Uh oh . . .

[Kenney]

Well, as my sig says.

This morning, a normal routine went south. I go out to my car, flip open the decklid, check the belt and the oil, and quickly inspect for any new leaks, loose wires, etc.

Everything checked out, so I got in, fired it up, idled for about a minute, and then the car wouldn't go into reverse. I put it into first, then back into reverse without a problem (scat drag-fast shifter.) So, now it's in reverse, and I start backing up, and there's this hideous, almost metal on metal, scraping/dragging sound. I stop, shut the car off and looked all over underneath the car and saw/felt nothing out of the norm. Fired it back up, put it in reverse, and the sound came back. I thought, why not just get it out of the garage so I have more room to look around?

It happened the whole way out of the parking lot, only at a slower car speed and engine rpm. This is the part that really sucks. I'm deaf in my right ear, so I have absolutely no clue where the sound's coming from. It seems to be up near the front somewhere, but when I asked my buddy to walk next to the car while I drive slowly, it didn't do it. As soon as he left, and I went to leave work, it started up again. It's loud enough to attract attention from a bit of distance.

Any ideas? I'm afraid to drive it, so I plan to walk to work the rest of the week and do a full inspection on the car saturday.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Kenney

[admin]

Maybe your throw out bearing that engages and disengages your clutch?

[Kenney]

God I hope not.

There's no noticeable differences in the way the clutch feels, but it wouldn't surprise me at this point. I have no maintenance records for this thing up until June 2006, when I got it and started a maintenance book.

I suppose it's a good thing, though. Maybe it's the cars way of telling me to my butt in gear and work on the GL transformation, starting with the engine and trans. 

Thanks Scott. I guess i'll pull mr. 1600 out this weekend and see what's up.

Kenney

[admin]

Was it only when you engaged the clutch?   I've done the throw out bearing job.  It's not too bad, just getting the clips on that hold the bearing place can be a royal pain in the butt.  I have a flat blade screw driver with a notch in middle of the blade.  It seems to grab the spring nicely.  With a pair of needle nose pliers holding the loop of the spring, I can usually push the loose end into place with the notched flat blade.

I've got a million things going on right now, but we still need to get together!

Scott Faivre

[Kenney]

I hear ya man. Things ARE pretty crazy lately. I can only imagine what school's like at the beginning of the year for you guys.

For the most part, the noise was only audible when I'd be driving very slowly (under 10) with the car in motion. It does it in 1st and reverse. Above 10mph, and it goes away, not just being drowned out by the engine.

This morning, before I left on the whoppin' 15 min walk to work, I messed with it a bit. I got it out of the garage and made a pass around the apartment complex. Afterwards, I put it up on jacks and jerked on the wheels, suspension parts, looked for loose hardware, brake and fuel lines, and hit a few things (gently) with a hammer to see if I could find some loose sheet metal. All was fine.

The sound was a bit clearer to me though. Direction-wise, I have no clue where it was coming from. It sounds like some loose sheet metal or something spinning rubbing on a loose piece of metal. Kinda like, if the rear tin were loose, and the crank pulley were hitting it, causing it to vibrate like hell and make a bit of that hollow, tinny kinda sound. This was only while either engaging the clutch, or while the clutch was let out slowly going into a 1st or reverse.

I'd hate to start ordering parts for this thing if they're just gonna be thrown back in a box when the new engine gets built. By no means do I have the money to just toss around and things like this right now. I may just as well order some stuff and have it over-nighted so I can be on my way and still have a car to drive around to get parts for the new engine, not to mention, having an appropriate vehicle to make it to the bug-in with.

Kenney

[Kenney]

YAY!

Problem solved.

After much investigation and inspection, i've found the problem.

This is my first drum brake car, but I do know a bit about how they operate, and the VWs brake system.

Here's the run down. From a dead stop, i'd hear a dragging, metal-on-metal sound. It was pretty bad, but there was no noticeable differences in the way any of the pedals felt, nor any difference in the way the car drove. None that I could tell, anyways.

So now, the sounds are clear. So what was it? . . .

After tearing the rear down, getting both brake drums off, the rear-right brake cylinder was full of crud. This was causing the cylinder to stick, and even the springs (still in decent shape) couldn't pull the shoes away from the drums. Well, one of them. The shoe was dragging across the drum, just barely enough to make an audible dragging sound. The drums were somewhat warped (now replaced) causing the shoe to hit it a 'spot' in it at a certain speed (above 10mph) and 'kicking' the shoe off the drum, making the noise go away.

I feel pretty stupid not thinking of that. 2 months ago, I bought new everything to re-do the rear brakes (luckily I broke a hand-brake cable recently) with the intent of rebuilding the whole thing, mainly as a peace of mind. Now was a good time to take safety into consideration and just get it done. It wasn't easy, but a $6 section of angle iron from Ace Hardware, and 3x breaker bars (all 3 were craftswoman tools, so replaced for free) and about 6 hours of time, total, got me a new brake setup in the rear, minus the hand brake. Gonna have to do that sometime soon. Not sure I even need it though.

Hope that helps someone at some point in the future (or now.)

Kenney

[admin]

Well that's cool.  Brake work is dirty and time consuming, but it's fairly easy.  Glad it was something simple. 

Scott Faivre