Builds Another Prado in Montana (3 Viewers)

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Unless I’m missing something about how the backing plate delete kits work, I think I’d still be missing something to connect the caliper hard line to the soft line going across the knuckle. Both have a male end; my backing plates originally had a 90° female/female junction block on them to connect the two, but those are no longer there.
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Ideally the soft line would have two female ends, then no additional junction would be needed.

Sorry, those are the wrong hard lines I linked. We offer a hardline that cleanly connects from the caliper to the backing plate eliminator hose.
 
Another whirlwind weekend of wrenching done. Drove 300 miles after work on Friday, Saturday morning I started by pulling the Prado into the shop again. The battery was completely dead, so we attempted to let it slowly down off the trailer using a come-along, but the previous night's freezing rain made the trailer deck so slick I couldn't get enough traction to pull the come-along handle. Instead, we let it roll off the ramps slowed by the emergency brake.
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Once inside I started to disconnect all the wires, hoses and pipes from the engine. Within about 4 hours I had a very filthy 1.9TDI hanging in midair.
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First order of business with the engine out was to bolt on my spare bell housing and transmission case to check adapter plate runout. There is not much space inside the bell housing, so I used a mini mag base with a small dial test indicator attached to the flywheel. With this setup I measured about 0.019" of runout, which is more than I had hoped for. The mag base didn't have a very secure connection to the flywheel and one of the arms did not want to lock completely, so there may be some error there. No noticeable wear on the input shaft, input shaft bearing, or clutch assembly though, which is a good sign.
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Next up was replacing the o-ring between the injection pump head and body, which has been leaking for quite a while now. This procedure is generally done in the vehicle, but access is a lot easier in the VW engine bay. Cleanliness is paramount, too, and it was much easier to see that all parts were dirt free with full access. The injection pump remains installed on the engine and the head is loosened and backed off just enough to see the o-ring down in the groove, otherwise little bits come unstuck inside the injection pump and it is time for a full, expensive rebuild.
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I took advantage of the excellent access to replace the alternator; it doesn't get much easier than this:
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I also spent some time going around the engine and engine bay replacing all the worm drive hose clamps with spring clamps. Made an attempt to clean some of the grime off the sides of the engine but didn't get very far, that is something I'll have to tackle next weekend. The turbo oil return line is leaking (again :bang:) so a new gasket for that is on the way. I also managed to track down a multi layer steel gasket that I think is correct for the turbo/manifold joint (which has also started leaking) so I got that on the way from the UK as well.
 
Another whirlwind weekend of wrenching done. Drove 300 miles after work on Friday, Saturday morning I started by pulling the Prado into the shop again. The battery was completely dead, so we attempted to let it slowly down off the trailer using a come-along, but the previous night's freezing rain made the trailer deck so slick I couldn't get enough traction to pull the come-along handle. Instead, we let it roll off the ramps slowed by the emergency brake.
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Once inside I started to disconnect all the wires, hoses and pipes from the engine. Within about 4 hours I had a very filthy 1.9TDI hanging in midair.
View attachment 3789797

First order of business with the engine out was to bolt on my spare bell housing and transmission case to check adapter plate runout. There is not much space inside the bell housing, so I used a mini mag base with a small dial test indicator attached to the flywheel. With this setup I measured about 0.019" of runout, which is more than I had hoped for. The mag base didn't have a very secure connection to the flywheel and one of the arms did not want to lock completely, so there may be some error there. No noticeable wear on the input shaft, input shaft bearing, or clutch assembly though, which is a good sign.
View attachment 3789793

Next up was replacing the o-ring between the injection pump head and body, which has been leaking for quite a while now. This procedure is generally done in the vehicle, but access is a lot easier in the VW engine bay. Cleanliness is paramount, too, and it was much easier to see that all parts were dirt free with full access. The injection pump remains installed on the engine and the head is loosened and backed off just enough to see the o-ring down in the groove, otherwise little bits come unstuck inside the injection pump and it is time for a full, expensive rebuild.
View attachment 3789794

I took advantage of the excellent access to replace the alternator; it doesn't get much easier than this:
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I also spent some time going around the engine and engine bay replacing all the worm drive hose clamps with spring clamps. Made an attempt to clean some of the grime off the sides of the engine but didn't get very far, that is something I'll have to tackle next weekend. The turbo oil return line is leaking (again :bang:) so a new gasket for that is on the way. I also managed to track down a multi layer steel gasket that I think is correct for the turbo/manifold joint (which has also started leaking) so I got that on the way from the UK as well.
Need to change the alternator... no big deal, pull the engine!! 😜

Best of all - very little runout is great, you should not have to worry about chewing up any more clutches and bearings! Looking great @AirheadNut :cheers:
 
Unfortunately even though 0.019” doesn’t sound like much, it is still almost four times the recommended maximum runout for adapter plates (0.005” or less). I’ve found some 10mm offset dowel pins available in various offsets, going to get a better measurement and order a set to see if I can get things dialed in a little better. Was hoping to get everything put back together next weekend, but the turbo gaskets and dowel pins won’t be here by then.
 
Got a bit more work done over the holiday weekend. Started by cleaning some of the accumulation of oil, dirt, coolant and diesel off the engine. It took several applications of foaming engine cleaner, manual scraping and pressure washing to get it to a reasonable point.
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New brake lines and hoses had arrived, so I made up a couple of little brackets to mount the soft line to, they bolt to the backing plate where the wiring for the electric hubs used to go. Really happy with how they turned out: the hoses were just the right length and the hard lines only required a slight bend to match up.

Here is the hose at full steering lock in both directions:
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The rest of my shop time over the weekend was spent fabricating and fitting a replacement cab mount for a Bombardier BR400 snowcat.
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A bit more progress last weekend. I have had an exhaust leak from the turbo area for quite a while, based on where the soot was I suspected it was leaking between the turbo flange and the adapter plate on the manifold. There was also an oil leak from the turbo oil drain line. Since the turbo/manifold gasket was never available in the US (Passats equipped with this turbo used no gasket between the turbo and manifold), I ordered a gasket kit from the UK hoping the gasket would be the right size.
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Upon disassembly I discovered that the leak was actually coming from the downpipe gasket; a huge relief since that didn't require completely removing both the turbo and the manifold adapter plate along with my custom made copper gasket. Clear evidence of soot leaking past the gasket and spraying right on to the adapter plate:
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I also took the opportunity to notch the engine adapter plate to provide clearance for the front driveshaft. In the original design I left plenty of material around the outside of the adapter to make sure it had full coverage on the bell housing, but it turned out the front driveshaft could contact the edge of the adapter under full compression of the front suspension. Not a great feeling!
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Using a set of 0.008" offset dowel pins from Grannas Racing I was able to dial my engine/transmission runout down to just over 0.007", a little over the recommended tolerance but close enough (I hope!). I had great difficulty getting consistent measurements with my cheap dial test indicator until I made a little bracket to offset the arm from the mag base and allow full contact of the magnet on the flywheel. My previous measurement of 0.019" total runout was probably inaccurate, it was likely closer to 0.025" and I should have gone with a 0.010" or even 0.012" offset.

Hoping to have the engine back in next weekend, can't wait to be driving the Prado again!
 
Engine back in, took a little longer than pulling it but still accomplished in less than a day.
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Took some time to get all the air out of the injection pump, but it finally fired up and pulled out of the shop. I spent some time trying to coax some coolant back into the engine, made some progress but it still needs quite a bit more. During the process of reinstalling the engine I discovered that the vacuum pump has been puking oil into the vacuum lines, so now I need to replace that too.

Also installed new brake pads to go with the rotors. My brake hardware kit only came with 3 pad retaining pins instead of 4, so I had to reuse one of the originals.
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Bled the brakes and took it for a short test drive, brakes are still spongy, the injection pump still leaks diesel and there was a new exhaust leak. Rather than mess around trying to reseal the injection pump again I am just going to take the opportunity to upgrade from the factory 10mm pump to a rebuilt 11mm unit. Should be good for 260+hp should I ever be crazy enough to want that. Fortunately the exhaust leak turned out to be from the pyrometer probe port, I had forgotten to reinstall it.
 
The Prado is back on the road, drove it 300 miles home last weekend and have been daily driving it all week. The bad battery caused poor starting at cold temperatures, it got so it wouldn't even run the Webasto at 25ºF. I got a new Group 27 put in and was able to run the Webasto and start up this morning after a -21ºF overnight temperature.

Still need to figure out why the brakes are spongy; I've bled the system twice with no noticeable difference. The booster is working well, the pedal is soft most of the way and only hits moderate resistance toward the end of the pedal stroke. The fronts feel like they lock up way earlier than the rears, so I'm wondering if the rear circuit on the master cylinder somehow has some air in it still.
 
The Prado is back on the road, drove it 300 miles home last weekend and have been daily driving it all week. The bad battery caused poor starting at cold temperatures, it got so it wouldn't even run the Webasto at 25ºF. I got a new Group 27 put in and was able to run the Webasto and start up this morning after a -21ºF overnight temperature.

Still need to figure out why the brakes are spongy; I've bled the system twice with no noticeable difference. The booster is working well, the pedal is soft most of the way and only hits moderate resistance toward the end of the pedal stroke. The fronts feel like they lock up way earlier than the rears, so I'm wondering if the rear circuit on the master cylinder somehow has some air in it still.

Glad to hear it's on the road again!

Did you bleed the rear load sensing proportioning valve? Sometimes air gets stuck there.

Generally I've found LJ78 the hardest vehicle I've ever tried to bleed brakes on. I think I only had about a 3 year period out of 12 where the brakes were really good. I've got a new master cylinder in a box, just no time to replace.... (I think that is my problem now).
 
Glad to hear it's on the road again!

Did you bleed the rear load sensing proportioning valve? Sometimes air gets stuck there.

Generally I've found LJ78 the hardest vehicle I've ever tried to bleed brakes on. I think I only had about a 3 year period out of 12 where the brakes were really good. I've got a new master cylinder in a box, just no time to replace.... (I think that is my problem now).
I did not bleed the LSPV, that is a good idea. I had an encounter with a deer while driving late last night, about as close as it is possible to be without actually hitting the animal. Under heavy emergency type braking I managed to lock up just the left front wheel, as an indication of the poor braking performance none of the junk I had sitting on the back seat moved. Normally it would have been catapulted into the footwell.

Another issue I discovered is that the transfer lever no longer stays in low range, it feels like it is hitting the edge of the hole in the floor. Not sure why that would have changed but I need to crawl under there and investigate. Might have to lengthen the shift linkage again.
 
I did not bleed the LSPV, that is a good idea. I had an encounter with a deer while driving late last night, about as close as it is possible to be without actually hitting the animal. Under heavy emergency type braking I managed to lock up just the left front wheel, as an indication of the poor braking performance none of the junk I had sitting on the back seat moved. Normally it would have been catapulted into the footwell.

Another issue I discovered is that the transfer lever no longer stays in low range, it feels like it is hitting the edge of the hole in the floor. Not sure why that would have changed but I need to crawl under there and investigate. Might have to lengthen the shift linkage again.
Dood! Glad you missed the deer! :oops: I do not enjoy those close encounters at all.

This time of year all of the deer are down in the valley and they are everywhere. :cheers:
 
Dood! Glad you missed the deer! :oops: I do not enjoy those close encounters at all.

This time of year all of the deer are down in the valley and they are everywhere. :cheers:
For sure! It was one of those split second moments that drags on for about three minutes. I have a vivid recollection of the deer being indecisive in the middle of the road as I tried to figure out which direction it would decide to go. I live just across the road from the Gallatin River, the deer come up out of the river bottoms in droves just at dusk and cross the road into the farm fields.
 
A freshly rebuilt 11mm injection pump is on the way from Poland! Also getting going on a custom tune, planning to pull the current tune file this weekend to send off as a baseline. Really looking forward to getting this thing running at its best.
 
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Lil motivation for yah ;) since it’s easier to watch your projects than tackle my own hahah
I have to admit I could certainly use the motivation at times. Doing a check over of the engine bay this afternoon and found that my turbo oil return line is still leaking (put a new gasket on it when I had the engine out), the coolant temperature sensor is still leaking, and there are a couple of new coolant leaks from some of the heater hoses. Getting really sick of dealing with the never ending leaks on this thing!
 
I have to admit I could certainly use the motivation at times. Doing a check over of the engine bay this afternoon and found that my turbo oil return line is still leaking (put a new gasket on it when I had the engine out), the coolant temperature sensor is still leaking, and there are a couple of new coolant leaks from some of the heater hoses. Getting really sick of dealing with the never ending leaks on this thing!
Interesting it is the return on yours that is leaking...

I recently replaced the exhaust manifold/turbo combination on my wife's BEW Jetta wagon and the supply line was leaking at the turbo end when I was all finished. It actually scared me how much I had to tighten the connection before a good seal was made.
 
Interesting it is the return on yours that is leaking...

I recently replaced the exhaust manifold/turbo combination on my wife's BEW Jetta wagon and the supply line was leaking at the turbo end when I was all finished. It actually scared me how much I had to tighten the connection before a good seal was made.
When I took the original oil feed line off my engine it was so tight it twisted the hard line off before the nut came loose from the adapter piece on the turbo. I am running an aftermarket braided stainless feed line now.

I think my return line leak is likely due to the fact that I fabricated the entire line from scratch: the flange is cut from a piece of 1/4" steel, the hard line is custom bent 1/2" steel tubing and the soft line is a hydraulic line I had made locally. I am guessing that welding the 1/2" tubing to the flange was enough to slightly warp it and cause it to not seal properly. If I had a milling machine I would take the thing off and mill it flat, but instead I think I'll try a high temp oil resistant sealant. I've got a tube left over from doing my rear main seal, a light smear on each side of the gasket should be enough.
 
Got a notice that my 11m injection pump has shipped from Warsaw, should be here by Monday apparently.

Unfortunately my Webasto heater has not been working properly the last couple of days: it fires up normally but when I come back 20-30 minutes later it has shut itself off and the coolant temperature is not significantly warmed up. This has resulted in a couple of rough starts in the mornings when it is -9ºF. I need to crawl underneath the Prado and give it a visual inspection, but it is only 8ºF today with 15mph wind and blowing snow. I think I'll wait a bit...
 
The snow and wind let up this afternoon and the temperature soared to 11ºF (around -12ºC) so I went out and checked on the Webasto. Everything appeared fine, so I fired it up. Coolant was low due to my incessant temperature sender o-ring leak, so I topped that off. The Webasto ran great for 15-20 minutes and got the coolant temperature up to 120ºF, the cylinder head was even hot to the touch. The difference: I had turned the heater valve off. I am guessing that the slow coolant leak allows the odd bubble to form in certain places in the cooling system, which effectively cuts off certain parts of the system from circulating with the Webasto pump. Likely on the last two mornings just the heater core was circulating, which got right up to temp and then the Webasto shut off, leaving the engine and the rest of the cooling system stone cold.

Luckily some parts arrived today that will hopefully solve that coolant leak: new coolant flange, sensor o-ring and sensor retainer clip. I also got a new turbo oil return line gasket.
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Had more trouble with the Webasto this week, Tuesday morning I couldn’t get it to fire up and it went into a lockout mode after a couple of tries. It was -31°F out to be fair, pretty sure the fuel gelled in the lines and it wouldn’t flow.

This arrived today:
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Going to be tough finding the downtime to swap pumps since the Prado is back to being my sole daily driver. Maybe next weekend…would be nice to stop the hemorrhage of diesel coming from my current injection pump.
 

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