Hi,

I recently bought a camper - It smells like it runs rich and has a very black exhaust. I've also noticed the oil seems to have run down - no major leaks though and no blue smoke. Could it be that it's so rich that it's dilluting the oil? I got 300 k's to 50 litres petrol, does that sound right? Thinking maybe the carbs are not set up right - any tips or links regarding carbs would be great.

Thanks

just to start off, 300km out of 50 litres is not too bad for a camper
& exhausts these days are always black, due to the type of fuel

the idle is quite probablty too rich, but you should first check that the timing is correct before fiddling with carbies, if it is retarded it will idle too rich
timing is 7.5 deg advanced with vacuum advance disconnected at about 900 revs, reconnect vacuum advance to check that it is working, it should go up to about 12 deg

6km / l aint bad for a camper

I get 5.5 in the city and 8 on a good run

That fuel usage sounds a bit excessive to me, but not outrageously so.

Have you checked the colour of the spark plugs? They will be covered in black carbon if the mixture is too rich.

Also, unless you know the history of the vehicle, it is worth replacing the plugs, points, leads and distributor cap.

Oh, and hi to another Melburnian kombi camper owner!

[Edited on 16-3-2004 by mnsKmobi]

Time for a service first, before doing anything else. Tappets, points, timing, then mixture.

I agree, it sounds a bit heavy on juice, but not excessively so. A bit of TLC might help though.