Good evening everybody,
This one, for me, is the big one. This community has been of fantastic help to me over the past year and a half, rehabbing my mom's, now my, 03 ALH Golf. It had, um, some stuff wrong with it; the primary issue is a *tapping* in the engine. *this tapping has been going on for ~7 years, and at least 50,000 miles, with wide variation in various engine conditions, as detailed in part below*
a
Here's a video I took this evening:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSgu9Nz8NXI
Here's a quick vehicle history rundown:
-at about 185,000, the car bottomed out in the hollers of Kentucky, killed the oil pan, and seized the engine. A new engine was put in. The car's at ~316,000 now. I bottomed out the oil pan at about 205,000, with no damage to the engine (stopped within about a minute and a half, barely elevated engine temp). The tapping was happening prior to my bottoming it out. I have also made myself a well-insulated belly pan out of a scrapped carbon fiber hood.
-I did some basic recommended/standard maintenance: air filter, intercooler cleanout, fuel filter, oil change, coolant change with the timing belt job; new battery.
-I did a timing belt/water pump/serpentine belt job a few thousand ago.
-It's got a new alternator as of 3,000 or 4,000 ago.
-The turbo needed completely new tubing, as well as an N75 solenoid; this fixed the turbo CEL for a while, but it's back on and off with the ever-frustrating 'low boost' conundrum. Performance is good though.
-I replaced the glow plug harness, as well as all four glow plugs; three of them were fairly blackened, deformed and/or with buildup from the threads down; the fourth, just the final tip.
-I pulled off the EGR and the exhaust manifold, w/o pulling off the turbo, about a year ago, because I had no idea what I was doing and I thought that the EGR might be clogged up causing the turbo problems. The EGR's clean as a whistle, no buildup, but a bit of oil that the turbo spits. Actually, the turbo does spit a fair amount of oil--hence the SMIC cleanout.
-The MAF sensor needed to be replaced. A new one is on now and functioning correctly.
-HID bulbs w/ballasts for the lolz
-During the timing belt job, I had ample opportunity to inspect the camshaft and the lifters; it didn't seem immediately evident that they are the problem. But I'm no expert; here's a video for your consideration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfR3YW10d0Y
-When I got the car, there was a gaping hole in the straight pipe of the cat-back exhaust, like in the middle of the car. That got cut out and a piece of pipe welded in. One of the hypotheses I haven't 100% ruled out is that there's a hole in the exhaust; however, the only place I haven't visually inspected is the flex tube right after the downpipe, although I might do that soon.
However, it doesn't sound like it's coming from the exhaust. It sounds, to me, like it's in the engine block itself.
I have a backup vehicle, so if I need to I can do some considerable engine rebuilding. My initial thought would be to remove the camshaft/lifters, and inspect them for any damage that I can't see with them in place.
I come to you on bended knee for your collective wisdom. Help me make this vehicle something that my wife is willing to ride in, something that doesn't make the rattletrap bang bang headache with a side of fumes. If I can get this issue sorted, then it's on to actual fun stuff: control arms, coilovers, one o them sick BEW turbo manifolds, a fuel lifter, and some .205s...!
But if I can't solve this, none of that makes sense.
This one, for me, is the big one. This community has been of fantastic help to me over the past year and a half, rehabbing my mom's, now my, 03 ALH Golf. It had, um, some stuff wrong with it; the primary issue is a *tapping* in the engine. *this tapping has been going on for ~7 years, and at least 50,000 miles, with wide variation in various engine conditions, as detailed in part below*
a
Here's a video I took this evening:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSgu9Nz8NXI
Here's a quick vehicle history rundown:
-at about 185,000, the car bottomed out in the hollers of Kentucky, killed the oil pan, and seized the engine. A new engine was put in. The car's at ~316,000 now. I bottomed out the oil pan at about 205,000, with no damage to the engine (stopped within about a minute and a half, barely elevated engine temp). The tapping was happening prior to my bottoming it out. I have also made myself a well-insulated belly pan out of a scrapped carbon fiber hood.
-I did some basic recommended/standard maintenance: air filter, intercooler cleanout, fuel filter, oil change, coolant change with the timing belt job; new battery.
-I did a timing belt/water pump/serpentine belt job a few thousand ago.
-It's got a new alternator as of 3,000 or 4,000 ago.
-The turbo needed completely new tubing, as well as an N75 solenoid; this fixed the turbo CEL for a while, but it's back on and off with the ever-frustrating 'low boost' conundrum. Performance is good though.
-I replaced the glow plug harness, as well as all four glow plugs; three of them were fairly blackened, deformed and/or with buildup from the threads down; the fourth, just the final tip.
-I pulled off the EGR and the exhaust manifold, w/o pulling off the turbo, about a year ago, because I had no idea what I was doing and I thought that the EGR might be clogged up causing the turbo problems. The EGR's clean as a whistle, no buildup, but a bit of oil that the turbo spits. Actually, the turbo does spit a fair amount of oil--hence the SMIC cleanout.
-The MAF sensor needed to be replaced. A new one is on now and functioning correctly.
-HID bulbs w/ballasts for the lolz
-During the timing belt job, I had ample opportunity to inspect the camshaft and the lifters; it didn't seem immediately evident that they are the problem. But I'm no expert; here's a video for your consideration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfR3YW10d0Y
-When I got the car, there was a gaping hole in the straight pipe of the cat-back exhaust, like in the middle of the car. That got cut out and a piece of pipe welded in. One of the hypotheses I haven't 100% ruled out is that there's a hole in the exhaust; however, the only place I haven't visually inspected is the flex tube right after the downpipe, although I might do that soon.
However, it doesn't sound like it's coming from the exhaust. It sounds, to me, like it's in the engine block itself.
I have a backup vehicle, so if I need to I can do some considerable engine rebuilding. My initial thought would be to remove the camshaft/lifters, and inspect them for any damage that I can't see with them in place.
I come to you on bended knee for your collective wisdom. Help me make this vehicle something that my wife is willing to ride in, something that doesn't make the rattletrap bang bang headache with a side of fumes. If I can get this issue sorted, then it's on to actual fun stuff: control arms, coilovers, one o them sick BEW turbo manifolds, a fuel lifter, and some .205s...!
But if I can't solve this, none of that makes sense.
The infernal tapping - please help!
