1971 VW Super beetle

[CamaroAdam73]

Das beetle yah

I've been working on this car for a few days now, the women asked me to figure out what was wrong because the car won't idle and she had some "mechanics" work on it a few months back but according to her they made things worse, and charged her allot of money.

The car fires up but only if the choke is engaged all the way, and no matter how long it runs for if the choke isn't engaged the whole way, it dies rout.

The women said the prior "mechanics" rebuilt the carb, when i pulled the carb apart i knew something was way wrong because the used RTV to put it back together instead of gaskets, it was a ****ing mess. I honestly expected that to fix the problem but after a thorough cleaning and rebuild, it made no difference at all.

I haven't put a vacuum gauge on it yet, or a timing light to see if maybe its out of time. Can anybody with experience with these engines chime in? I'm stumped.


I believe its the 1.9L FYI

 

[pontiacgp]

does this help

[youtube]-LxUVvXNtC4[/youtube]

 

[Longroof79]

Sounds like some real hacks worked on this poor car. It sounds like a vacuum leak from the way you describe it. Check the rubber boots on the intake manifold. Make sure there's no vacuum hoses disconnected. I've always had good luck getting these cars to run well...it's probably more than luck. :wink:

I would do a complete tuneup on it starting with a valve adjustment. New points, condensor, plugs and wires.

 

[Bonnewagon]

Listen to Jack! Full valve adjustment cures many ills and then you know that is covered, and then a full tune-up. Those Solex carbs are real simple and you did that already. Check the tube intake manifold for rust out and the gaskets where they attach to the heads. Did you check the fuel pump?

 

[CamaroAdam73]

GP, good man that'll be a big help.

My game plan is to get a vacuum gauge on it first and start checking for vacuum leaks, carb should be in check so then i'll move onward to a valve adjustment. If that doesn't solve the problem, and even if it does i'll drop the new dizzy next and put it in time + new plugs and hopefully that takes care of it.

Next question, whats up with the oil in these little engines? on the dip stick it looks green and smells like an oil/ gear oil mixture ?

 

[pontiacgp]

you sure the dip stick is for the engine oil?

 

[Bonnewagon]

That's the engine oil dipstick. The transmission oil can only be checked by removing a plug on the case, just like Saginaw, Muncie, etc. Of course, that doesn't mean someone didn't add transmission oil to the crank case!

 

[pontiacgp]

read up on "green" oil and it could be the type of oil, or an oil with additives to sop leaks, or a florescent green to help you find leaks..

 

[Longroof79]

Unless the green oil is the Brad Penn stuff...made from the original Kendal GT-1 formula. I still have some of the green Kendal in the crankcase of one of my old Porsche longblocks.

Use a good 30 or 40 wt oil. Get an oil change kit which consists of new copper or aluminum washers for the sump plate. There's no oil filter element per se, just a screen you'll see when you drop the sump plate.
Just be gentle tightening the nuts..and tighten them in sequence.

It also couldn't hurt to do a compression test on it as well.

Mark is right, the trans oil plug is located on the side of the trans case, much like a rear end plug....unless it has an automatic trans, then it would have a dipstick like an automatic in our type cars.

 

[Bonnewagon]

Kendal GT, good stuff. I was in the Army with a very pissed-off chemist who worked for Kendal, he had been drafted. He explained to me why Kendal was so good and I used it faithfully from then on. Automatic Beetle? Yuch! My Dad hated his automatic Super Beetle so much he made me scrounge up a complete manual trans assembly to swap into his car. This was back when you could pilfer car parts right off abandoned cars on the streets of NYC. Remember Jack?