engine rebuild

titusm

titusm

A2OC Donor
I want to rebuild the engine for my 1.2 TDI.
It just reached 200.000 km - I bought it when it had 180.
Since then...lots have been replaced: clutch, suspension, brakes, timing belt, oil chain, tires, some sensors AAANNND it still drinks kind of much.

This will be the project for this year - engine rebuild and hydraulic gaskets replacements.

I am interested in :
1)What piston rings do you recommend for this engine
2)what rod bearings do you recommend for the crankshaft
3)any other tricks I should be careful about.

I will do this myself so any other suggestions are very welcome.
 
titusm said:
I want to rebuild the engine for my 1.2 TDI.
It just reached 200.000 km - I bought it when it had 180.
Since then...lots have been replaced: clutch, suspension, brakes, timing belt, oil chain, tires, some sensors AAANNND it still drinks kind of much.

This will be the project for this year - engine rebuild and hydraulic gaskets replacements.

I am interested in :
1)What piston rings do you recommend for this engine
2)what rod bearings do you recommend for the crankshaft
3)any other tricks I should be careful about.

I will do this myself so any other suggestions are very welcome.
Click to expand...
You cannot remove the crankshaft! Otherwise, according to VW, the block will distort. It's the same for petrol aluminium blocks. So at your own risk. That means no re-bore either, so if you do, you may have a problem finding suitable pistons.

RAB
 
titusm said:
I want to rebuild the engine for my 1.2 TDI.
It just reached 200.000 km - I bought it when it had 180.
Since then...lots have been replaced: clutch, suspension, brakes, timing belt, oil chain, tires, some sensors AAANNND it still drinks kind of much.

This will be the project for this year - engine rebuild and hydraulic gaskets replacements.

I am interested in :
1)What piston rings do you recommend for this engine
2)what rod bearings do you recommend for the crankshaft
3)any other tricks I should be careful about.

I will do this myself so any other suggestions are very welcome.
Click to expand...
what about injectors? Getting these cleaned and properly set up can make a huge difference to engine running and economy.
 
How come you can't take crank shaft out?
This is new to me. I have built engines for classic Mini and Suzuki Swift Gti, G10 NA and turbo engines.
I'm new to VAG engine, so please let me know.

Before you go any further, I think what you need to do is to make sure you can buy correct spares.
So you need to check condition of your engine by putting camera inside your cylinders.
Do you know what condition your engine is in?
Can you buy main bearings and big ends? Over size if your crank needs regrind.
If your bore is damaged in anyway, you will need to over bore. Then you will need over size pistons.
Do you know what over size you can go upto in this engine?
You may need to change valve guides, valves, hydraulic cam followers.... you will need to chemically cleaned everything.
Injectors will need to Sonic cleaned and see if it flows same rate and so on.
You will need to use plastigauge to make sure you are assemblying with correct torelance.

Do you know good machinist near you? It is very important.

For above, you will be easily spending over £1k for materials. It may be cheaper to buy low milage engine.
 
miniswift said:
How come you can't take crank shaft out?
This is new to me. I have built engines for classic Mini and Suzuki Swift Gti, G10 NA and turbo engines.
I'm new to VAG engine, so please let me know.
Click to expand...
It's the same for all VAG aluminium blocks - you can't take the crank out without distorting the bearing pedestals.

RAB
 
I don't understand the logic in this.
When any engine is assembled, a crank shaft is never the strength of engine block.
I have built a few engines which are cast Ali and cap itself are Ali as well.
3 cylinder engine has 4 main journals and 3 big ends. So tell me what is/are the different in VAG engines?
 
Thanks Spike...
I have never heard of this issue with Ali block engines.
I have bored out cast in liners and replaced with steel liners and so on. I even designed block guard to press fit into open coolant to reinforce bock for high boost of 25+psi. My engine is good for 350bhp from 1300cc 16v Swift engine...

This is new to me, so what you saying is don't rebuild this 1.2 TDi engine then!
 
Think it must be related to the unusual design where the head and bearing cap clamping loads rely on 'tension bolts' which run the full depth of the block. Presumably the block casting can be made even lighter with thinner wall sections

Cheers Spike
 
miniswift said:
Very thin wall section than Suzuki engines!
You won't be able to do anything with that.
Click to expand...
That might be the case but I wouldn't mind betting that the % of surviving 20 year old A2s with aluminium blocks is higher than small Suzukis. It's no good having an engine that you can re-engineer if there's no car to put it in!

RAB
 
Oh, I have Mk1 Gti which is 1986 now AWD.
As you can imagine many welding was done to it!
My mk2 Mini is 1968 and have a complete new floor
My other Mini is 1970 mk3 South African Mini which is in process of a complete new floor, boot floor and many replacement panels.

So I know what you are saying but if there is any "MAD" person like me, they will get restored and can demand high price.
mk1/2 Minis are starting about £15k for good condition cars but original condition, so not mine then:rolleyes:
 
Robin_Cox said:
what about injectors? Getting these cleaned and properly set up can make a huge difference to engine running and economy.
Click to expand...
Yes this is going to be part of it...
I can get the injectors completely rebuild with oem stuff for around 500 euros...
 
@RAB wellll...you scared me:)...

What is very weird is that you can buy new bearings for the crankshaft:))
It is kind of confusing...since it cannot be replaced...why are there any bearings for sale (or it is in fact rod bearings for sale).

Maybe only piston rings and rod bearings can be replaced?...and you do not touch the block?

So then it remains: the piston rings and rod bearings then....this should be rather easy.
The injectors will take some time because of recalibration and stuff but everything else does not seem so scary.

What I do not like is that the car was used with long life oil change. I usually change oil every year but for this little buggy i've seen long service times in the service books from the previous owners:(.
It does not like 5w30 oil (it consumes it). 5w40PD seems the best fit so far - i did not have to add oil since last year.

indeed @spike it says:
"The crankshaft bearing covers may not detached and the crankshaft may not be removed. Undoing the bearing cover bolts causes the aluminium bearing seats to lose shape due to relaxation of their inner microstructure. If the bearing cover bolts are undone, then the cylinder block has to be replaced complete with the crankshaft."

@Catnip64 - I can't open the link you posted.

I will NOT remove the crankshaft. THANKS for the heads up. It costed me enough fixing it so far...i do not want to look for another engine:)).

SO RECOMENDED piston rings and rod bearings?
i've seen that miele does at least 2 designs for this particular engine(not sure what the original is like)
 
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@RAB
wellll i do no get it...from this picture there is no way to replace the gasket either...because it uses the same bolts that hold the crankshaft....

is this right?

so if you cannot take the cylinder head off...how do you change the piston rings?
 
titusm said:
@RAB
wellll i do no get it...from this picture there is no way to replace the gasket either...because it uses the same bolts that hold the crankshaft....

is this right?

so if you cannot take the cylinder head off...how do you change the piston rings?
Click to expand...
The head is held on with nuts, the studs pass through the head, so head removal is easy. To replace the piston rings (and the rod shells) undo the bolts at the crank and push the pistons out of the top.

RAB
 
From what I can gather, main caps are pre loaded with press when assembled.
This is the reason you cannot remove crankshaft. Normal engine will be just bolted down so it will be easy to take it off.

So, rebuilding your engine without changing main bearing will be waste of time. As your engine has already done 200,000km.

May be you need to de-carbon your engine first to see if this will improve.
 
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