Right, been chronicling this one on JustKampers but worth a go on here before I lose the will to live...

1600TP AD series engined kombi doesnt seem to want to accelerate.... It seemd a bit lacklustre so I serviced it and its getting increasingly hesitant/flat-spotted and I can work out why... damn thing just dies if it even so much looks at a hill

- new dissy cap, rotor, plugs, points, condensor, 2 diff carbs (34-PICT-3 solex), 2 coils, set the points a gazillion times 0.4mm, static timing at 7.5deg BTDC, valve clearances, vac advance seems to be vac advancing, new oil in the air filter, squirted WD40 around the inlet manifold to check for leaks, and now COMPRESSION CHECK:

Cyl 1 - 110psi (110 when oil squirted in)
Cyl 2 - 107psi (110 when oil squirted in)
Cyl 3 - 103psi (104 when oil squirted in)
Cyl 4 - 115psi (118 when oil squirted in)

Soooooo, all above 100 pounds and roughly within 15psi of each other
:confused:

I know the dissy is a little worn as the timing mark jumps around a little under the strobe, but i'm guessing this is only about +/- 2deg and wont make much difference.

Only confusing clue is the sooty deposits on the plugs - I put a new plug in number 2 cylinder LAST NIGHT, ran the damn thing on the drive for a few minutes and once around the block and it came out black as the night... soot not oil i think. Go figure? Choke working good, air filter not blocked, 2 diff carbs... huh? Gotta be rich from somewhere?

Has anyone got any other clues as to whats wrong with the van as i'm going to go INSANE

Sam :cry

when ypu say black - what colour is the ceramic bit near the electrode. That is the main thing. It is hard to really read these days but is a guide.

Does it back fire???
(its a 1600 kombi so i wont ask what economy is like )

Does the bottom butterfly fully open with ful throttle??? or only 1/2 open???

Has it EVER ran better???
or is this a new set up???

Have you checked the flow of the fuel pump? It's entirely possible it's not up to scratch anymore. Had this problem myself.
I have found two things that tend to affect the fuel pumps. Heat and load.
Sometimes when the engine heats up the flow drops. That's a mystery to me why.
More likely though is that your pump isn't outputting it's max flow.
under no load the motor revs fine, but the more load you have, the further you open the throttle for a given engine speed.
Anyway, fuel flow/pressure from the pump may be at fault.

Something else you may want to check is the inlet manifold. I've seen a beetle with the inlet manifold so choked up with carbon there was barely any hole for the air to flow through, and its was similar to this....no power at all.
Good Luck
Graham

11CAB, How'd the inlet manifold get so clogged? A leaky inlet valve?

One other thing occurred to me. Vacuum leak in the manifold. That makes the motors wither pretty badly too.

The camshaft thrust bearing was worn , which meant it was running retarded cam timingnn[ Edited on 27-8-2005 by 11CAB ]

This happened to me, the motor was great, heaps of compression etc,

GUESS, the throttle cable had slipper through the clamp about 15mm, hence not able to give enough juice, fek i felt silly once i found out, worth checking that you are getting full throttle..

another time was the throttle pedle pin was loose too, so again not getting fuel.


Andynn[ Edited on 27-8-05 by VolksFolks ]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'll crack this puppy eventually

THROTTLE CABLE - I've changed the carb so have checked that this is giving full throttle (well, as full as its ever going to get with my pedal assy)

INLET MAN - Yes, I suppose a blocked inlet manifold could give the symptoms I'm describing, but this wouldn't make it run rich would it, just starve it of air AND fuel... plus, howdya get soot up there? Shouldn't be any combustion happening! Anyway, I sprayed some WD40 around to look for leaks (increase in revs), but it didnt happen so i moved on

FUEL PUMP - I may as well change this as its a cheap part, but it appears to be working correctly... I got fuel! I would say its OVER-fuelling rather than UNDER-fuelling, given the petrol whiffs I get in the Cab when driving

PLUGS - the plugs are 'as-new' colour... once ive wiped the soot off! This is not a new set-up but one i've done a 2800 mile trip to spain and back from UK in, and got 28mpg fully loaded up She used to run great, thats whats buggin me

Only other thing I can think of it is to check the float in the carb is floating, but i gotta be damn unlucky to get 2 wrong ones!

keep em coming, Sam

am watching this with interest as my caravelle hates hills as well

Mate, I bought a '71 Kombi with a 1600TP last saturday. Same problem with mine- I couldn't even reach legal speeds to get home.
After 3 days of retuning everything,new plugs,points,condensor,leads, resetting the pict34 back to factory setting, timing,accel cable, etc is was rather simple....

The problem was the exhaust!

The pipe that exits the muffler has a baffle of sorts in it and this was so broken down inside that it was choking off the exhaust. I removed it and had instant power! Still not a quarter mile machine but pedestrians weren't passing me any more. Worth a go anyhow....

Is it blowing much smoke? Might have shitty oil rings? Have you tried leaning out the carbs?

Whats the timing go to at 3000rpms.:o

replaced the fuel filter?

Replace the fuel lines. Especially on the suction side. They go soft and get sucked flat restriting the flow. Had this happen on a 64 Beetle. Did everything you did all was good in the drive way. Few minutes driving bad shit starts. Get it home check this and that all good. Starts up perfect (vacumm released out of the sucked flat inlet fuel line) Drive away same shit again.
Wasted a whole day ripping carb and dissy and fuel pump apart, replaced coil etc etc. And it was a shitty 10 buck fuel hose that took 5 mins to replace.

Oh I would check your float level too.

Thanks again for suggestions guys. Most likely I think is the EXHAUST theory... perhaps I'll take it off and renew.

All the other things have been renewed/ checked recently so I'm sure its not them.

Woud a problem with the valves give the symptoms i'm describing (but not show up on a compression test)?

It wouldn't cost anything to set the valves, so it is worth a try

If your valves don't open properly it will be gutless, yeah. Always worth checking as Helbus said. You'd be amazed how quickly they can drift totally out of tolerance.