1978 Volkswagen Rabbit Diesel from North America - Comments

The Bosch Mechanical fuel injection pump had to be replaced because it was leaking fuel on the timing belt. it cost 300 $ to get a new one.

My brakes hardly work.

My steering is very stiff and heavy.

In general Volkwagen has engineered the best cars one the road, and this is another one for me. Volkswagen diesels are the most efficient cars ever made. Mine only get's 40 mpg because it has a 4 speed, but with a 5 speed these things are supposed to go 48 mpg in the city and 56 on the open road. I'm really impressed with the motor and am sure it must be one of the best diesel motors ever made. It's probably the highest revving diesel you can get. It's a 1472cc indirect injection diesel. It acheives 48hp at 5000 rpms, and 56pounds of torque at 2500 rpms. It's red lines at 5500 rpms. This engine produces about 40 pounds of torque at idle. I don't touch the gas when starting. I just let the clutch out, engage, and tap the gas and shift into second. Diesels are much stronger and harder working than petrol engines. They're also really fast on the open road. I mean my little rabbit blows everybody out of the water on the open road. Gas engines gain power as they go faster, diesel engine have very constant power. My engine pulls as hard at 1000rpm as it does at 5000, and revving the engine or lugging it doesn't really affect the performance. My car accellerates just as fast 20 to 45mph as it does 55 to 75mph. On top of that the car has a very refined suspension system. It is the smoothest car I've ever driven, and yet it is among the most nimble as well. I love how the car fly's over the bumps on the freeway. The body is very stiff so the small fast hits, don't bother it much. The harder I push the car in turns, the more tenaciously it handles. It's very forgiving, and it communicates very well. I mean with this car I can control the slide, I hear the tires slowly start screaching, as the car starts to handle, and then the car really turns in, and I hit the gas and it hooks up and fly's out of the corner, which is really quite unique. Most front wheel drive cars corner best under deceleration, but this car like to corner under throttle. It's very light (1800 pounds). It's really great off road in slippery conditions. By far the greatest aspect of this car is that it runs on straight vegetable oil. I purchased a conversion from Elsbett. I have a bunch of resturaunts that like to give me their used cooking oil, and I suck it out of their dumpsters, pass it through a 1 micron bag filter and put it in the tank. When I start the car up, first there is a 160 watt electric heater that clamps onto the fuel filter. I modified the injectors and put in more powerful glow plugs. I turn the key and the car starts up on vegetable oil. I have to give it a bit of gas as it starts a little harder than a petroleum diesel does in the cold. After about a mintute or two the engine coolent hits 130 degrees farenhieght and the electric heater shuts off then the engine coolent heats the vegetable oil. So anyway it works just like a normal car, besides the fuel chain is a lot more efficient. It's organic, sustainable, zero emission, does not involve terrorism, and is completely free. This car saves me about 6 bucks a day on fuel, but more now that I drive as much as I please. The engine is very reliable, I just have to make sure the fuel is well filtered so the fuel filters don't clog. These cars also last a long time. Most Volkswagens are 40 or more years old. I miss the original rear engine air cooled Porsche design, but they made a lot of improvements when they went to the front engine watercooled design. Namely reliabilty, and diesel engines. But yeah, if you're looking for a diesel car this is one of the best.

Yeah, my dad had a diesel Rabbit 4spd, '80 or '81 I think it was.. went forever and ever, good reliability, but no fun on long commutes.

I had an 80 diesel, best car on the planet.

Only problem was the alternator and mount- mount would crack constantly from the violent vibrations of the motor, and the wires used on the alternator were too small to consistantly recharge the battery.

A propane injection systen boosted economy to 52 mpg.

Best car on the planet.

My nice orange workhorse has been sitting here since about 1994 when the drive belt became damaged after I had mistakenly done something with the housing...nevertheless, it was good while it lasted. Also, since the price of fuel was (and is) so costly, I decided to leave it out of operation until today when someone actually offered to purchase it from me.

Veggie oil fuel is not zero emission, nor is it free. If McD's wasn't frying fries, and tossing out the grease, you would have to BUY veggie oil for your 'free' fuel.

Non-the-less, veggie fuel is a great alternative, but you have embellished it a bit for the camera.

I love my little diesel bunny. It's an 81' two door LS model that I got for $400 cash! It's got a little over 220,000 on it an it's powerhouse. I plan on giving it a rebuild however to make it last even longer. I really like running it on biodiesel. It seems to run quiter and like it better. I think it's great that VW has stuck with producing diesel cars such as the new TDI technology as well as Mercedes. Why aren't we producing more "cars" that run on diesel such as in Europe?

I have an 81 Rabbit with a 1.5 from an 80 Rabbit Truck and I work for a small foreign car repair shop. Here's a trick for all you guys out there who work at a shop. I run my Rabbit off of used automatic transmission fluid. We have a transmission flush machine and we sell the transmission flushes as maintenance. It flushes 12 quarts (3 gallons) of fluid and I take the old fluid and pour it in my tank! It runs through a filter in the transmission about every 15 minutes, so it won't clog anything, and I just change my fuel filter more often. I drive about 50 miles a day, on Saturday I had just under 1/2 tank...we've done three flushes this week, I've driven it every day and right now, I've got just under 3/4 tank! I don't run straight ATF in the winter because it's too thick, but I will mix it. Planning a 5spd conversion soon.

At age 71 I go back awhile to my diesel rabbit which I think was a 1979. On the highway I got 50 mpg. As a missionary to Central America, I see small taxi cabs (diesel) which run and run. What is the problem that we cannot get any of these cars today? Are we really trying to economize? Americans, me included, are being given some bad medicine.

Also why can't I buy products made in America? Tom.

I had a '78 rabbit back in school... Manual tranny diesel. I inherited it with "60,000" miles on the odometer. Cost me a buck from friends. It had been flipped, TWICE. I swear I got 50+ mpg on that thing. On a hot summer day, I went from Canton OH to Cincy on less than half a tank. What a beautiful machine.

Learn how to work on your Rabbit and most of the complaints on this page will disappear.

A leaking injector pump is usually from having timing belt too tight.

"Most Volkswagen's are 40 or more years old"? What fried data set is used to compute that bold assertion?

I rarely see a VW that's more than 10 years old, and many of those have electrical problems and burnt-out taillights (millions of VW's are finally being recalled).

BTW: The new HONDA diesel engine is actually the cleanest, quietest, most durable, 'best' diesel ever made, and it's coming to the USA in 2009.

"Hate Something, Change Something"

See for yourself...

http://www.honda.co.uk/change/

6/19/2008.

I regret the day I sold off my Rabbit Diesel's in trade for a 4x4 Chevy truck for a move back west.

At the time I was living in central Pa. I had a '79 VW Rabbit diesel 4spd., and a '82 VW Rabbit diesel 5spd. I later bought an '86 Jetta diesel 5spd., that lasted a very long time! - excellent car, though personally I'd recommend the '84VW Jetta diesel 5spd.

Anyways, lots of people are scared that the price of oil will never drop, think about the current transportation industry required to transport all that stuff we (americans) think we need. There ain't no way they'll (Gov.) allow the prices to go much higher, many large groups of people namely "Unions" will put up a hefty fight.

Besides, on the bright side, has anyone looked into the age-old concept of transferring water into hydrogen? With an emission of simply H2O (Hmmmmm?) this process can be utilized with both gas and diesel engines.

The only real problem is factoring around all that electronic garbage stuffed into vehicles; I mean, let's consider something absolutely real as reality itself. What made VW Rabbit Diesel's what they were? It had nothing to do with electronics?, but everything to do with diesel power! Air and fuel forced into the top of a cylinder under an extremely high psi.

Factor in combustion, followed by the power stroke within the engine itself producing an alarming high amount of torque, propelling that little rabbit to hoppin' on down the road as the exhaust valves completed their deed. Rather simplistic. Never needing to change the oil in the transmission, since it ran off the same engine lubricants, besides the diesel Jetta's & Rabbit's of old really didn't need to change the oil at all; unless you didn't mind spending extra money. Personally, I changed my oil once a year.

Oh well, I owned many VW's of many models and years; I even took pleasure buying a gas Jetta that had been totaled and was just sitting in a junk yard, so for fun I bought the car for 25 bucks, and gutted the beast, leaving only the shell. I built 2 gas VW's from 25 bucks and 3hrs of stripping (totally fun).

Right now I'm looking for a wrecked VW Rabbit diesel 5spd that I can overhaul - it would be nice to find another 1984 or 1986. But I guess I'd even settle for another 1990 Scirocco if I could find another. Anyone with some suggestions E-mail me @ swede18436572@yahoo.com

I drove both a 4spd German and a 5spd American Vw Diesel.

The German model got close to 50mpg. The American had head bolt problems, but still got 45-48mpg. Why can't Ford/GM make a newer version???

They don't want to!!!

So we must buy from others who can mfg. high mpg vehicles.

Pete.

I just rebuilt an 84 VW diesel motor and put it in an 80 Rabbit. Dropped an FF five speed in and wow. What a wonderful machine. I find myself saying I love this car everyday. Plenty of power.

The seal in the injector pump is corroded, do I need a new pump or can I buy a new seal?

Re: 5 speed transmission. What is an FF transmission?

I would like to put a 1.5 NA with a 5 speed tranny in a newer Golf or Cabriolet. I am not worried about the power, but more the fuel economy.

Thanks.