No compression in three cylinders. What now?

[my01glx]

2001 GLX with 147k miles.
My wife was driving- the coolant temp. sensor has been on the fritz since September, and she never took it in to be repaired. Driving home last Sat. she said she heard a clicking, the car did not repond to the gas pedal, and she pulled over and shut it down. I asked her about steam coming out, she said there might have been some but it was really cold and she just waited in the car for AAA

VW service guy just called to ask if the car had been overheated. He said there was no coolant in the car, and there is no compression on three of the cylinders...

I asked him where the coolant would have gone, and why would it have overheated. He's going to do some further checking and call me back. I'm thinking this might be the end of the car-
I'm guessing the thermostat closed, the car overheated and given that the temp sensor was being ignored the engine got really hot. What might the best/worst case of what the happened and what will it take to fix? Any ideas?

my01glx

[LadybugEwa]

More likely the water pump. How did you know the coolant temp sensor was on the 'fritz'? Did you get the red, flashing, temp light? That is really bad to ignore on these cars

[johnmichael]

My money says you popped the head gasket.

[jackfrost]

sounds like the timing belt let go.

[johnmichael]

Originally Posted by jackfrost

sounds like the timing belt let go.

What part of that makes it seem like the timing belt let go?

[my01glx]

The timing belt, tensioner and I think the water pump was done at 98k miles. The kicker there was that they tested the oil pump at the time, as we had gotten a low oil light on, and and said it was good to go. Turns out it was no good- it failed days after the work was done,timing belt jumped teeth, valves were bent... and VW put in a rebuilt head, new timing belt, oil pump, tensioner, etc on VW's dime.

I spoke w the service guys a while ago- they think the water pump died, the engine overheated pretty severely(they said there are plastic items on the engine that show melt), and they think the head is now warped... 60 psi on one cylinder, 0 on other three.

The estimate is 3830 for rebuilt head, timing belt, tensioner, water pump, coolant flange, belts, hoses, temp. sensor....

The real question is do we junk the car and use the 4k to get a new one (ugh- payments) or do we fix this one and keep it going until the boy gets his learner's permit in three years and let him flog it......another head might get us another 50k miles.

maybe its time for a quote from my indy and move the car over to his place....

[johnmichael]

Originally Posted by my01glx

The timing belt, tensioner and I think the water pump was done at 98k miles. The kicker there was that they tested the oil pump at the time, as we had gotten a low oil light on, and and said it was good to go. Turns out it was no good- it failed days after the work was done,timing belt jumped teeth, valves were bent... and VW put in a rebuilt head, new timing belt, oil pump, tensioner, etc on VW's dime.

I spoke w the service guys a while ago- they think the water pump died, the engine overheated pretty severely(they said there are plastic items on the engine that show melt), and they think the head is now warped... 60 psi on one cylinder, 0 on other three.

The estimate is 3830 for rebuilt head, timing belt, tensioner, water pump, coolant flange, belts, hoses, temp. sensor....

The real question is do we junk the car and use the 4k to get a new one (ugh- payments) or do we fix this one and keep it going until the boy gets his learner's permit in three years and let him flog it......another head might get us another 50k miles.

maybe its time for a quote from my indy and move the car over to his place....

That estimate is crazy. Are you a DIY'er? I've seen complete longblock swaps on the 'tex go for 1700....

[my01glx]

No garage. Working on a gravel driveway is a pain, its pretty cold outside, the working quarters under the hood are non existant, and every other thing seems to be made of plastic that breaks when you look at it
I do most of the work on my diesel benz and the '59 beetle- things were made to be repaired without dis assembling half the freaking car.

[MtnVariant]

Sorry to hear your woes.

I too agree that the quote sounds high. I say go for an engine swap at a reliable independent shop. You don't list where you are located. Maybe someone on hear could recommend a reliable shop in your area. You might check out Underground VW. They usually have loads of wrecked cars and tons of engines avaialble. Heck you might even go for a VR6 swap!

Good luck!

Keep us posted

Rob

[my01glx]

I did some quick checking online- rebuilt heads seem to go for about 1k. I'm going to look thru the old invoices to see what the timing belt etc cost us- and see if I've got the invoice w/the previous head replacement on it to see if they had the cost quoted (but I think it says 'no charge')or the time hours for the work.

I figure to ask em to drain the oil while I'm there- to see if there are metal shavings in it. The big question is how much damage the pistons sustained as the valves beat themselves to death

In any case, I'll be talking to my local guy to see what he thinks.

I think I'll get it repaired- and give the old head to my wife for our anniversary present.

[jackfrost]

Originally Posted by johnmichael

What part of that makes it seem like the timing belt let go?

the no power and the overheat and lack of cyl pressure(bent valves)

[my01glx]

Please click one of the Quick Reply icons in the posts above to activate Quick Reply.

[Lony]

Originally Posted by my01glx

My wife was driving

Thats the problem Sorry I couldnt hold back. Seems like a bigger problem as mentioned above. Good luck.

[my01glx]

Spoke with the tech who did the compression test- he said that the timing belt didnt jump- as he didnt hear bent valves while doing the test. He thinks the head is warped, and depending how bad, it may be machinable. He commented though that he's never had 0 on three cylinders, so the head may be too warped.

While we were at the dealer, my wife was angleing for a new car- she thinks its time for a 4 door- so we took a drive in a new Jetta. I was gagging at the payments, and started thinking, she hammers the car and gets a new one? The 59 needs some brakes, some heater channels, a new interior.....

Spoke with my indy today- he's going to take off the head, have it pressure tested, check over the rest of the engine, and if the head can be machined flat, ok. If not, a new rebuilt head (with a new timing belt etc, as it been 50k since the last one)and away we go. If we end up with a new head, the old one is going on the wall with all the other broken thru abuse items in my basement.

Now to see if I can get AAA to tow the car from the dealer to my indy.....

[iScott]

Sounds like you got a good gameplan and damn good friend. Good luck with all that.

[gilligan]

I'm not sure how the rest of the motor faired in the shutdown if I understand you right that there were plastic pieces that actually melted from the motor being too hot you may have more damage to the rest of the motor beyond the head.
My money is on the pistons and rings being cooked together and the cylinders being scored to death by it and thats why there is no compression.

[pinky]

you could have warped the head or popped the head gasket. when was the timing belt done (you said mileage, but i dont know the current mileage). did they use a metal impeller water pump? was it OEM?

the temp sensor will not cause the car to overheat. it only gives a reading to the gauge and ecu (for fueling calculations).

it could have been a number of things, but it is kind of dumb to just assume that the timing belt broke or the valves are bent because there is no compression.

[my01glx]

The present timing belt has 50k miles in it. This is the second head on the car, free from VW, because of a failed oil pump at 98k miles (that 100k warrantee was nice)

I told em to put in a metal impellar pump, and am having doubts they did so.

Yeah, I know the temp sensor wont do anything- except warn you when the water pump fails to shut it down....

Anyway, the head will be off Monday am and I'll get a chance to see what has happened.

I'm hoping for a slightly warped head/head gasket blow out- but knowing my wife thinks things will fix themselves if she ignores them- I'm bracing for worse.

[my01glx]

Argh...

The heads not off yet but the mechanic did his own compression test- 70 psi, 15 psi, 0 psi and 0 psi.
He did a leakdown test on one of the cylinders (didnt say which one) an said he thinks the rings are done for so the question is how bad are the cylinders scored.....

So what does a used engine go for?

[zmladen]

I can chime in on this. I once bought a NB froma guy where the engine overheated. If was a mess inside. The plastic tray under the valve cover - completely melted into the oil pan. The plastic tray in the oil pan - completely melted. The pistons - scored beyond use.

In the end I did a complete engine rebuild. I think you should look at a replacement engine.

Z