Owner of a Volkswagen California with a Westfalia Poptop from 1994 1.9TD

[miwill]

Hello California club!
My name is Milan from Belgium and I am a proud (recently) owner of a California from 1994.
I'm here for ideas and help for upgrading and fixing my beauty.
Some ideas for upgrades that I have are solar panels and taking on the slow starting rust (and a full check-up in a small garage specified in oldtimers).
A big fix a need to do is repairing the parking heater (eberspacher d2l I think..).
Thanks for accepting my to this forum!
Milan

 

[Ch1pbutty]

Hello California club!
My name is Milan from Belgium and I am a proud (recently) owner of a California from 1994.
I'm here for ideas and help for upgrading and fixing my beauty.
Some ideas for upgrades that I have are solar panels and taking on the slow starting rust (and a full check-up in a small garage specified in oldtimers).
A big fix a need to do is repairing the parking heater (eberspacher d2l I think..).
Thanks for accepting my to this forum!
Milan

For performance!…

- Get the diesel pump refurbished / seals replaced (alot of marine places will be able to do this).
- Clean EGR / manifold
- Fit EGR blanking plates. If not already fitted.
- Use some fuel additive such as Rhino each time you fill up, or, use premium diesel.

We carried out the above on our 1.9td and improved the drive. Previous owner was based in London and had only used for very short trips for a decade, so was clogged up with soot etc. Only needs a slight improvement to make a ‘big’ difference given the max 68bhp when new!

 

[miwill]

For performance!…

- Get the diesel pump refurbished / seals replaced (alot of marine places will be able to do this).
- Clean EGR / manifold
- Fit EGR blanking plates. If not already fitted.
- Use some fuel additive such as Rhino each time you fill up, or, use premium diesel.

We carried out the above on our 1.9td and improved the drive. Previous owner was based in London and had only used for very short trips for a decade, so was clogged up with soot etc. Only needs a slight improvement to make a ‘big’ difference given the max 68bhp when new!

Thanks a lot for your tips! I'm definitely looking into those!!
I've never really believed that fuel additives work, but I am going to try it now.

 

[KernowMaid]

Thanks a lot for your tips! I'm definitely looking into those!!
I've never really believed that fuel additives work, but I am going to try it now.

Me neither until I read comments on this forum. I now use premium fuel in all my vehicles. It makes a huge difference. Our 13 year old Fiat 500 used to make strange bubbling noises and gear changes were 'notchy' - not any more. It hums along sweetly. Fuel economy is improved too.

 

[sidepod]

EGR on a 94?

 

[Ch1pbutty]

EGR on a 94?

EGR on T4 92->03 1.9 Diesel ABL 68bhp

 

[sidepod]

EGR on T4 92->03 1.9 Diesel ABL 68bhp

Interesting. I’ve pretty sure my 94 2.5 didn’t have one?

 

[miwill]

Me neither until I read comments on this forum. I now use premium fuel in all my vehicles. It makes a huge difference. Our 13 year old Fiat 500 used to make strange bubbling noises and gear changes were 'notchy' - not any more. It hums along sweetly. Fuel economy is improved too.

Thanks for your reply!
I'm keeping track of the fuel economy in an application, so I will keep an eye on this and will report back.

 

[miwill]

For performance!…

- Get the diesel pump refurbished / seals replaced (alot of marine places will be able to do this).
- Clean EGR / manifold
- Fit EGR blanking plates. If not already fitted.
- Use some fuel additive such as Rhino each time you fill up, or, use premium diesel.

We carried out the above on our 1.9td and improved the drive. Previous owner was based in London and had only used for very short trips for a decade, so was clogged up with soot etc. Only needs a slight improvement to make a ‘big’ difference given the max 68bhp when new!

The first three of your tips have been done and you where right, it makes a huge difference.
It hums along sweetly and drives a lot smoother and a bit more aggressive.
Thanks a lot!!

 

[AndyWT]

Hello California club!
My name is Milan from Belgium and I am a proud (recently) owner of a California from 1994.
I'm here for ideas and help for upgrading and fixing my beauty.
Some ideas for upgrades that I have are solar panels and taking on the slow starting rust (and a full check-up in a small garage specified in oldtimers).
A big fix a need to do is repairing the parking heater (eberspacher d2l I think..).
Thanks for accepting my to this forum!
Milan

Hi Milan
The D2L Eberspächer has been obsolete for a long time, i think the only new part available is the glow plug. If you’r handy with tools drop the heater off, it’s a long time since i have seen one of these, usual failure is the glow plug, some control units have a replaceable small fuse, T3 didn’t but the T4 did. But if not working for a long time the motor can seize and wiring corrosion Can be a problem.

Google the D2L and there’s a few YouTubes, there’s secondhand stuff out there, Serial-Combi has a control unit for a T3. I have a parts manual.

if it’s terminal, you can fit a Chinese one from Amazon with a few Eberspächer duct adapters, but you must encase the heater in a box its not meant to be mounted underneath, Eberspächers are basically weather proof with encapsulated electrics.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

The first three of your tips have been done and you where right, it makes a huge difference.
It hums along sweetly and drives a lot smoother and a bit more aggressive.
Thanks a lot!!

Your welcome. There was not much power to start with so every little helps!

Adding Rhino additive is similar to using premium diesel but works out slightly cheaper (+ not fall fuel stations stock premium diesel.)

 

[BrugseB]

There's an Eberspacher goeroe on the Dutch forum, he can fix most of these and has a stock of spares...