Hi having issues with the motor in my type 3. The car is backfiring consistantly and has no power. To check that the distributor is working I removed plug leads from the distributor one at a time. When the left side leads are removed the motor stalls and stops. When the right leads are removed the engine continues to run no differently. I susspect possibly a valve. The exhaust is blowing a fair bit of unburnt fuel.

Any ideas as to any other possible causes would be greatly appreciated.

Also who would be the best to work on engine if necessary. Am on a small budget. Have seen engines priced around $4000. Should I expect to have to pay that much for a rebuild with possible increase in capacity.

I love the car to death but am rapidly losing patience with it being a garage orniment. And am starting to think of going suby power to make it reliable(really want to stay with vw power though). As it is at the moment it is reliable in the fact that you know its not going to work propperly or something is going to break.

sounds like an exhaust valve or 2
have u checked adjustments this may help a little...

I hve an engine untested but clean which may be a consideration for you 1970 tp

more info soon.

In all likelyhood it could be a burnt exhaust valve. But having unburnt fuel going straight through could also indicate a fouled or dead plug.

So before you do a compression check, Spend $20 on some new NGK spark plugs and see if this helps. I have found that both Bosch W7AC and W8AC plugs have given me problems, I can only assume thay are made in China now.

I had a very similar situation, the engine was way down on power and backfiring every now and then. It also had lots of black smoke and the smell of unburnt fuel when revved. I'd just fitted it with some brand new Bosch plugs and just assumed it couldn't be the plugs because I'd changed them 2 days prior. turned out the plug in No. 2 had completely died after a few hours of driving.

Anyway it's a quick and cheap job, and it rules out the plugs. worked for me....

ditto Doka

Thanks Bushed.

Hopefully that's all it is. NGK plugs are really good too.

Never been let down by those little suckers!

witch NGK plugs do you use (what numbers)
cheers

sounds like the balance pipe is off at the manifold ...worth checking out

yeah... had the same issue for a while then the engine died... get it looked at quickly!

Thanks for all the advice sorry about the late reply. I pulled the engine out and the heads off. Found that the ehgine was running hot on the left side and leaking on the right rear cylinder, a broken ring and a fouled plug. Also one of the heads has some gouges in the combustion chambers. I now have the top end apart cleaning it ready to put in a new main seal, bought new cylinders and pistons(1641cc I wanted to go to 1776cc but didn't want to have to get the case and heads machined to suit).I also got a gasket kit and new pushrod tubes. All I need now is a mains seal, tappet adjuster srews, pushrods and new carbs. Then it can all go back together.