hello all,
ia few days ago i did a run from gold coast to syd, three quarters of the way down i hit a half decent hill, the bus lost heaps of power then started surging like a bastard, i changed to third same thing, once the hill was tackled the bus seemed to run ok although every now and then it still feels like its going to kick at me, any ideas as i am nervous to drive it back up in a week?????

whoops i have a 2ltr stocker twin solex carbs, just serviced before the trip,
any help would be great

Hmm, I sometimes get some strange behaviour similar to this. Except that I get less of the surging and more of the LOW power. I opened one carby once when she was doing this, and saw that there was no fuel in it.

The way I "fix" the strange problem is to switch the engine off. Honestly. And if you're going down a hill, she can roll really well in neutral, leave her off for a few seconds. The aerodynamics can't be that bad, 'cause downhill I've had her rolling at 100km/h. Oh yeah, it's not a good idea to drive in neutral is it? :-)

Well, anyway, when I restart the engine, the problem is usually gone. Sometimes it takes a few restarts.

No-one knows what the problem is. It's intermittent, so a real pain in the bum.

I suspect that there isn't enough fuel getting to the engine in your case. Because if it happens going up a hill, well, that's when you need lots of fuel right? Um, then, when some does get through, whoosh, surge, and it's used up, plonk, back to 40km/h.

Sound reasonable?

Good luck mate!

Kombi on! Aurel.

Hey Kruizin

I had exactly the same problem on a recent trip to Mallacoota in my 73 1600 bus. Same deal with 4th at revs up a hill and then same in 3rd. I pulled over too and couldnt see anything wrong started driving again and it did not repeat but felt like it was going to until I filled up with petrol again and since then no problems at all so I figured it must have been some crap in the fuel.

Good luck with the trip home.

Could just be a blocked fuel filter. I've had it before, you notice it when the engine needs more fuel.

Yeah i had the same surging problem with my bus too, when i drove from Byron to Sunny Coast -when i was going up hills at first and then all the time as soon as i hit 80km/h.. But i thought it was because the engine was too hot due to a really hot day (i have no temp gauges so i dont know how hot it was)... Im not really sure cause i know nothing about engines but il see how it goes on my next long distance adventure!

fuel supply restriction

check the filters, and if they are good possibly the pump hope that helps

had a bay with the same problem-build up of crud in tank,20 years worth of use-our remedy was to drain out as much fuel as possible recycling it back through to wash it out and then to keep changing filters

check ur fuel pump it might be abit slugish in its old age and if your real keen fit an electrical fuel pump
but yer check the usual's like fuel lines,filters!
cheers
rhys

thanks a million guys, pains still persist, changed the fuel filter and made it back to QLD, really strange prob though....... thanks again for your help