ABANDONED! 1981 VW Rabbit Diesel! Forgotten in the woods for decades! Will it start? Will it run?

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Today we are working on reviving a 1981 VW Rabbit Diesel. It's been abandoned and forgotten for over 20 years. Lets see if we can bring it back to life! Sorry for the delay in posting and we hope you enjoy the video!
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[@mattalki]

One of two things happened - The timing belt jumped time (I'd just line it up and check it. It's pretty easy to do with the valve cover off), or the trans/flywheel is hanging up on something. I'd want to swap it to manual anyway. They're much more reliable. I just started going through my Rabbit on youtube as well (the channel is Matt's Cave)! They're neat little cars. This one looks completely restorable! They're getting super rare, and getting them back on the roads is a lot of fun. I hope you can get it running - that'd be cool.

[@MyLegacyGarage]

I suspect it's flywheel related as well. I do have a manual trans one as well so a swap could happen. The car is in pretty decent shape honestly. Worth saving. Thanks for the tips and for watching!

[@PopPopTerry]

I had one of those And it was a great little car. I was getting about 45 mpg on the road.

[@MyLegacyGarage]

These things were everywhere back in the day. My dad had a bright orange one when I was kid. Thanks for watching!

[@brentgilmore3281]

Thats an awesome little car!

[@MyLegacyGarage]

It would be so much more awesome if it ran. I had high hopes for this one. These engines are notoriously difficult to kill. 🙄 Thanks for watching!

[@AndrewHCann]

Excellent video Glenn :) also think flywheel or rust in cylinder motor walls need clean out or bearing on connecting rods on Crankshaft or rings too on too! Hopefully next videos you put up show what happened for sure 👍 or explorer findings !

[@MyLegacyGarage]

Thanks for watching as always! I hope we can sort it out and it's not catastrophic!

[@jamesthev5607]

All right all right all right finally back

[@MyLegacyGarage]

Told ya there was a new one coming out. Should be another next week as well. 🤣 Thanks for the support as always!

[@johnnyjohnson5361]

With those symptoms of the engine getting stuck when you turn it over is more than likely a bent rod .

[@MyLegacyGarage]

I'm leaning towards something with the starter. As much as it sucks I might pull the starter and bore over by hand and see if it's still an issue. It turned by hand without the hangup before the new starter. 🤔 I was worried about maybe a spun bearing?

[@johnnyjohnson5361]

@@MyLegacyGarage Yeah that could be a possibility but usually the motor won't turn at all if the starter is hanging up .

[@MyLegacyGarage]

@@johnnyjohnson5361 I'm wondering if maybe the starter shaft is bent and stuck in the flywheel? That would cause a tight spot I think. Worth a shot when the weather breaks.

[@pd9717]

Good to see you back.

[@MyLegacyGarage]

Nice to put out some content again. Hopefully we can keep it going better this time around. 🤣 Thanks for watching!

[@shahrokh1030]

👍👍👍

[@MyLegacyGarage]

I'd love to give this another go with a better idea of what I'm doing. 🤣 Thanks for watching!

[@redneckbryon]

To me it sounds like the starter is too close to the fly wheel.

[@MyLegacyGarage]

Any idea how you shim these babies? There were no shims in there and a machined fit so in and out with shims is the only movement possible. Thanks for watching!

[@redneckbryon]

​@MyLegacyGarage Hi, I did post a reply last week, but I guess it wasn't approved. You definitely need to be careful how you word certain things for people to check out, to try and get help. But try CanadaCatalyst there into the Old and New VW's.

[@MyLegacyGarage]

@@redneckbryon thanks I'll give it a look and see what they come up with. 👍

[@brianhayes7618]

When was this filmed? I know it's not recent too much green

[@MyLegacyGarage]

Finding time has been incredibly difficult lately. Started in September and finished in November. Then holidays and all. Have had the car for a couple years. 😢 Thanks for watching!

[@woodstockbrian]

Crocs? Change channel.

[@MyLegacyGarage]

Appreciate the try. 👍