Old Library

Hi Noah -

I'm sorry to hear that your engine requires a rebuild, but perhaps that's an
opportunity as well. ;)

The same thing happened to my car last year, except it was cylinder #5 with
the broken TT valve spring.  When I'd posted back then, I'd received at
least two other stories about broken TT HD valve springs.  Yours (plus mine)
then make four known instances...

I mail-ordered the "triple-square" bit set as well (from Bob's Tools,
http://www.bobstools.net/Store/LS60750.html), but I believe that if you want
them quicker you can get them through Snap-On.  I know that they have the
size for the head bolts, but I don't know for certain if they have the size
for the clutch disc.

BTW I never saw the power increases with the 268s that I think I should
have; between that and being wary of going with HD springs again, I decided
to go the other route: return the car to stock cams/springs.  Since the
bottom end was still in great shape, it only required head work.

BTW I did take photos and notes, but have yet to compile them into a
publish-able format...

Good luck, and let us know how it goes for you.

Cheers,
- Bob T.
  '96 GTI VR6 178k miles


From
Subject: Re: [gti-vr6] rebuild time
From: &#77;attOVR6&#64;aol<img src=/i/dc.gif border=0 width=35 height=15>
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 01:49:55 EDT
To: &#98;obt&#64;p-vector<img src=/i/dc.gif border=0 width=35 height=15>, &#108;ist&#64;gti-vr6<img src=/i/dn.gif border=0 width=35 height=15>

It seems that this is becoming more and more of a problem.  I've got a blown
VR6 on my hands as well, and, beyond a shadow of a doubt, it was caused by
the valve springs as well.  On my website, there are nearly identical
pictures to your head, but I also had the shrapnel from the valve and piston
(cylinder #5) come through the side of the block.  I had the TT HD Valve
springs in my car, coupled with Kent 264 cams.

Was it your valve spring that broke, or the valve itself?  I had the valve
break off at the head, and my mechanic and a few qualified others believe
that the Valve springs caused it.

Pictures are located at:

http://o-bars.com/VR6PROJECT.htm

I may be off-base here, but is there a course of action we can take with
Tectonics?  At least to make them aware that it is happening to keep it from
happening to others...

Hope this helps...

Matt
O-Bars.com

From
Subject: Re: [gti-vr6] rebuild time
From: "Bob Tillman" &lt;&#98;obt&#64;p-vector<img src=/i/dc.gif border=0 width=35 height=15>&gt;
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 14:25:48 -0400
To: &lt;&#77;attOVR6&#64;aol<img src=/i/dc.gif border=0 width=35 height=15>&gt;, &lt;&#108;ist&#64;gti-vr6<img src=/i/dn.gif border=0 width=35 height=15>&gt;

Hi Matt -

> Was it your valve spring that broke, or the valve itself?  I had the valve
> break off at the head, and my mechanic and a few qualified others believe
> that the Valve springs caused it.


Sorry to hear that your engine suffered such a failure...  To answer your
question, it was the valve *spring* that broke in my engine.  I consider
myself lucky that the valve never contacted the piston; there was enough of
a spring left to keep it from contacting, but not enough to close the valve
properly.  In fact all the intake valves were re-usable.

I had heard of another case where the valve spring failure caused a broken
valve and trashed head/piston, and that was Larry Leff's VR6 Corrado, with
268s and (if memory serves) Crane HD valve springs (obtained from EIP,
before they had acquired their infamous reputation).  So it is not
unheard-of that a valve spring failure can cause valve failure due to piston
contact.

Good luck,
- Bob T.


From
Subject: Re: [gti-vr6] was: rebuild time; now: TT valve springs
From: "Michael Carlson" &lt;&#109;ike&#64;divergent<img src=/i/do.gif border=0 width=35 height=15>&gt;
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 06:59:27 -0500
To: &lt;&#108;ist&#64;gti-vr6<img src=/i/dn.gif border=0 width=35 height=15>&gt;

> I may be off-base here, but is there a course of action we can take with
> Tectonics?  At least to make them aware that it is happening to keep it from
> happening to others...


I've read similar stories on the Scirocco mailing list about folks having TT
HD valve springs break on 'em and trashing their heads.  If you guys are
confident it's the valve springs, you might post a feeler to the Scirocco
mailing list for others to join your cause...

Mike Carlson
'95 GTI VR6
'84 Scirocco Wolfsburg Edition
http://www.divergent.org/mikes.vws/

Hi,

Well I got off the phone with tectonics and here's the deal. They
have switched manufacturers because of these failures. If you can
show them that you were using their valve springs then they will
replace the set of springs free. I know we'd like more than that -
hell rebuilding the engine to 3.0 liters will cost $4k (including
all the other stuff you might as well do while the engine is out)
and it is a pretty serious failure. However, I doubt anyone could
have predicted this kind of failure.

I looked at getting schricks but they cost twice as much and tectonics
seems to think they have licked the problem. I bought another set of
tectonics. Maybe thi smakes me a git.

Oh I found a really great source for JE 3.0 pistons. I was told
yesterday that there was a 3-4 week lead time on this pistons. I
nearly killed myself. So I called JE this morning and asked about
the pistons. They have a slew of them on the shelf. JE offered me a
pretty good price but told me I should go through a nearby retailer,
Cali's in Ohio. Cali's gave  me a price hundreds of dollars lower
than anyone  else and they'll be drop shipped from JE and get here
by Tuesday or Wednesday. I may even have the block and head back from
the machinists by a week from Monday.

We took a bunch of photos during the engine removal. It only took us
about 9 easy hours to get  it to the point where we need to pull off
the crank and the flywheel and head.

So far I've dealt with some very helpful people. Including Dave at
adirondack and Bob at Cali's. If you want to mail me directly for
more info I'll be glad to help.

       Noah