Builds Another Prado in Montana

[JDM Journeys]

Love my chinesium aluMINium rad. Hope yours is great too! I've been running mine since June with (touch wood) zero issues so far.

Webasto? Nice work! Some day...

 

[AirheadNut]

The quality of the radiator actually looks better than I expected, hopefully it holds up for a long time.

Really pleased with the Webasto kit I got, it is a used/rebuilt unit that included wiring, a remote fob, exhaust and silencer, air intake filter, and fuel pump. Cost me $430 USD shipped, which is a far cry from the $1200-1600 I normally see for new units. I debated whether or not I should get one for over a year, but with semi-regular -20ºF and lower temps every winter and no place to plug in it only made sense.

 

[AirheadNut]

This is what I got:

Webasto Thermo top complete set 5kw 100% Tested - Аutonomous start on +12v | eBay

Webasto Start Pin1 (+12v). 1 Webasto stove. In the ads I also have diagnostics for the Webasto and Eberspacher stoves. Tested on a stand and showed 100% strong. 1module with remote on / off. With air filter.

www.ebay.com

 

[AirheadNut]

Jury rigged the electrical system on the Webasto last night to get it up and running for the weekend. The temperature then plummeted to -42ºF overnight, so I decided not to even bother trying to start it today. I suspect that even with winter mix my fuel may have gelled in those temperatures.

Once things warm up next week I will take the time to properly build a wiring loom, route the air intake up into the engine bay, and wire in the remote start antenna. Looking forward to easy cold starts and instant heat for the rest of the winter!

 

[mudandrock]

Jury rigged the electrical system on the Webasto last night to get it up and running for the weekend. The temperature then plummeted to -42ºF overnight, so I decided not to even bother trying to start it today. I suspect that even with winter mix my fuel may have gelled in those temperatures.
View attachment 3532421

Once things warm up next week I will take the time to properly build a wiring loom, route the air intake up into the engine bay, and wire in the remote start antenna. Looking forward to easy cold starts and instant heat for the rest of the winter!

I beat you by 2 degrees

 

[AirheadNut]

Well, I am loving the Webasto life! After sitting in the machine shed for two nights at around -10ºF inside, I fired the heater up this morning for about half an hour. When I went to start the engine the coolant temp read 145ºF and the engine started like it was a hot summer day. Warm air promptly came out of the vents. I should have installed this a long time ago!

 

[Rigster]

I beat you by 2 degrees

View attachment 3532481

I think there is something wrong with that thermometer!!

 

[svsisu]

I beat you by 2 degrees

View attachment 3532481

-40 where Americans, Liberians and the Myanma can finally understand what the rest of the world is talking about

 

[AirheadNut]

The clutch has been intermittently failing to fully disengage, causing hard shifting and difficulty getting into 1st or reverse from a stop. I thought it was probably the cold weather causing havoc with the hydraulics, but on further investigation it would appear to be a more serious problem.

 

[mudandrock]

The clutch has been intermittently failing to fully disengage, causing hard shifting and difficulty getting into 1st or reverse from a stop. I thought it was probably the cold weather causing havoc with the hydraulics, but on further investigation it would appear to be a more serious problem.

Are you turning the crank to achieve that noise or stepping on the pedal?

 

[AirheadNut]

Are you turning the crank to achieve that noise or stepping on the pedal?

Rear driveshaft removed, transmission in gear, clutch pedal depressed and rotating the rear output flange by hand. Pretty sure the springs in the clutch plate have disintegrated and are floating around in the bell housing.

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

Doesn't sound like fun, especially during the winter.

 

[AirheadNut]

Some unpleasant déjà vu from this incident a couple of years ago. I think it is worse this time around.

 

[Felde]

Uhh. How many miles did you get out of the clutch since last swap?
Good Luck Ralf

 

[Rigster]

The clutch has been intermittently failing to fully disengage, causing hard shifting and difficulty getting into 1st or reverse from a stop. I thought it was probably the cold weather causing havoc with the hydraulics, but on further investigation it would appear to be a more serious problem.

Oh my... that sounds a lot like a change jar I used to keep when I was younger.

I doubt it ever held enough to fix that though...

I foresee another clutch job in your future. Sorry to see that my friend.

 

[AirheadNut]

Uhh. How many miles did you get out of the clutch since last swap?
Good Luck Ralf

About 20-25k miles on this clutch. The more I think about it the more I am convinced that the clutch itself is not the root cause, rather the adapter plate between the engine and transmission is out of alignment. This would cause the clutch to engage with the flywheel at a slight offset every time, eventually destroying the clutch disc springs.

 

[Houser]

Unless your transmission input shaft was very loose it would be very difficult to get the trans and engine aligned and reassembled.

 

[AirheadNut]

Unless your transmission input shaft was very loose it would be very difficult to get the trans and engine aligned and reassembled.

There is a decent amount of play in an R150 input shaft, even with a new bearing. A couple of times when mating the engine and transmission I've had trouble getting them to align properly, but most of the time they go right together. I've been researching the problems people have had with this particular adapter plate, it seems like the older ones were worse but even some of the newer ones with dowel pins are way too far off. People have measured anywhere from 0.060" to as much as 0.130". Most manufacturers seem to recommend a tolerance of less than 0.005" concentricity between crank and input shaft center lines.

Planning on pulling the transmission out as soon as I can get a day in the shop and measuring my runout. Luckily I have a spare bell housing and empty transmission case that I can bolt up to indicate on the input shaft bearing bore.

 

[AirheadNut]

Picked up a backup car from my brother to use while I figure out the best course of action to fix my adapter plate. MK4 Jetta TDI for the win!

Hit 380,000 miles in it last weekend, still cruises nicely at 80mph and gets 44mpg.

In other news, my new clutch arrived last weekend. Same Centerforce II as the one that’s in there, pretty sure at this point that the clutch will hold up fine if I can get the engine and transmission centered properly.

 

[FJBen]

Picked up a backup car from my brother to use while I figure out the best course of action to fix my adapter plate. MK4 Jetta TDI for the win!View attachment 3546179

Hit 380,000 miles in it last weekend, still cruises nicely at 80mph and gets 44mpg.
View attachment 3546182

In other news, my new clutch arrived last weekend. Same Centerforce II as the one that’s in there, pretty sure at this point that the clutch will hold up fine if I can get the engine and transmission centered properly.
View attachment 3546184

Great little cars the Mk4 as long as you get the 5spd. Drove one for years and tons of reliable miles.

Of course they all suffer from 1 major flaw:

Engineering: we made the door locks sir, simple, they work and can easily be fixed.

VW: We aren’t Toyota, make it complicated.

Engineering: ok…we’ve added more levers sir.

VW: still not enough. Add vacuum lines to the door locks, more levers, make it very hard to work on and so that it fails in the cold.

Engineering: say less.

Insert almost every VW body part/electrical part into that conversation. They are really good about taking something simple and complicating it needlessly the engines…great!