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well I had posted regarding tires and wheels and had a lot of nice feedback. Lowered the tire pressure and it was running and riding smooth. Entered my first car show in Ft Lauderdale FL just to be there and what a great feeling it was until believe it or not I broke down at 53 miles and at mile marker 53 on FL turnpike. 11 miles from the show!!! Dang it! The car lost all compression and when stopped started smoking at engine (1500 cc) compartment as there was oil burning. Many years ago I had a vw baja and the engine blew as I heard it go bad. With this engine it just started loosing power! Could this be just a blown valve? Any ideas as I guess the engine really needs to be pulled and gone through. I’d like a faster engine and recommendations? If I go to stronger engine does the transmission have to be changed like in a v8 engine. Oh well and thoughts would be great and welcomed.......

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"just a blown valve" is really bad as usually #3 exhaust valve breaks from getting less cooling air.  The valve head bounces destroying the piston and the head - spreading metal bits through out the engine -- requiring a complete tear down and rebuild.  Usually this seizes up the engine since there isn't room for valve and 8:1 compression.

Hopefully its something less.  Pull the valve covers and see if anything unusual there - loose rocker(s), push rod not connected, maybe pulled head stud.  Do a simple compression check - it will pin point a bad cylinder/head.  You want 120-130 psi NOT 0 -60 psi.  

I don't see puddle of oil on road so at least a rod didn't exit case! Does it turn over?  Does it start now once cooled down?

Any strange noises before - louder? huffing noise?  high rpms (above 5500 rpms)/ High heat?  No oil or over filled oil (2.5 qt isn't much)

VW trans are pretty strong.  Unless you like to dump clutch and do burn outs, it is strong enough.  Many mod to a 3.88 R&P to cut rpm at higher speeds (Freeway flyer is common name). 

Last edited by WOLFGANG

Sorry to hear about this.  

While at first blush it sounds like an overheat issue, until you do a real compression test, you/we won’t really know what is going on.  Usually with an overheating problem the engine will simply seize up but sometimes it just starts running slower as if laboring a great deal and then stops entirely and won’t turn over until it cools (if at all).

It could also be an ignition problem, as the probability of all four cylinders losing compression at the same time, while possible if it overheats and cooks the rings, is unlikely. 

Greg's pretty well covered the troubleshooting- start by pulling valve covers and if that doesn't reveal anything then do a compression check. For a great, go any where, more powerful engine- anything 2 liters or bigger (the more the better- there ain't no replacement for displacement!- think big evil laugh here) with (depending on how big and your intended powerband) either ported 35x32 or 40x35 heads and a cam/rocker combo to rev to 5500 or 6,000 rpm with power, along with the appropriate sized carburetion and exhaust. Depending on size and rpm range it will produce any where from 120- 160hp and be pretty darn dependable.

You can get away with a stock transaxle with this much power as long as you always roll on it (again, as Greg said, no burnouts or clutch dumping) but all it takes is 1 indiscretion and you've scrambled a perfectly good trans and now you're looking for a core because destroying a ring & pinion or spider gears quite often ruins the trans case itself. If you're having trans gone through anyways, the extra cost to do the beefing modifications is cheap insurance.

Depending on which r&p the trans has now (4.375 or 4.125) you may want to go to a 3.88, but stay with the stock 1st through 4th gearing. Going from a .89 to .82 4th makes the 3-4 gap too big and the car becomes harder to drive. And don't throw around the term "freeway flier"- it means different things to different people and you won't know what you're getting until it's too late. There are trans builders out there that will put a 4.125 ring & pinion with the .82 4th gear in your trans and tell you "yup, I put the 3.88 in it, that'll be $300 extra please!".

Bottom line- if your happy with the car's present gearing, don't change any thing. Al 

Last edited by ALB

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