Its a 82 rabbit with the 1.6 diesel. My rabbit has been extremely slow. Ive had it for about a week now. The head gasket has been replaced along with the timing belt and injection pump.Done by the PO. So i bumped up the full load screw and got a noticeable amount of power from that. I can actualy use 4th gear intown now. But since i bumped up the screw the exhaust is now black and very noticeable. I tried to back it off to clear up the exhaust and lost power again..Any help would be appreciated..
Need some injection pump help.
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If you've never driven one or are used to driving a lot of higher-HP gasoline powered vehicles, the old 1.6D can cause quite an alarm to most with just how slow it is and can be.
They are notoriously slow, but make up for it in other ways some people find very attractive.
They were marketed and sold to frugal minded people who wanted basic, reliable, economical transportation.
Diesel was cheaper, a lot cheaper in some places than regular unleaded unlike today.
If you needed to put a lot of miles on a car and wanted to do it as cheaply as possible (lowest cents per mile) over the next 5-10 years, you would be wise to look at a diesel VW.
They were made to be worked on under the hood and easy to maintain. Any old Joe Blow with the Bentley and about 100 bucks in special tools could maintain one in his/her garage easily for many years of ownership; this is still true today fortunately.
Did most people buying a diesel VW care about its 0-60 time? Hell no.
Ok rant off...
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Compression, timing, and fuel are arguably the 3 main factors here for power output.
When you only are working with 50HP stock, even very small increments of 5-10 HP (10-20%!) will be immediately felt.
Seems like you found the smoke screw. That is the first thing people usually go adjusting as soon as they try to go up a hill.
It is very sensitive, so try turning it very, very little at a time until you are happy with the smoke/power output.
If you are still not happy with the power I don't know what to tell you.
You are just experiencing the power of a 1.6L diesel with ~50HP.
If you are serious about owning, driving, and maintaining the car yourself for awhile, I would invest in a Bentley Manual and at the very least a $30 compression tester from Harbor Freight to check compression.
I would not take for granted any previous work done by a previous owner as being satisfactory and done to correct specs, that is just me though. For how much it costs to buy the tools and check things yourself, you are foolish not to check and see these numbers with your own eyes (compression numbers, what it is timed to, etc).
Again, this is assuming you actually want to maintain and learn about the car.
If not, I would have not purchased a 32 year old diesel car.
They are notoriously slow, but make up for it in other ways some people find very attractive.
They were marketed and sold to frugal minded people who wanted basic, reliable, economical transportation.
Diesel was cheaper, a lot cheaper in some places than regular unleaded unlike today.
If you needed to put a lot of miles on a car and wanted to do it as cheaply as possible (lowest cents per mile) over the next 5-10 years, you would be wise to look at a diesel VW.
They were made to be worked on under the hood and easy to maintain. Any old Joe Blow with the Bentley and about 100 bucks in special tools could maintain one in his/her garage easily for many years of ownership; this is still true today fortunately.
Did most people buying a diesel VW care about its 0-60 time? Hell no.
Ok rant off...
----------------
Compression, timing, and fuel are arguably the 3 main factors here for power output.
When you only are working with 50HP stock, even very small increments of 5-10 HP (10-20%!) will be immediately felt.
Seems like you found the smoke screw. That is the first thing people usually go adjusting as soon as they try to go up a hill.
It is very sensitive, so try turning it very, very little at a time until you are happy with the smoke/power output.
If you are still not happy with the power I don't know what to tell you.
You are just experiencing the power of a 1.6L diesel with ~50HP.
If you are serious about owning, driving, and maintaining the car yourself for awhile, I would invest in a Bentley Manual and at the very least a $30 compression tester from Harbor Freight to check compression.
I would not take for granted any previous work done by a previous owner as being satisfactory and done to correct specs, that is just me though. For how much it costs to buy the tools and check things yourself, you are foolish not to check and see these numbers with your own eyes (compression numbers, what it is timed to, etc).
Again, this is assuming you actually want to maintain and learn about the car.
If not, I would have not purchased a 32 year old diesel car.
84 Golf Mtdi, 86 Golf 2.0L, 88 Fox Diesel Wagon, 08 Rabbit GTI
Joined
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2,146 Posts
Let it be known, black smoke means excessive EGT's. If you want more fuel, youu should have a little more advance along with it to keep the EGT's down. None of these thing should be done blind. An experienced diesel tuner may be able to do some adjustments by braille on the fly, but I don't think you are there 
I don't recommend that you fuss with much black smoke unless you get an EGT gauge. Aluminum starts melting at 1200 degrees, and you would be surprised how easy it is to climb over that number when you are puking black smoke.
I don't try to steer people away from tuning diesels, just know that you have a financial commitment to make sure you do it right and you aren't destroying your engine! Hell, the thing that got me into diesels was a "Damn this thing is slow and gutless! What do I do to get more juice out of it?"
6 years and countless thousands of dollars later, I think I am up to 70hp:facepalm:
but hotDAMN do I have a reliable and efficient little tug boat!
Keep a look out for a dial indicator/timing set up and aim for an EGT setup. Add an vwdiesel.net account to your list, if you are serious, and you are good to go! :thumbup: If not, leave the smoke screw alone Also, 1/4 of that screw goes a LONG ways!
I don't recommend that you fuss with much black smoke unless you get an EGT gauge. Aluminum starts melting at 1200 degrees, and you would be surprised how easy it is to climb over that number when you are puking black smoke.
I don't try to steer people away from tuning diesels, just know that you have a financial commitment to make sure you do it right and you aren't destroying your engine! Hell, the thing that got me into diesels was a "Damn this thing is slow and gutless! What do I do to get more juice out of it?"
6 years and countless thousands of dollars later, I think I am up to 70hp:facepalm:
but hotDAMN do I have a reliable and efficient little tug boat!
Keep a look out for a dial indicator/timing set up and aim for an EGT setup. Add an vwdiesel.net account to your list, if you are serious, and you are good to go! :thumbup: If not, leave the smoke screw alone
Also, 1/4 of that screw goes a LONG ways!
Joined
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5,013 Posts
Aaand sitting on your other shoulder:
Paint the area near that mounting bolt near the pump input, where the pump meets the bracket.
Make a thin mark so you can always go back to where you started.
Now loosen the bolts/nuts and turn the top of the pump toward the head.
Watch that line you scribbed and only move it the width of a pencil line.
Test drive it again. Rinse and repeat.
This is know as hillbilly tuning.
No factory number on a dial gauge is going to do anything but get you within the right range and you are already there.
When it gets too clattery you've gone too far.
Not sure who set your pump or how
but timing will effect power and adjustments need to be small.
Paint the area near that mounting bolt near the pump input, where the pump meets the bracket.
Make a thin mark so you can always go back to where you started.
Now loosen the bolts/nuts and turn the top of the pump toward the head.
Watch that line you scribbed and only move it the width of a pencil line.
Test drive it again. Rinse and repeat.
This is know as hillbilly tuning.
No factory number on a dial gauge is going to do anything but get you within the right range and you are already there.
When it gets too clattery you've gone too far.
Not sure who set your pump or how
but timing will effect power and adjustments need to be small.
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