Engine Trouble?

[Remco de Bruijn]

Hello all,

Last saturday, after driving for about 45 minutes on the highway at about 100 Kph, my engine (1500 single carb) developed some issues. It still runs, but it stutters and doesn't accelerate very smoothly anymore. When I checked the oil level after it had cooled, it was below minimum, so I added some oil.

My first guess is that the engine overheated, but would the engine still run if it had been damaged badly? I once blew up the engine of my beetle, it wouldnt turn anymore. Now, I drove the Ghia home and normally when you reach, say 50kph, you just keep your foot on the throttle and the car keeps the speed. Now, as soon as I try to keep the speed constant, the car decelerates.

What can be the cause of this? Is it the engine (burned valves), Ignition, etc.

Regards,

Remco

[Lee Hedges]

There are so many things that could be causing the problem. Mechanical issues are tough to diagnose over the internet.

One thing I always check for first is to see if one of the dual-carb linkage rods has come off. This means your car is running but when you try to go faster only two of the cylinders are getting fuel. But I'm sure you already checked the engine compartment for any obvious problems, right?

[Remco de Bruijn]

Hi Lee,

I understand that it's difficult to diagnose, even if your next to the car it can be quite a pain to find things causing problems, and yes, I did check for any wires, hoses that may have come off but everything seems to be connected properly, that's why I thought something may have melted or bent or something because of too much heat. (ignition coil perhaps?)

I only have a single carb, so I'm pretty sure the linkage to the second carb isn't the problem


Remco

[Jörg Fischer]

Does it drip oil?

First of all I would check the valves ("valve clearance"), for the older 45 HP engine it should be inlet 0.20mm, outlet 0.30mm (NOT 0.15/0.15)

When checking the valves be sure to check the tappet rods (expression right? "Stößelstangen" in German) if they are all right or bent or broken.

Is there anything abnormal in the engine compartment? Does the carb look ok? Distributor? distributor points?

If all this is OK, I assume you got a crack in the head or a crack in one of the valves. I would not drive it any more, but have an aircooled specialist look what happened.

Regards

Jörg

[Carsten Klein]

what i read here reminds me exactly what my engine problems have been!
check the compression of cylinder 3 and 4 ... i don´t see an alternative in disassembling the motor and check the cylinders, heads, valves, valve seats!
i have a specialst her next to me !
he has rebuild tw og my type 34 motors already !

[Remco de Bruijn]

Thanks for the advice so far.

It doesn't drip any oil, except for 'the usual' (the seals around the oil cooler need replacement). Distributor points, valve clearance are also options I will have to look into, but it has only been about 2.500 km since the last tune-up, so, under normal circumstances, I don't expect that to be the problem. Another option is that the carb is clogged up somewhere. It has been 'sitting' all winter (which was quite long and cold for Dutch standards) and this was the first long drive I had since end of october or so.

I will have a chat with the local VW-shop in the coming week and see what they can do for me. Let's hope it is not as bad as suggested by Carsten, engine rebuilding can be quite expensive. Who's your specialist? Are you happy with the rebuilds?

Remco

[Carsten Klein]

its a vw specialist living next door to me, my lick ! he has rebuilt my two t 34 1500 s engines and i am very satisfied with the work! it was not cheap, that s also quite for sure!
but ... now the engines are ready for tne next 100.000 km or anything like that :-)