Category: VW

As of right now, parts of the engine are in pieces around the garage, I’ve spent the weekend covered in grime and carbon soot, and I’m getting ready to put it all back together again… I’m not messing around!

Last weekend, I was able to get the bus up and running again after correctly re-installing the distributor.  However, it still had the same problems it had before – no idle when warm, unless idle screw very loose, stalling when braking, and extreme hesitation when shifting gears.  On top of that, it also doesn’t want to start back up after it dies – to the point where I had to push the stupid bus back into the garage (with a running start)… Clearly whatever I did with the carb rebuild and fuel pump/ line replacement has not solved any issues, and may have made things worse!

To remedy this, I decided to try again to pull the intake manifold out.  This will allow me to clean it up, and replace the rubber boots and heat riser gaskets.  I bought a universal socket drive that can flex any direction, and went to town trying to pull the thing off.  An hour or so just to get the manifold end castings unbolted – I read online that this would be difficult, especially with the engine in the bus, and they weren’t lying.  After a while, I was sweating, covered in grime, and had finally gotten the castings loose – but they wouldn’t come out.  There just wasn’t enough clearance to slide them up and out – I’m starting to think that the VW engineers who came up with this whole setup were crazy!

I was able to get the castings off by lifting the fan shroud slightly – ok good, now I should just be able to slide the manifold out.  But it won’t fit, no matter how I wiggle it and jimmy it,  the heat riser tube wedges against the generator, and it won’t come out.  So I need to take off the generator… which is bolted to the generator stand… and is attached to the fan… which is in the fan shroud that needs to be unbolted and lifted up about 3 inches to give everything enough clearance to slide out… whew! This is a lot of work. Ok, fast forward to the end of the day – I now have the generator & fan out, the intake manifold off, and I’m ready to start cleaning everything up… but I’m tired so it can wait for tomorrow!

I spent the day trying to get everything cleaned up.  I started with the generator – the fan is actually in good shape – no bent fins, and its clear of debris.  With the thing off of the engine, I’m able to get much better access – I spray it throughly with my electric contact cleaner.  It looks filthy inside, so hopefully the cleaner will remove some of the gunk.

I then moved on to the intake manifold.  I suspected the heat risers were clogged with carbon – this means the manifold will not heat up properly, and could be causing some of my engine issues.  I made a braided wire, attached it to the drill and went to town.  I got a lot of debris out of the heat risers with this method, but couldn’t get the wire to go all the way through – if I made it too long, it would snap off.  So I resorted to my usual… bang the thing with a hammer!  That actually seemed to work – chunks off carbon came trickling out.  I set up my mobile tire pump to blow in one end, and felt the air coming out the other end of the tube – I’m going to call that a success.

I also wanted to clean the end castings and exterior of the intake manifold.  Technically, I should have gotten some mineral spirits or some other type of parts cleaner, let them soak for a day, and washed everything thoroughly… but thats a lot of work!  So instead I put my light grinding wheel on the drill and went to town – it did a decent job of getting the chunks of crud off, and really shined the parts that connect to the cylinder heads… so I’m calling it good.

Finally, I noticed that the carb didn’t have any gas in it when I pulled it off the engine.  Thats probably why it wouldn’t start!  I noticed that the new float valve seems to be sticking a little.  I pulled out the old one, and noticed right away they are very different.  The old one is smaller, and will therefore sit higher in the carb, letting more gas in.  I put it back on, and hopefully this will solve my non-starting issues.

By the end of the weekend, I’ve made a massive mess, and torn apart the engine.  I’ve got everything set up to be put back together, and I’m hoping for the best.  I’m not messing around with this stupid engine anymore!  If this doesn’t solve my problems, I’ll be pretty frustrated, but at least I will have tried everything I could – I will probably end up buying that  new carb kit after all – more to come!

Another week, another post detailing how I almost got the bus working.  The short story is that I figured out why the stupid thing wouldn’t start – got it running but it still has idle issues, dies when braking, and has severe bogging when shifting or accelerating – oh, and it doesn’t want to start very easily after its warmed up.  So after pulling and cleaning the carb, replacing the fuel lines and fuel pump, and prodding/poking about every other thing in the engine compartment, I’m pretty much back at square one.

I was pretty nervous that I had somehow destroyed the engine at the beginning of the week because I could not get the bus started at all.  I eventually figured out why: the distributor that I had to pull out to get to the fuel pump bolts wasn’t going in all the way.  So as the starter turns the engine, the stupid rotor arm thing in the distributor doesn’t close the points, and so no spark is generated – I know its pretty much rocket science…  I did some researching and realized that I needed to get the engine set at #1 firing position, or top dead center (TDC) before putting the distributor back in.  Usually, I look at the rotor arm in the distributor to tell me if I’m at TDC, or if I’m at #3 cylinder (they are 180 degrees opposite) – obviously with the distributor dangling off the side of the engine, I had to look at the valves to make sure I was in the right position.  So – everything lined up, I slide the dizzy into the engine – and it still wont go all the way down.

I pull it out, and look down the hole with a flashlight – there’s chunks of something in there – uh oh! Now I’m freaking out – I’ve really done it this time – stupid bus. I proceeded to engage in some quick VW brain surgery with some needle nose pliers, and pulled the chunks out.  I have no idea where they came from, or what they are, but I don’t really see any damage to the crankshaft, distributor, or anything else. To top everything off, the distributor still won’t go all the way in. I’m no closer to getting the bus going – I’m done with this, going inside – stupid bus!

Ok, I come back out the next day and quickly realize my mistake – I was misreading the valve movements, and had the engine set at #3 instead of TDC.  I crank it around 180 degrees and the distributor drops right in – sometimes I’m amazed I can even make it out the door in the morning.  A couple days and a few stress points later and the bus is up and running again! Success! 

I cleaned the underside of the rear curtain using a light grinding wheel with my drill – it was fairly effective, so I think I’m going to try that technique on the rust and grime on the underside frame of the bus – tons of fun for sure.

I attach my new rear engine tin plate, and put the rear curtain piece back on.  The engine compartment is now fully sealed from the underside of the bus, and I can already tell that this will help with the heat – it will no longer suck hot air from under the engine back up into the compartment.  Interestingly, I’ve also noticed that it’s quite a bit hotter to stand behind the bus – I guess all that hot air has to go somewhere.

Not everything is fine and dandy though – I can still hear the hissing, sucking noise that I heard before, and the engine still doesn’t idle well when it is hot.  It will run if I unscrew the idle control screw a bunch of times, but even this is erratic.  Its about 50/50 if the bus will die when coming to a stop, and it still has massive hesitation whenever I accelerate.  This only happens while I’m driving though, it accelerates just fine if its in neutral sitting in the garage.  In addition to all of this,  the bus is really hard to start once the engine has warmed up – to the point that I had to push it back into the garage!

In an attempt to remedy these issues, I tried to set the timing with my new strobe timing light.  It didn’t really work though because I couldn’t see the degree marks on the pulley – I might try to re-mark them with white-out or something more visible.

It wouldn’t be a project if I wasn’t bleeding right?

I also noticed that the gas tank ventilation tube was clogged with sand – I was able to clear it by hooking the vacuum up to my flexible plastic funnel and clearing the little hole by the gas cap.

I’m also wondering more and more if I should just cough up the cash and get a new, improved Weber 40 carb kit with new intake manifold.  This would most likely solve all of my problems, and I would be able to transfer the set-up to a new engine in the future.  Everything I’ve read says these are the best, but its pricey, and I’m not 100% sure the thing will even fit in the engine compartment!

Overall I’m happy the engine is back up and running.  I’ve kind of come full circle and I’m back at square one, but I will keep messing around until I get it to work – or until it falls apart!

I bought a bunch of parts for the engine, and spent all weekend getting things cleaned up and put back together. I’m hoping that I can solve several problems in one go, and finally get this bus up and running on a regular basis.  By the end of the weekend, I’m not quite there but getting close!

I started by draining the gas tank.  My fuel filter is obviously all gunked up, and I’m worried that I have a big corrosion problem in the gas tank – the only way to fix this would be to pull the engine out, remove the gas tank, and either send it to a shop to be cleaned, or replace with a new one.  I wrapped an old shirt around the can to filter the gas as it drained out.  Luckily, the gas came out clean with no rust or crud.  I’m thinking the rust might have come from the fuel pump instead of the tank – things might actually not be that bad!

I pulled the old fuel pump, filter, and carburetor off.  I’m headed inside to strip down the carb, clean it up and rebuild with my newly arrived carb kit.

Check out the rust in the bottom of that carb!

New float needle valve – the old one had the wrong washer according to the instructions – we’ll see if the new one works better!

New float – the old one was brown from the bad gas.

New top gasket – doesn’t quite match the old one, so I had to make a few modifications.

New idle shutoff solenoid – old one worked and wasn’t that dirty, but it was missing that silver washer, so was pretty loose on the carb.

Finally got everything put back together.  The whole apartment reeks of gasoline, so hopefully this was worth it!  The carb really wasn’t that bad – I’m wondering if I will actually have fixed anything with the new parts.  Either way, I’ve got the carb cleaned up and will move on to getting the fuel lines and new pump installed.

I’ve got the ‘generator’ version of the fuel pump (as opposed to the ‘alternator’ version) – I bought a new one, and a new long pushrod to go with it.  However, when I put the long rod into the engine, it sits so high that the pump can’t even sit on  the plastic flange – guess I’ll keep using the short one that was there before.  So even though I replaced the exact same pump, and everything online says use the long pushrod – I’m using the short one because thats all that fits – stupid bus. I also replaced the soft fuel lines and moved the filter to fit before the pump.  According to the forums, this will help protect the pump (and the carb) from crud, and will lessen the risk of fire in the engine compartment if something were to come loose.

I also replaced the spark plugs.  The old ones were fairly blackened so I think replacing these should help things run a little smoother.

Finally, its the moment of truth – I’ve spent a lot of time this weekend cleaning things up and replacing parts.  I’ve got it all put back together, and its time to start the engine and see if it all works.  I reset the distributor timing, turn the key and fire up the engine.  It starts!  The engine ran for about 30 seconds… and then died.  I check everything for gas leaks, and make a few adjustments to the carb.  Start the engine again, it idles for a while but I as soon as I give it some gas, it dies immediately.  After that, it doesn’t start at all.  The engine just keeps cranking but doesn’t fire up – not good!  I’m thinking I could have problems with the ignition coil, the new spark plugs, or the replaced fuel system.  I checked the carb to make sure it is getting fuel.  I thought maybe something was messed up with the new fuel pump and the short pushrod.  I took the pump off and removed one of that gaskets (it only had one before but is supposed to have two).  This didn’t really change anything, but I think the pump is working because I can see the fuel move a little as I hand-crank the pulley.  I’m wondering about the ignition system, and  I tried to check the coil for a spark – didn’t get one.  I had just checked this coil the other day – maybe something happened to it?  I’ve also heard that sometimes when the battery runs down, the coil has too much resistance, and possibly wears out.  Maybe the battery is low on charge from all of the starting attempts I’ve made?  I’m going to trickle charge the thing for a while and see if that fixes anything.  Its pretty frustrating – I’ve spent all weekend cleaning and replacing stuff – only to have the stupid bus not start.  I’m going to keep troubleshooting this thing, and I’ll hopefully have some good news to report next time!

If it was easy, I wouldn’t be having so much fun right!  Today I got back up on the horse, and took the bus out for a spin.  In the process, I have discovered some new problems, and exacerbated some old ones.

I started out by firing it up and driving out into the neighborhood.  This is officially the first time I have driven the bus for any distance outside of the apartment parking lot. Yay!  I didn’t take a video, but really wish I did – next time… I pulled out onto the street smoothly, quickly accelerated into second gear.  Things were going well, so I sped up a little and shifted to third – so far so good!  I decided to take  the next turn, and my plan was to press in the clutch, slow down, shift to second, and come out of the turn smoothly in second gear.  What actually happened was I turned the corner, and as the bus engaged in second gear, the engine bogged down and hiccuped until it almost died.  I coasted to a stop – I’m on a residential street with no traffic – and got it started again in first. Again, as soon as the clutch is released, the engine hiccups and bogs severely for a little bit before clearing and giving me normal power.  I quickly turn around and head back to the parking lot.  My first real drive is a success, but clearly I gots me some more problems!

I spent some more time driving around the parking lot with the bus bogging every time I try to start, or shift gears – even when shifting from first to second which is usually really smooth and easy.  Finally the hesitation got so bad that I limped it back to the garage – after that it wouldn’t even start! Stupid bus.  I let it cool for a few hours, checked the coil, and the accelerator pump, finally I got it going again.  But even now, it didn’t run like it did before – rough idle, dies occasionally, rough acceleration – I’m wondering if this stupid engine is ever going to work!

I’ve noticed that the fuel lines are very dirty, possibly getting dirtier, and my new fuel filter is brown from crud in the gas tank.  I don’t think this is causing all my issues, but it definitely isn’t helping!  I also know there is a massive vacuum leak somewhere on the carb – I can here it hissing and sucking for air.  My plan of attack is to buy a 5 gallon gas container, drain the tank, try to clean it out as best I can without removing the engine, replace the lines, fuel filter, fuel pump, and do a full carb rebuild with new gaskets, new float, new accel pump, and possibly even a new throttle plate assembly. I’ll also replace the spark plugs because I’m sure they are fouled with carbon from the improper carb settings.  Hopefully all of that won’t take me too long, and will solve all of my engine problems.  I better get crackin!

I crashed the bus today… I’m blaming Friday the 13th, or maybe I can blame my dad – he visited yesterday, and showed me how to drive the thing like a pro.  No, I suppose I can’t blame anyone but myself!

I was feeling very confident in my bus driving abilities, and decided to take Noelle for a quick drive to show off my new skills.  We hop in the bus, I pump the gas once, turned the key – BOOM! The bus lurches forward, slamming into the garage shelving unit.  I left the stupid bus in gear and didn’t have the clutch pressed in when I started it up.  What a freakin idiot!!  I rush to check for damage – we obviously weren’t going at any speed, but I did crunch the plastic shelves pretty good. I enlarged the dent on the front panel a little, and bent one of the headlight rims, but other than that everything else seems ok.  After I realized the damage was contained to the front panel that I’m planning on replacing anyway, I felt better – but then the gravity of what could have happened hit me.  What if I had been in a parking lot?  What if someone had been in front of me?  WTF am I thinking?!  My confidence was totally shaken, but there is some saying like “get back on the horse” … or something like that – We got back in the bus, and headed out into the parking lot.  I shift smoothly now, I am in total control of the steering, braking – we round the second corner – Noelle’s door goes flying open! She’s screaming, I’m screaming, the guy walking his dog is looking at us like – “what are you doing you crazies”.  I guess the door didn’t quite latch when we left the garage… either way, we had enough fun for today, time to call it a night!

Lesson learned, and I’m sure this will save me from some tragedy down the road – I will never start the bus without the clutch, and I will PAY ATTENTION – Happy Friday the 13th!