smokes white but holds coolant, diesel
 

not my car a car on craigslist, i am on the perpetual hunt for something small and cheap. this ones got me stumped

its a 1981 4 door rabbit diesel 5spd.

now its in a town south of her which is notorious for the hippy factor which is blatently obvious with the fact later on the say it was used with biodiesel and the fact they wont spend the few bucks to fix the window and the glow plug relay. and get probally quite a bit more than they are asking if these items were fixed.

now i have not dealt much with diesels so i dont know if the smoking white means the same thing as a gasoline car but the valve clatter and the slipping timing belt to me says bendy valves but at the same time dont diesels operate on compression instead of using a spark?

what do you guys think.

Sounds like a piece of ish to me. Timing belts don't "slip" just because it got some gas / oil on it.

The smoke could be timing. Diesel smokes white when the timing is advanced with fuel injection. Could also be the injection pump install.
If the valves are "clattering" it's doing one of two things.
Valve train is a little loose and old and you are hearing tappets, or cam followers/rockers.
Or they are slapping the pistons.. My guess is that you would get a bent valve, and the car would not run.
You do need compression, and loss of compression in one or more cylinders on a small 4 cylinder diesel would likely result in no idle capability.

Glow plugs are just heaters that spark the fuel before the engine is warm and can ignite the fuel on its own. You can fix those easy. Once warm it should not need them.

well like i said its just a relay so they engage and start warmin up when you turn the key on before you start it.

theyre asking $575 but i am sure they are willing to take less. i dont mind working on something as long as it isnt too ****ed up and timing betls do slip some times....like when you have a jackass install it

Haha. Or the teeth were just not counted and lined up right when the belt was changed.

That's a cheap price.

I do not know much about the old VW 1.6 diesel. Wish I did. I can't even find the engine code for it.
I was looking for a alter 1.6 TDI for my buddies Samurai to swap. Never did find one locally for a good price.

Could be fun for $500.

could be.....COULD

my wants for a rabbit are 4 door diesel or 2 door gti, and theres both available.

4 door for hauling things/long distances
2 door for arround town

oh god damnit, now theres another car i wouldnt mind having for living in washington.

its a '78 510 that needs a head gasket for $250
its the dual round headlight 510, still based off the origonal chasis but bigger with a L20 if its a 2 door or lift back it'd be even cooler but it doesent say.

does any one know if in 78 the 4 cylinder L series engines were injected or carbed?

because the not all the magic vapors are being used and then they combine with air they turn to white.