Got my new DSM, need some advice

[Micjohvan]

Hi people. As many of you may know I have been asking diffrent questions about diffrent DSMS here on the forums. Well all those had major problems so I passed on them all.

A couple days ago I found a real winner. Today I picked it up.

Its a 91 Tsi AWD

It was owned by a older gentleman who knew all about it. The car is the best looking 1g DSM I have ever seen, its in IMACULATE condition. And to boot the whole car and its motor are only at 90,000 miles ^^ (new timing belt to)

It has a brand new Catback exhust, a new ECU, a new TCU, and many other goodies but for the most part its all stock.

The reason he sold it is it dropped a exhust valve. He said he parked it a store and went in and when he came out it happened. However the motor is not sized even though I think a VERY small part of the valve fell into the piston.

Do you guys have any idea why that 1 valve failed? I am going to start tearing down the head tommarow to see whats up but I am curious as to why it failed and broke. Should I replace all the valves while I have it apart to be safe?

I will get some nice pics up tommarow, right now its on a trailer in front of my house. Its a real winner and im so stoked.

Wish me luck!

[david-b]

There's lot of things that could have happened. Could have had the valve clip come off and drop the valve in. I don't think you could have just a small part of the valve go in. It's all or nothing. The valve guide may have failed too. It's hard to say and you'll have to see. Also have to check to make sure the valve didn't damage the piston. Then you may be looking at an entire rebuild.

And we need pics.

[defiancy]

Originally Posted by Micjohvan

It was owned by a older gentleman who knew all about it. The car is the best looking 1g DSM I have ever seen, its in IMACULATE condition. And to boot the whole car and its motor are only at 90,000 miles ^^ (new timing belt to)

The reason he sold it is it dropped a exhust valve. He said he parked it a store and went in and when he came out it happened. However the motor is not sized even though I think a VERY small part of the valve fell into the piston.

Do you guys have any idea why that 1 valve failed? I am going to start tearing down the head tommarow to see whats up but I am curious as to why it failed and broke. Should I replace all the valves while I have it apart to be safe?

I will get some nice pics up tommarow, right now its on a trailer in front of my house. Its a real winner and im so stoked.

Wish me luck!

I am curious how he knew he dropped an exhaust valve over an intake valve, or how he knew he dropped a valve at all? This is not normally something that just "falls off" while sitting.

I am skeptical of this explanation. Another thing, how do you know that the car isn't siezed? Did he or you try to start it? If so that could be possibly some bad news.

You also say it has a new timing belt. . . to mean it sounds like the timing belt failed on the car and the guy replaced it. He probably then realized when he tried starting it that he had bent valves when the timing belt broke.

I mean I hope that isn't what happened, but just reading between the lines it seems that way.

But David-b is right there are many things that can cause a valve to break, but it's not normal by any means for them to just fall off. I guess we can see what the pictures show.

But even if the whole motor is screwed, if you got it cheap enough it may still be worth it. How much did you pick it up for?

[Micjohvan]

I saw the part of the valve he dished out, he handed it to me, it was quite small so I know something broke in there. I guess he drove it home from the store and parked it maybe? I got the valve cover off so far and everything looks great under it so I guess to really tell anything the head has to come off next. I will get picks up as soon as I get the head torn down but it may be a few days.

I didnt pay anything for the car lol ^^

I traded him a 89 ford ranger that ran ok for it cause he needed a extra work truck. He had the car up for sale for a long time at 1500 and then I got ahold of him and we went and saw the car. It was a even up trade so I didnt spend a penny save for the gas that it cost my brother to haul the truck and car around for me.

[defiancy]

Originally Posted by Micjohvan

I saw the part of the valve he dished out, he handed it to me, it was quite small so I know something broke in there. I guess he drove it home from the store and parked it maybe? I got the valve cover off so far and everything looks great under it so I guess to really tell anything the head has to come off next. I will get picks up as soon as I get the head torn down but it may be a few days.

I didnt pay anything for the car lol ^^

I traded him a 89 ford ranger that ran ok for it cause he needed a extra work truck. He had the car up for sale for a long time at 1500 and then I got ahold of him and we went and saw the car. It was a even up trade so I didnt spend a penny save for the gas that it cost my brother to haul the truck and car around for me.

I don't want to make it seem like I was raining on your parade. I would be absolutely thrilled for you if the only damage was that valve. But at any rate It'll be great to see some pictures of the car, especially since you essentially got it for free!

Even with catostrohpic damage to the head and motor, a rebuild isn't that expensive if you are mechanically inclined, but I hope all is well. Either way, sounds like you got yourself a great deal.

[Micjohvan]

its raining hard today and I dont have shelter to work under so I cant do any more tearing into the engine yet but so far everything looks great.

I checked where the ECU and TCU should be, they are NOT stock computers. The computers look brand new and very high tech compared to the big gold boxy looking ones I thought should be there. THere are a crao ton of wires that I dont understand, it looks very modded to me and I am excited to see what the car will do when I get it on the road. I take it you guys want some pics of the computers so maybe we can figure out what the hell they are?

[defiancy]

Originally Posted by Micjohvan

its raining hard today and I dont have shelter to work under so I cant do any more tearing into the engine yet but so far everything looks great.

I checked where the ECU and TCU should be, they are NOT stock computers. The computers look brand new and very high tech compared to the big gold boxy looking ones I thought should be there. THere are a crao ton of wires that I dont understand, it looks very modded to me and I am excited to see what the car will do when I get it on the road. I take it you guys want some pics of the computers so maybe we can figure out what the hell they are?

He may have had a logger or tuning program and left the wiring hooked up. But yes take some pictures. Also if while you are taking pictures you pull the ECU out, take a look at see if it's an Eprom or not. Here is what it looks like if you didn't know: http://www.dsmlink.com/faq-eprom.html