If the timing had been off, I would have expected to see evidence of
"hammering" on the tops of the other pistons.  There was no such trouble on the
others.  In fact, the valves and cylinder walls of #1, #3 & #4 looked terrific.

Maynard

On Wednesday, September 05, 2001 11:38 AM, Rachel Cogent
[SMTP:Gnarlodious@earthlink.net] wrote:
> Possibly also the timing was too early causing "hammering".
>
> Entity Maynard Southard spoke thus:
> > Rachel:
> > I'm not sure how this happened.  If you've seen the head and block apart,
> > it
> > appears that at least 1/3 of the prechamber insert is covered by the head
> > gasket and the engine block on the other side.  I wouldn't think it could
> > wiggle its way loose, unless maybe the head was really not torqued down
> > correctly (although I'd think ANY torque would be sufficient to keep it in
> > place and thus let the head gasket blow first.)  There was a half-moon
> > shaped
> > piece of head gasket missing at this point, so perhaps the head gasket did
> > blow
> > out this piece first and that gave the insert some room to drop down.  The
> > PO
> > had replaced the head gasket at least once prior to my purchase and also
> > fiddled with the fuel delivery on the pump.  I'm guessing he had no clue
> > what
> > he was doing.
> >
> > Maynard Southard  OvO '79
> > '82 Westy Diesel "Reinhardt"
> > '82 Vanagon GL Diesel
> > '93 EV GL "Klinger"
> > '00 Golf GLS TDI "WooHoo"
> > '84 Jetta GL TD "Donor"
> >
> > On Wednesday, September 05, 2001 10:16 AM, Rachel Cogent
> > [SMTP:Gnarlodious@e
> > arthlink.net] wrote:
> >>> months ago when the #2 prechamber insert loosened and did a nice tap
> >>> dance
> >>> on
> >>> top of the piston.
> >> So tell me what causes this to happen? I thought the the combustion
> >> chamber
> >> was pressed between the block and head so could not come loose.
>