Hey Everyone,
I just put a engine in my bug, it idles fine and revs fine (in neutral) but struggles and stalls when i shift it into gear and try to move the car. Any ideas what could be wrong?
Thank You,
Nicolas
so its a 3 speed auto????
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Nope, 4 speed manual. sorry for not mentioning that
It struggles/dies when I let the clutch out.
Thank You,
Nicolas
How much throttle are you giving it? Have you driven a bug before so you have something to compare it to? Are you saying that you can't move the car at all? Even letting the clutch out at high revs?
If the engine is able to rev in neutral and sounds okay, then I can't really think of any problem which would cause a complete loss of power. Sometimes carb tuning and ignition timing will give a hesitation off idle which makes it tricky to get off the line, but that should be easy to drive around by increasing the revs on your next attempt. Does the car roll okay in neutral?
With the engine shut off, and you sitting in the car with it in 1st gear and your foot on the clutch... can the car be pushed at all ???
I'm thinking either brakes seized or possibly the box jammed up for some reason...
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I had this happen. Yep it was drivers side front brake that was locked. Also I had similar problem when I first got a type 3. Turned out to be bad ignition leads.
As stated it revved fine in neutral but was gutless as buggery when in gear.
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Hey,
i've had the car for over a year, just swithced the engine (after not starting the previous motor for over a month as i was out of the country) in it as the other one leaked oil like a strainer and had bugger all compression in 2 cylinders. Before i left for the states the car drove fine except the engine which liked to play up.
I can move it a matter of feet by reving it really high then letting the clutch out a bit so it struggles for a few inces then put the clutch back in and roll.
I'll jack her up tomorrow morning and double check the brakes (they should be fine since it rolls alright). and finnish replacing all the spark plug wires (with the ones from the previous motor), already did 3 spark plugs and 1 wire (as 1 didn't reach properly, and i already suspected the spark plugs, all were replaced recently on the previous engine).
If anyone can think of anything else please continue to post, and i'll give it a shot. and tell you if it fixes the situation.
Thank You,
Nicolas
it could be that its not getting enough fuel,thats what happened with my bus,would idle beautifully and rev but trying to drive it was near impossible,it ended up being a blocked fuel line,well more like a tank full of rust from sitting for 6 yrs,make sure the fuel pump is working ok
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replaced all the spark plugs, coil, spark plug wires and checked the brakes this morning. unfortunately nothing has changed, the engine still acts as though it has no power.
I'll check out the fuel system when I get home tonight. anyone know an easy/quick way to hook up a small temporary fuel tank, and where to get one? as if i can do that and it works then i know theres something wrong between the fuel tank and the pump.
Thank You,
Nicolas
I'm far from qualified to diagnose VW problems, but sounds very similar to the problem I just had with my beetle, It would idle fine, but as soon as you put it into gear, it felt like it had no power, and almost conked out. I could get it rolling in first but past that it would almost stall no matter haw hard I tried to rev it.
The Mechanic I took it too said I had a flooding carburetor AND a faulty distributor, Carb needs a rebuild and the dizzy needs replacing.... Might be worth checking.
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Thanks mate,
Sounds good as i have 2 spare dizzy's (both 009 though, this motor has a vac advance one) and carby. I'll try it out when i get home.
Thank You,
Nicolas
Do u have a vac advance dissy fitted at the moment? have u checked ur ignition timing? when heavily retarded it can be gutless...
Not that it probably would be the problem, but do u have the vac advance dissy air line fitted to the carby?
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nicolasw wrote:I'll check out the fuel system when I get home tonight. anyone know an easy/quick way to hook up a small temporary fuel tank, and where to get one?
That's easy! Just get a 600ml Coke bottle or similar, and half-fill it with petrol. Undo the fuel hose from the pump where it goes through the firewall and dunk the end of the hose into the bottle. Then simply place the bottle somewhere lower than the fuel pump, possibly sit it on the side panels of the engine bay and duct-tape it to the side of the body. Job done! If you're really anxious about it you could keep a fire extinguisher to hand, but she'll be right. If you're only testing the engine for a few minutes then nothing back there will get hot enough to ignite petrol anyway.
Thanks mate i'll get one and try it out in the morning (I'm beginning to suspect fuel). as it turns out i don't have a spare carby for the engine,but switching the distributer to a 009 made it run slightly better, instead of instant jerking and shuttering (or potentially stalling) when i try to take off, i now get a nice smooth but fairlly quick drop in rpm. so now it really is that it idles and revs fine but just has not power when i try to put it in gear.
and yes i did have the timing set (done statically as i don't have a strobe) and vac advance hooked up. even checked the points and vac advance.
Thank You,
nicolas
Check fuel filter, sounds like the problem I had for weeks till I found out that even though I had fuel showing in the filter it wasn't getting through to the engine, parking it enabled the fuel to slowly bleed through and fill the bowl but once that was gone, nufn, except enough to start it.
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Hey everyone,
didn't have time yesterday so today i rigged a small fuel bottle that fed directly into the fuel pump with fresh fuel, unfortunately it didn't help one bit. but after that short attempt to get her working i noticed that the dual port end casting going into cylinders 3 & 4 was really hot. i looked around under the motor and niticed alot of oily mud so reluctantly i pulled the motor and removed the cooling tin on that side to clean it out properly, 3 hours later i was finnaly done so i reassembled the engine and reinsatlled it and the problem is still present. so in the morning the carb is getting a good flush or i'll replace it with a 30/2 carb and manifold that i have for my old engine. and probably jack up the rear end and check the gears.
anyone else got any ideas on whats possibly wrong? and how hot should the cylinder head be after a few minutes in idle (as head 3/4 is incredibly hot, can touch it but only for a split second, but 1/2 is only slightly warm)?
Thank You,
Nicolas
What do you know about the "new" motor eg. have you compression checked it?
Something else to check is the air filter, try running it without the air filter. I've seen a few cars over the years come to a complete stop because of a completely blocked air filter.
It could also be something as simple as the shifter needing adjusting. When you put the car into 'first' you might actually be getting third gear.
I have a similar probably in my Baja somedays. But not while starting off. Just sometimes while driving I get third instead of first when I go to change down. Just needs a little tweaking and haven't got round to it yet.
If this is the problem in your case trying to pull third gear from a standstill will more often than not stall the car. Unless you give it bulk revs and slip the clutch alot.
Either that or try taking off in second gear. Though it will still labour alot it's possible. My Baja can take off in 2nd with 30 inch tyres.
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yeah i was thinking that today which is why i will jack it up and rotate the engine by hand while it's in gear and see what happens. either that or potentially something stopping the gear box from spinning freely. or i was thinking that the high temperature of the cylinder head may be causing this funny bussiness
