Sounds like someone should have eaten their wheaties :) or even better used
a torque wrench or airgun :) :) glad to hear you didnt have valve collision
or anything even more catastrophic.

Chris DeLong
Fine Tuning
206.367.5503
www.finetuningperformance.com
Seattle, WA USA

>From: Robert Keezer <warmerwagen@HOTMAIL.COM>
>Reply-To: Robert Keezer <warmerwagen@HOTMAIL.COM>
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: My near Vanagon disaster(long)
>Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2003 00:31:30 -0700
>
>Hello listwrenches,
>
>I started my Vanagon Westfalia up last Saturdayfor the first time in a
>month.  . It had been over a month since I drove it. The power increase
>switching to Motronic is like putting in a bigger engine.
>
>I may have mentioned this project before .It was not without problems.
>
>The engine is a 2.0 Golf inline - four that I removed in July to replace
>the
>clutch and change the fuel injection system from '91 Golf-Jetta Digifant 2
>to '95 Motronic.
>
>What made it take so long is that halfway  though I discovered that my
>wiring harnesses and throttle body were '96 and later, and incompatible
>with
>the '95 ECU.
>
>I finally got it back in and wired, and it started right up.
>All summer I haven'[t gone camping, so here was my first opportunity.
>It sure felt good to be driving my Westy again.
>
>So I went camping Saturday night and while driving to the campground
>noticed
>a bumpiness that could be felt when accellerating. When I let off the pedal
>it went away.
>
>I went kayaking Sunday and on the way home thru Tacoma,  the engine
>stopped,
>stranding me on a bridge.
>Trains were running under it and heavy traffic on it made it impossible to
>hear that the valve train was'nt working.
>So with the help of a passerby We pushed the Westy off the bridge and I
>coasted and parked behind a museum.
>
>The next morning I discovered my crankshaft pulley was off.  The VW shop
>told me that the ABA and other newer VW's use one time use stretch bolt to
>hold the gear on that the pulley is bolted to. This gear drives the
>external
>timing belt.
>
>I  used  the 1.8 bolt with thick washeron my old engine and not until I got
>home I read in my new Golf-Jetta Bentley that the 2.0 bolt should always be
>replaced. I changed the seal , put the pulley on, and re-used the old bolt
>without using locktite.
>I just did'nt know the bolt should have been tossed and a new one used.
>
>Ignorance is no excuse so my fault.
>The VW shop did'nt have a new bolt in stock, so I tightened it down as good
>as I could.
>
>About 5 miles from home a tremendous racket began and i pulled off the
>road.
>  It sounded like a rod.
>The engine ran good, and , now thoroughly frustrated, I said what the heck,
>I have to relpalce the engine anyway and so I drove home.
>At certain rpms the noise would fade out . I could feel the noise and it
>made the shifter shake . It could also be felt in the clutch pedal.
>
>I got home, removed the pulley, and found that the gear's built -in
>woodruff
>key was already beginning to break. Rats! I just paid 28.00 for that gear!.
>
>I bought a new one, put it on- and the noise was still there!
>
>Now I thought that indeed I had a bad rod and so I parked it and ignored it
>all week. Too mad to want to look at it.
>Today the thought occurred to me that maybe I had a loose clutch/flywheel.
>
>I removed the TDC inpection plug and pryed on the flywheel-it went
>"clunk-clunk".
>
>That was it. I pulled the transmission tonight and all the flyhweel bolts
>had backed out 1/8 -1/4 inch.
>The threads on the bolts and in the end of the crankshaft are OK. Oh save
>the day!
>
>I bought six new flywheel bolts. All I have to do is bolt it back up with
>locktite and torque it down .
>
>I was relieved to find I can have it back on the road tomorrow. How lucky
>is
>this?
>
>I will never again use bolts that are one -time use again. I have never had
>everything coming off at both ends like this before.
>
>. If I had stayed on the freeway instead of turning off to take the scenic
>route, who knows what could have happened if the flywheel came off?
>
>Robert k
>
>1982 Westfalia
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