SO my teener broke down as I was driving out of South Dakota. I was able to get it towed for free to Mitchell, SD.

Here is what is broken: The bolt that attaches the Impeller hub to the crankshaft has sheared off inside the crankshaft. This caused the impeller hub to fall off the crankshaft and caused the generator to stop functioning as well as engine cooling to cease. Once the hub fell off the crankshaft, the woodruff key fell out too.

Here is my situation: the car is parked at a transmission shop here in Mitchell. I have a full set of sockets and wrnches, as well ass assorted 914 tools, but no jacks or jackstands. I have removed the forward engine tin, as well as the belt, impeller and hub. I have also removed the front half of the impeller shroud.

My plan of attack: I want to ask the transmission shop to use an extractor to remove what is left of the bolt with the engine still in the car. if they can remove it I will need to locate a new woodruff key, at which point I should be able to re-install the impeller using a new bolt and a lockwasher since the old bolt is shot.

My Plan B: if I can't remove what is left of the bolt, I plan to rent a U Hauls truck and trailer and pull the car the rest of the way to Muncie, Indiana.

I would really appreciate some input on whether my reasoning is sound, if I'm an imbecile, or if I'm SOL

thanks in advance,

Ross

Tow it and drop the motor. It will save you much agravation and possible further damage.

Anyone know how much a oneway rental for a u-haul would cost from Mitchell to Muncie? That's close to 900 miles. plus gas...

I would try to fix it if I were you. Even if you had to hire a stall in the tranny shop and pay their guys to help for the day. If nothing is damaged except a bolt you can get a woodruff key at the hardware store.

PM me if you need parts. I'm about 6 hours away if your desperate and UPS will do one day shipping from here. I'll pm you my cell.

This sounds like an easy fix. A woodruff key can be found at any hardware store. You should be able to extract that bolt, worst case with the engine out.

That is a pretty serious issue that's located in tough spot, and its put you in a tougher one.

Whether to attempt a field repair depends on some facts missing from your narrative. How's the weather? How much money do you have? If the answer is "not a lot" I suggest cutting your losses and renting a truck. It's against the law, but with a couple of 2x 12's and a come-a-long, you could roll your car into an 18' box truck and be home in a few days. Just be sure you tie it down well.

If I recall correctly, lots of important parts inside a 901 transmission turn even when you are coasting in neutral, which makes sense given the transaxle is part of the gearbox. Get some expert advice before putting your car on a tow dolly.

Is there a stub of sheared-off bold sticking out on to which someone could spot weld a nut? Has anyone from the shop where you're parked looked at the problem?

Using an easy out at that spot entails engine removal IMHO. Maybe they'd let you use their lift?

One time my ancient Volvo wouldn't start in a Wendy's parking lot in a very small town in Tn. I was hundreds of miles from my home an had about 24 hours to get to the Miami airport for an overseas flight.

I walked two miles to a junkyard to buy a starter. They didn't have one, but one of the guys gave me a ride to another junk yard seven more miles down the road. That yard had a crate-full. We tested them with an old battery until we found the best one and then someone else gave me a ride back to my car. I was on the road an hour later.

You just never know.

Good luck!

unfotunately there isn't any bolt still sticking out of the engine. I am nervous about asking the shop to do too much work because I have the distinct feeling that once they start taking parts off it I wont be allowed to lay my hands on it till its fixed and they have all my $$$. I am planning on having the shop guys look at it tomorrow. The weather has been awful all week, but it is supposed to turn nice for the rest of the week.

I feel like I have to at least try a repair while I'm here, if that goes south, its up into a box truck as suggested. My current plan is to prep the engine for complete removal so that if the shop is uncomfortable with attempting the repair in-situ it should cost an arm and a leg to remove it.

Rick, I really appreciate your offer and will be sure to take you up on it should the need arise.

See if AAA will do the tow if you buy a membership.

I would help if I could. I have all the parts & tools you would need.
I also have a trailer.

You would have to get ~580 miles from where you are to Longmont, CO. though.

Stu

I already used up my 200 mile tow from AAA, so thats right out. Stu, I originally came from Denver, its just looking like I shouldnt have gone to yellowstone on my way to Indiana.

-Ross

Ross... man that sucks! Talk to the shop, but if they're really unwilling to let you work on your own junk in their shop I think that will cost you in the long run. That bolt is going to be bitch to get out.

good luck with your endeavor keep us posted

dam Ross! this sucks!
ok thats over

Man up! could be a easy fix,
but plan for not so easy access to the bolt

whats bugging me is this is the SECOND time the key broke
an unheard thing (broken key) the first time.

definly keep us in the loop of what's what

wouldn't hurt to be friendly with the guys
show them it's just a fancy VW
need jackstand to be safe

hang in there dude

Upgrade your AAA and it will give you a longer tow. I think the plan is called premium

I'm wondering what went wrong from your fix on the last one? Something strange is going on there.
I wouldn't put the car in the back of the rental truck. If that thing gets moving around in there; it would cost a lot of damage and the rental company will screw you. No where really to even tie one down correctly. Rent a trailer too and tow it on the trailer.

Keep us posted bud.

Guy's renting a U-Haul truck is outragously expensive. I did that when I flew out to LA and bought a 59 MGA. I drove the car about 10 miles after paying for it and heard a rod knocking. The rental place wanted 1K for the truck and another $ 400.00 for the trailer plus gas cost about $ 550.00 to get us home. We could have had a hauler transport the car for less but the biggest part of the deal is it would have cost us $ 600.00 each for plane fare to fly out of LAX on short notice.

I talked the rental guy into letting us take the 17' truck without the trailer. We went to Home Depot and bought two 2x10's, some 2x4's, a cordless screw gun and some ratchet straps. We found a loading dock we could back the MGA up on, Backed the truck up to the dock, placed the planks as ramps and drove into the cube truck. We screwed the 2x4's to the wood floor in the cube truck and used the ratchet straps to hold the car to the 2x4's screwed to the floor like chalk blocks . We placed plastic under the car to catch any oil drips which was the rental guys only real concern. He said you can haul anything you want in the truck but don't get any oil on the floor. People need to haul furniture in there...

Anyway, you can do it. The trick is getting it loaded.

So, for $ 1400.00 you could pull the engine, rent a truck from home depot to haul the engine to a machine shop and hve them extract the broken bolt, fix the keyway and pay the tranny shop to reinstall the engine. $ 1400.00 could go along way to getting you back on the road. Just MHO.

Ross, that sucks, wish I could help.

If you can beg another 50 miles or so out of AAA you can get to Sioux Falls. There you might be able to find a VW/Porsche shop that will know what to do. The engine drop is a 30-45 minute job. Unfortunately, the only thing in Mitchell is the Corn Palace and seeing that isn't worth the aggravation of seeing the signs every 100 yards on the freeway as you approach Mitchell from either direction...

Edit: check that. I was off by almost 50%. Sioux Falls is 73 miles away from you. TDS Auto Repair works on VW and should be able to help you out...

Lotsa ideas, little real life experience. If the bolt broke and the fan came off, the hub, and most likely the crank, are toast. You can't find metric woodruff keys just anywhere, especially in the middle of SAE country. Even if you could, the key merely locates the pulley on the crank, it doesn't actually hold anything. The "hold" is supplied by the wedge taper fit of the hub to the crank, and that's no longer a likelihood. I see a rebuild in the works, not a field repair. Store the car, find a ride home, come back for it with a trailer.

The Cap'n

Ross is a college student, this drive is his relocation from Denver to Indiana for school, so Ross's options are fewer than most.

Ross I can store the car if you can get it back to Erie/Denver? I'd be happy to host a work party at my house with my lift to get it functional.

Ferg

I'll in for whatever lil help I can do

Try grinding a slot in whats let of the bolt and use a screwdriver to back it out. The
woodruff key can be obtain from a VW dealer

If you are going to go the Uhaul truck route, an easy way to get the car loaded into the back of a van is to pay a tow truck (deck type) to winch the car onto the deck then back up to the van and roll it inside. At least you would be able to do this without having to tow it to a loading dock or buy any thing else other than some good tie down straps and some plastic for the floor.

Ok, here is the end of day update. Kinda miraculous really. There actually ended up being a REALLY small VW shop here in Mitchell called Import Motors. The proprietor's name is Jonathan and was one of the most helpful men I have ever met.

Today was his first day back at the shop in about a week so he was WAY behind, but he brought me right in, set me up on one of hist lifts and let me go to work. He gave me an engine jack to use to pull to motor( which I later discovered he needed to finish working on one of the cars in his shop-though he never told me that). I was able to pull the motor and work on it using the engine hoist as a stand. The bolt extraction couldnt have been easier. I drilled one pilot hole, Then Jonathan had O'riley auto bring down a small set of extractors because he only had large ones. The end of the bolt came right out.

As Captain Krusty stated, the hub and crankshaft were both pretty mangled. however Jonathan pulled a woodruff key, a flawless hub and the specialized bolt off an old squareback he had sitting out back.

I then cleaned the exposed crank along with the woodruff key thouroughly with brake cleaner. Now comes the part where I will most likely get shunned by just about everyone on the board. I used JB weld steel to first glue the key into place in the crankshaft and then spread it over the danamge to the crank in an attempt to create a smooth tapered surface again. I then installed the new hub over the key and torqued down the bolt after applying some loctite.

For the duration of the drive I do not plan to do night driving, and so to decrease the load on the hub assembly I will not be running a belt to the generator. I plan to buy a spare battery and a battery charger and charge my batteries at night. Since the hub will only have to support the spinning fan, I am hopeful that it will hold together for the remaining 1000 miles or so of the trip.

I am currently waiting for the epoxy to finish drying, but my current plan is to head out at around 3 PM tomorrow and drive untill I start to lose light. The weather is supposed to be gorgeous so hopefully I'll be in Indiana in a few days.

Once I get settled in, I am going to have to drop the engine and pull the crankshaft, which essentially means an engine rebuild is in my very near future. Maybe its time to start cheking prices on 6 cyl 911 engines?

I want to thank everyone for their support. More updates will follow as the trip progresses. I'm going to throw some photos up of my work today as well.

I want to recommend this guy to anyone in the area who needs help. He knows a bit about types IV's and you couldnt ask for better service. I found out at the end of the day that he had lost his son thursday, yet he still bent over backwards to help me today. As I finished up I asked him how much he wanted for letting me tie up his shop all day, not to mention the tools he bought for me and the parts he gave me. He told me not to worry about it, But I went ahead and gave him all the cash I had, which still only amounted to $47. I am still wishing I had more.


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Ya been bless lad!
This is EXACT reason to keep faith
Ross, I envy your trip, more stories to recollect than mine!

BTW my heart goes out to him and loss of son, tough to handle.

Ross, hook up the alternator. You will be fine if the fan doesnt vibrate

I would have miged a piece of metal on the end of the bolt and caught the car on fire first

At least the transmission is working well

Very sorry for the guys loss of his son

I agree, If the fan isn't out of balance you won't have any issues. (I wonder if the fan is the real problem) The JB will get you home. Just use heat when you go to remove the hub bolt and the lock-tite will break down and release. Same with the JB.

How did he loose his son? Did you get his last name. I will personally send Jonathan a card thanking him for helping you out of a jamb. Maybe some Alien swag and a couple bucks for his trouble. It's the least we can do. The world needs more like him.

Import Motors
1104 West Havens Avenue
Mitchell, SD 57301-3833
(605) 990-2770


Oh, and you can rate him here. It looks like he's done this before. Great guy.
http://www.vcarshops.com/south-dakota/impo...ors-mitchell-sd

Once again Rick has a great idea. I will also send a card. This man needs to be recognized for doing a real solid for one of our own.

I think I may have caused it to break the first time by pulling the belt too tight. I just want to be safe and get home. The battery should last a full day of driving as long as I dont drain it with accessories.

I never caugt his last name or the last name of the other VW guy in the shop who had been working on them for 50 something years( some people called him Gar I think).

I'm planning on sending him a thank you note as well. I was just amazed by him, and also feel like our meeting was too perfect to be coincidence.

Dr.- I actually though about just welding the hub on, then I wouldnt have to worry about the fan breaking loose period... but decided against it in the end.

Card sent to Jonathan. Good luck on the rest of your trip Ross.

Now in Albert Lea, MN. went through one battery in 4 hours of driving, though the battery was from 2007. I am planning on buying a new deep cycle battery tomorrow or tonight. The car is running fine though.
-Ross

Great to read this! I think you should put the belt on.

Ross,
Remember to Pay it Forward.
Glad to hear you're back on the road again.

Rick, I'm just nervous. Everything is running fine. I REALLY don't want to get greedy with success and end up stranded again. There any fan wobble though which is good. I might put the belt on once I get a bit closer.
-Ross

IMO, and IME, that would be dumb. Play the cards you have in hand, don't draw to disaster.

The Cap'n

BTW, having the belt too tight would take out the alternator, not the hub and crank.

Put the belt on! Worst case, you might get to meet another stranger

Well I already bought another economy battery yesterday, which I know I dont want to use as my main. I would be suprised if my 4 1/2 year old costco battery survived such a complete discharge, and so will likely get a battery that fist better today to use as a backup on this trip and I will use the economy as my primary today. I'm thinking I will drive the economy until it dies(under warranty anyways) and then switch to my back up as usual. If i am within 100 miles of my destination at that point, I will put the belt on and make a break for it. Thank again for everybody for all the help!

Awesome!
Enjoy the trip! Take in everything.















so you have good memories when in school

some photos of the shop:
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Awesome shop in middle of nowhere...........

What our new found friend think the culprit could be on the key?
He certainly know VW's!

Cool shop Quanset shop!

Safely made it all the way there! Thank goodness for saintly gents and JB Weld! Thanks so much to everyOne for their support!!!

What a happy ending.................

Wasn't the way you planned it but you get a pretty good story out of the trip. Did you get the Black Hills?

Horseshoes!!Im glad you made it.Nice job!Sometimes this stuff happens to make you even bigger than you are already.Fix that nice 914 properly when you get the chance,and enjoy school!

SMA

Same thing happened to me before. I believe I overtorqued that center bolt. I dropped the engine and replaced the hub and key with spares that I had. My crankshaft was barely scuffed but the hub was a mess. I also replaced the bolt with a grade 12.8. Been running this engine for years and its held up fine.