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Happy New Years!!!! Hope everyone is having a great time closing out 2018.  Just taking a short break before we sit down to dinner...Something happened today, strangest thing...figured I would post as I’m struggle with engine diagnosis... before we get the NY party started!

background- 

- I have been traveling more than usual, and had not driven the VS since thanksgiving.   I stored the car in the detached garage ( not heated) with Seafoam and a full tank of gas thinking I would not drive her til March- have tons of travel already booked.

- we returned to Seattle today for NY party before dashing to Whistler, and since it was sunny and mid 40’s I decided to put some miles on the car.... didn’t take but 3 cranks to start her up, warmed her up for 20 minutes,  took a bit to clear a clog in a Jet... car seem to be firing on 3 cilinders for a little bit.  But soon she sounded good and i got her on the road.

- within 5-10 minutes of driving she started to backfire...  Car pulled great, sounded like I rememrbered, but backfired- burped  continuously on decel and acceleration with no noticeable pattern to the backfiring/ burping...

- I pulled over and started checking the carbs, the seals, exhaust...  car was left on idling while I looked her over.  I noticed oil splatter,  burp like splatter,  on and around my sump tank. Pictured below).. Very messy splatter...   Upon closer inspection I noticed mixed with the oil splatter water drops.  ( strange because It was bone dry today and there were no puddles on the roads i was driving)... other than a few very localized drops, the cars underside was dry.

- wile on my back, I noticed several  water drops, condensation, coming out of the burp line ( the oil filler breather /drain line—- pictured below).  I touched the drops, tasted  a couple... it was water... no funny taste, a little oily, but water... condensed warm water drops.  

5F3E00A7-B3F5-45C0-AFB2-164A58205E61

- I removed the oil filler cap, and a little steam was visible when I reved up the engine .  Also found droplets of condensation/ water on the underside of the cap. ( The difference between the oil and the water like drops was very clear.)

.... where could this water like liquid be coming from?

i let the car continue to iddle, run for another 15 minutes... sounded good.   The water droplets eventually stopped.  About a total of 35 minutes had passed since I originally started driving.  About one hour since I fired up the car.

The car had stopped burping, and backfiring.  I then continued driving... checking off my honey shop for the party list... put about 60 miles on the car. She drove great, pulling strong, after the initial incident with no further burping/ backfiring or simptoms. 

Any ideas?  It’s the first time since 2013 I have found something other than oil coming out of the breather line...  also, this is the longest stretch the car has been parked/ stored since new. .  The car has lived in this garage since built in 2013 by VS. the engine is one of their off the shelf mild 1915s.

oh... guest arriving, dog barking.  Have to run. Let the Spanish celebration and midnight dinner begin!!!

happy new years everyone.

cheers!!!!

Luis

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DannyP posted:

 Don't taste the water coming from the engine any more, OK?

Ok, Danny, I laughed out loud at that! Snorted orange juice (hey, it's a late start to the day) and now I'm cleaning up the keyboard...

And any one fortunate enough to be driving their car at this time of year- If you're out for a drive, the weather is rather cool and you notice the engine/oil temps are running seriously on the low side- pull the rear apron from over the exhaust so the carbs and fan are fed warmer air. Remember, if oil temp doesn't get up to 170-180' for extended periods then the water that ends up in the engine doesn't evaporate off and you'll get this dirty, mayonnaisy growth at the oil fill cap. The acids that are formed are not good for the engine.

Last edited by ALB

 

Old geezers will tell you the worst thing you can do to a car that is in storage over the winter is start it up once a week, let it idle for ten minutes, then shut it down.

You just found out why.

After only ten minutes, all that condensation is still inside the engine, settles into the low spots when you shut it down, and makes rust happen.

As you found, you've got to drive it for a good while at normal operating temps to get all that water to boil off.

Thanks for the reminder!

 

 

million thanks guys.  i guess i thought of ot as a closed system, but humdity in the air and condensation totally makes sence.  and this year in Seattle im told it has been a partucullarly wet Decenber 

the "tasing the water comment" also got me to spray my screen...   thanks for the new years laugh!!!!

thanks again guys, and happy new years... today from snowy Whistler, BC

cheers,

Luis

Thanks Al. Great first afternoon/ evening... we hope to be skiing both mountains while here.  Kids prefer blackcomb, wife prefers whistler... I just love being up here with the family.  ;-),  and all the great apre-ski eating and drinking.  It amazes me how international whistler has become over the past 20 years.   It seemed like every other person in the village today was from visiting from Latin America, Europe or Asia... every language imaginable was being spoken around town.  Very cool!

With my wife being a Canadian, I have long dreamed of retiring up here ( close to her family and my prefers small town mountain ski town lifestyle)  while she prefers we retire in Madrid ( close to my family and her urban center high dessert sunny weather lifestyle).,, but we have 15-20 years till that milestone event and many bottles of wine will be consumed debating the topic over the next +decade. 

Cheers!

This is the exact reason it is important to have the engine arrive at it's proper operating temp. All engines need to run hot enough to burn off the water and gas that  form inside our engine blocks.  This is caused by normal blow by and condensation. This is the reason the VW factory had the flaps in the fan shroud controlled by the thermostat bellows. It allows the engine to come up to the correct operating temperature and then stay there. Most of us worry about our engines running too hot but never realize that running too cool is just as bad but for different reasons. This is the reason water cooled engines need to have a thermostat in the coolant system. The engine would never get hot enough in the cooler weather to burn off the contaminants in the oil and you would not get much heat from the heater. I assume most of us know this but I didn't know it until I did.

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