Hi there,

My type 3 has recently started to blow a bit of smoke. Last time I had someone look at it they said that it would need some work on the carbies soon. (the autochoke doesn't work that well and they are apparantly generally run down)

Could they be causing the smoke?

If so whereaouts could I get them fixed? I'm sure its pretty pricey.

Thanks
Pete

Hi,

what colour is the smoke? If it's black it's probably unburnt fuel and an indication of a sick carby. Blue/white smoke is burning oil when it gets into parts of the engine it shouldn't and is bigger deal to fix.

Hope this helps.

It's black. So does this mean it's probably a carby issue? is there anywhere I could get re-conditioned ones?

I'm not 100% on this - anyone with more knowledge care to chime in? - but it's probably carby. I know my brother's Sigma (!) blew lots of balck smoke before he had the carby overhauled. Don't know about buying a reconditioned one, but I had the standard solex carby on my beetle rebuilt for fairly cheap a few years ago.

Again, I'm no expert so others might have a different view.

Carby could be running a bit rich if the choke is staying on. I have similar problems with mine and usually adjust the choke for winter and summer driving by loosening the 3 screws holding the choke element and adjusting the advance of the choke to suit the season. Dont forget to tighten the screws

Are you running single or twin carby?
- Adam

I have twin carbys.
So if I twist the choke (to advance it), how will I know when it's right? Should I warm the car up before doing this?
Sorry, I'm not that good with this stuff yet...

If it is to far advanced then it will run rich which is causing the smoke. Therfore you need to loosen the auto choke element so the choke is in the off position. I am running 6volt on mine so my problem is caused by the choke element not advancing the choke as the engine warms up. How far you advance/retard the choke will depend on how much you need to start the car early on cold mornings.

I am also running a single carb so the above mentioned strategy may take alot more fiddling about for twin carbys which is why I have never bothered with them.

Best method is to warm the car up, adjust the choke so you are happy with the ammount of fumes and hope it starts ok on a cold morning. It is also best to make sure that the carbys are tuned correctly as well.
Hope this helps a bit. Trial and error and a workshop manual are a real help. There's not too much you can stuff up that can't be fixed up on an old dub.
- Adam

Cool thanks I'll have a go!

Ok I had a look on the weekend and it looks like the auto choke is fully open after about 2 mins which seems to be ok.
It still has a bit of smoke however, and the whole car jiggles around a bit when it's idling (not that smooth at all)
how could I tune that out?

Also could it be possible that the car is more smokey when the air cleaner is on? Because it seemed that way but maybe it's just my imagination...

sounds like u need a carby over haul