Originally Posted by texcl

Man I've been there. I bought a 1980 VW dasher with a 1.5 diesel. she ran pretty well but I decided I would change the timing belt and install new gp's and injectors. All went well and after I timed her up was running so much better I had have my wife come out and look. Well she took about 30 extra minutes to come out so for no good reason I locked the IP with the little tool and was checking something, I honestly don't have a clue what I was thinking. Well my wife shows up and starts talking to me and I hop in to start her and hit the ignition only to hear the pistons contacting the valves. I had forgotten to take the IP locking tool out and the belt skipped time, hence the valve to piston collision. Man was I upset. The pistons were ok thank goodness but the valves were tweeked so I had to install a rebuilt head on her. All that (including the injectors ect..) got me into the $700 range. Then the IP started leaking, so I resealed the unit ( did it myself). the nthe shock went bad then the engine block heater went bad, then the water pump went bad then the starter went bad, and the vacuum pump and the battery and it just went on and on. Finally I sold her. The new owner has put like 60k on her without spending a penny .