Hot day, hot Bug...

Sooo.... it's 30+ here in Melb, today and for the rest of the week. My 'lil Bug hates it.

What can I do to help my engine since I have to drive to and from work each day??

Currently she's idling like crap, mostly the gen light and sometimes oil light flickering when stopped at lights, until I give her some revs.... does anyone else have this trouble?

:duh

I just got mine back from a service last Friday, has been running a bit rough since and I'm sure they set the idle a bit too low... will up it a tad and see if it helps.

Use thicker oil (like 20w-60) or get Hoodjax.. I've got Jax and they kickass. I can actually touch my dipstick after a long run! Get in contact with VWCOOL - he designed/sells em..

I have been in touch with him about them already! :P

Are they easy to fit? As in, could I do it?? :P

yeh, pretty easy.. just gotta be careful knocking out your hinge pins - my hnges were a bit dodgy already, and i ended up ripping one off the deck lid - but that's only coz the metal was already phuqed. So if your lid is fine, you'll be ok..

You know my lid is fine, it's PBB we're talking about here! 😉

Engines can run "hot" or "hotter" for all sorts of reason/s. And the causes all interact with one another! You can treat the symptoms or the cause, and both approaches can be valuable. Trial and error is good, and logic/common sense too.

Very thick oil can make an engine in good nick run Hotter (flows slower; cools slower; increases friction). BUT it may be just what is needed for another engine with low compression (due to wear). Flickering oil light is meant to be a sign of a worn-out engine, but someone had this recently in TechTalk (I think), & it was cured by just flushing the "crud" out of the engine!

Some of the causes for running hot include: low compression (due to worn rings, or valves with no clearance), retarded igniton timing (over-advanced timing can do it too, but you'll know as engine will be 'pinging'); missing tinware; running lean (due to blocked jets etc. in carb or fuel filter, or misadjustemnt of idle mixture, vacuum laeks at throttle spindle or at maniflod joints, etc. etc.)

I have been 'fooled' a few times by a workshop adjusting my carb. without me knowing, and this mucking up the idle. It's easy to set yourself (for a standard single carb.)

Even if you have your valves adjusted they can change, esp. on a long trip in hot weather. Just on or two tight valves may change the idling behaviour dramatically, which seems more noticable on a standard engine.

Back to the oil thing. Find out what you have and then go ONE notch up. If your mechanic has used 20W-50 say, try 20W-60 or 25W-50 next time. ie. Don't go overboard with big changes.

It may be that your problem is just too low an idle speed, or too lean an idle mixture. Also is it really HOT? AirCooled's can get very hot as they are at the mercy of the weather... and there's hotter to come in Melb!

Some of the causes for running hot include: low compression (due to worn rings, or valves with no clearance), retarded igniton timing (over-advanced timing can do it too, but you'll know as engine will be 'pinging'); running lean...

i was under the impression that high compression = hotter
advanced timing = hotter
lean a/f mixture = hotter?

must be opposite day or something????? :-S

EDIT:
ace 76 just saw ur other post on the kombi carbie woes

I eventually decided this must be as the main on that side was always slightly bigger -- in order to make no. 3 cylinder slightly richer ( so it runs cooler)

i got no idea wats goin on lol!

[ Edited on 18-1-2006 by 76camper ]

Hi '76 Camper, yes overheating can be due to loss of compression from what the engine should have (ie. a compression 'leak'), as well as too much - for the fuel used.

Also can be due to retarded OR over-advanced ignition timing. 'Retarded' engines are less efficient, therefore run hotter. I'm running our engines with as much ignition advance as they can stand, with a little bit of safety-margin built in. This means they run as efficiently as possible - for the fuel used. A retarded engine may have NO symptoms, other than seeming a bit low on power. It must run hotter however as it is not as efficient. These sort of settings seem much more critical for aircooled engines than water-cooled. MAybe partly as most air-cooled's are smaller & somewhat under-powered for the weight of car (in comparison) and so need to be working efficiently.

Re the other post, the slightly bigger main jet will enable slightly cooler running on that side of the engine. The bit that seemed strange to me was the larger air-corrector jet as well. This must be to 'even things out' at highway speeds. It seems that a big change in numbers for air corr. jets has a relatively small effect.

[ Edited on 18-1-2006 by ACE_76 ]

im still confused as shit on a lawn.

I guess if your engine has been detuned (retarded ignition and lower compression) you will have to run it harder to get the same performance and thus producing more heat. But if you retard the timing, richen mixture and drop compression (not drastic changes) and still drive the car conservatively (to keep it cool) as most vw owners do then the temp should drop. I would not advise some1 with a hot engine to lean out the mixture, advance timing and raise compression... Bit of a trade off here, thanx for showing me the other side of the argument.. i never really looked at it like that.

cheers

L our semi-autos should have a higher idle than a manual.. maybe they turned it down to the normal idle when serviced? stand off kit/hoodjax is the shiznit!

i dropped adolf today 2 a mates place, to get the weber and alternator fitted! FINALLY :sandrine:vader

Noticed that a couple of the vehicles had just been serviced - have had the impression that the fibre block on the points wears quickly initially, therefore reducing the points gap and retarding the spark. Could this be a cause for the poor/slow idling?

I have got into the habit of resetting the points gap and timing a couple of hundred miles after fitting new points.

76camper wrote:im still confused as shit on a lawn.

HAHAHAHA! I like it.

KKK wrote:i dropped adolf today 2 a mates place, to get the weber and alternator fitted! FINALLY

'bout time! must got like the stink now! No more trying to drag you now....

Yay Damien, let me know how it is with an alternator! :P

I adjusted the idle up a bit in my Bug this morning, and no stumbly idling or gen + oil lights flickering.... mind you, it wasn't warm so will see how she goes tonight. I don't think my usual Mech serviced her, I think it was another Mech dude, so he probably did adjust the idle for a manual rather than a semi-auto. Anyway, I hope all is good when I drive home tonight. I paid for some Hoodjax last night off VWCOOL, so I hope they get to me tomorrow before this 40-degree Sunday hits! :duh

how awesome is that! -40 degrees this sunday! wooooooooooooooooooooooo!:bounce:bounce:bounce

No... not awesome.... :P

👍 awesome...🥷

If anyone knows Pretty-Blue-Bug, can they ask her to U2U me her address!! I somehow deleted her address when responsing to her U2U and I'd like to mail them today so she gets them for the weekend!!!

I will be back on here later today (thurs) to check

EDIT: SORTED!!

[ Edited on 19-1-2006 by VWCOOL ]

We haven't had much rain in the past year! Was the driest year here last year. It's been 30's here almost all week, and is going to continue into mid next week too. :P

I didn't mean you should necessarily do all those things! I was listing some of the things that can make it run hot, not advising to do them all.
If it is running hot you can:
1. Advance the timing if it's very retarded. OR Retard it if it's over-advanced.
2. Make the mixture richer IF it's a bit lean. Could involve unblocking jets/getting accel. pump to work/checking that idle mixture is correct or slightly rich, etc.
3. Compression would seem hard to increase without dismantling, but you must make sure it's not low by having the right valve clearances (usually 0.006"). If the comression is still low it may be due to wear.

Re Joseph's point, I thought that if the points gap closes a bit the timing would advance - Have I got it backward? Anyway I have found new points definitely do change gap (dwell angle) as they wear in. I don't reset them (as long as still reasonably close to spec.) - but I do reset the timing if it needs it. The timing has a very noticeable effect on how the engine runs. It's easy to check and set the timing yourself.

Driving home tonight she was idling much much better, but oil light kept flickering on and staying when I had to stop at loights or crawl in traffic until I upped the revs.... is this just because of hot weather? What causes it?

the oil gets too thin to maintian adequate oil pressure... that's why it flickers when it's idling coz the oil pump isn't spinning that quickly.. When was the last time you changed your oil? Got enough in there?

Remember, 40 degrees=awesome

my oil was all changed last Friday.....

.... and 40 degrees = definitely not awesome! :P

i got my bug serviced once and they must have put 10-40 in coz the oil pressure was much lower than before, changed the oil the next day back to 20-50 and it was much better. maybe find out which one they put in yours?

Might call them tomorrow and see.... thanx!

yeah needa thicken up your oil... u can cheat and put "stop leak" in lol thats what i'd do, instead of dumping fresh thin oil... but im on apprentice wages haha


40 sunday is way cool.. sorry. Awesome.

how about a gathering at lysterfield lake?

how about some mountain biking at Lysterfield.. not on a 40 degree day though..

although, that would be hardcore and awesome. ay Danmo? 😉

Hey, got my Hoodjax hand-delivered just then by Mr. Postman! :thumb Will put them on tonight after I take PBB back to mechanic so he can work out why she's running so damn hot....

VWCOOL wrote:If anyone knows Pretty-Blue-Bug, can they ask her to U2U me her address!! I somehow deleted her address when responsing to her U2U and I'd like to mail them today so she gets them for the weekend!!!

I will be back on here later today (thurs) to check

EDIT: SORTED!!

[ Edited on 19-1-2006 by VWCOOL ]

cool.... pardon the pun..

40 degrees = good day to sit in an airconditioned cinema

Lysterfield lake sounds good to me! 🙂

Got my car to the mechanic on Friday, and it turns out my Bug's timing was 'retarded' making her run stupidly hot... it's all fixed and much better.
Fitted the Hoodjax yesterday and was great driving it today for an hour in bloody hot heat! Although, now she's leaking oil.... yesterday at my sister's place there was only a couple of teaspoons worth underneath, but this morning at Eden's place there was a hell of a lot more underneath. I'll check tonight where it's coming from... but why does it have to be one thing after another with my PBB? 🙁

dont' worry dear, it happens to all of us... it's a never ending project.. trust me! I'll be fixing my oil leak next week hopefully - leaking pushrod tubes... of come the heads.. weeeee!


PS: today is awesome

Tofu, today is not awesome. It is stinking hot 43 degrees where I am. Not nice at all. And even more not nice in my poor Bug where it's about 55 degrees and only hot air blowing in the windows. Yuk, yuk, YUK!!!!

lol

I resorted to drive the old man's Camry today - go air con!

I put a thermometer outside beforeat about 15:00 - 42 degrees in the shade and 49 in the sun.. weee!

So any ideas why my Bug can't hold her fluid in all of a sudden? Would it be from the hot weather making the oil thinner?? All seals were replaced when the cylinders and pistons were replaced a few months ago....

Duno what seals etc you were using but it may be possible that the super high temps may have affected perhaps your pushrod tube seals. If you were getting suuuuuuuper hot combined with cheapo seals this may be what is causing you dramas making the seals brittle and maybe the vibration then damaging the seals??? More likely that the hot temps has made your oil thinner and is now starting to leak But that would only be while the engine was running...

Push rod seals huh? Is that yuk? It sounds it... 🙁

There wasn't too much oil on the driveway when I got pics of my Hoodjax just before, a little bit only but not like what was at my bf's place or my Dad's place (almost small plate size). 🙁 Checked the levels though, and it's still full. Will keep checking it over the next couple of days and see.

I think for an upright engine (like in ur bug im guessing) its a head off job. Another guy on here is replacing his at the moment and there is a thread on it. Doesnt sound too bad just yet tho. Keep an eye on it and try and pinpoint where its coming from.

couldn't be auto trans fluid could it?

That's me who's replacing the tubes..

It also looks like I'm leaking a lot of oil (all over my heater boxes) but when I check the oil level, there's still plenty in there. My advice: degrease as much as you can (those $2 cans are fine) and then monitor where the fluid is coming from. If it's not hot, dab your finger in it and see if you can sniff what sort of fluid it is - engine oil, gearbox oil...

good luck..

I'm also having the same problem as Pretty_Blue_Bug.
I had to take the bettle on a longer than usual drive for work on Tuesday, 96km one way to work up the F3 to Wyong from Sydney. The little bugger got up there and back just fine, didn't like the hills with the original 1200cc motor but was just happy on the flats.

In the morning i checked the oil and it way down and there was a small puddle on the ground.
The oil was coming out of the oil sump and the bolts just behind the oil sump on the case.
I tighted everything up, added more 20-50 oil to the car and drove it again up the coast. When I got there oil was leaking out again in the same place.
It looks as though because the car is running so hot that the oil is thinning out way too much and getting through the bolts and seams.
I took some tools and tightened everything up again and was careful not to overtighten.

I drove home in the rain so it wasn't a hot day, and same thing when I got home. I didn't tighten anything up but thought it best to just leave up the hood and see how it goes.

I'm thinking of changing the oil on the weekend for a 20-60 oil and seeing how that goes.
Driving the car at 110km straight for 1 hour probably isn't helping.

Anyone got any ideas as to why this would be happening?

Pretty_Blue_Bug wrote:Got my car to the mechanic on Friday, and it turns out my Bug's timing was 'retarded' making her run stupidly hot... it's all fixed and much better.
Fitted the Hoodjax yesterday and was great driving it today for an hour in bloody hot heat! Although, now she's leaking oil.... yesterday at my sister's place there was only a couple of teaspoons worth underneath, but this morning at Eden's place there was a hell of a lot more underneath. I'll check tonight where it's coming from... but why does it have to be one thing after another with my PBB? 🙁

I don't know if anyone has said this yet but could it just be your sump plate cover or gasket? Easiest thing first..... Good luck.

Mine's not leaking any oil now..... but yeah, it was coming out of the bolts at the bottom of the sump. I'd say it was just because the oil was thinner from the stupidly hot days.

Don't worry folks, you'll figure it all out eventually. And when you do it'll be so rewarding. I always feel so happy when my Bay has a good run - which is normal these days, but wasn't the case for a year and a half after I bought her. Now, even on that 40deg sunday she drove like a CHAMPION down to Sorrento and back. Only two or three oil drips after stopping too! Yay the mighty TIV!

Not a plug, but I got my carbies tuned at Imported in Springvale. Not the cheapest, seemed to go good though.

Cheers, Aurel.