Hello, I recently had my bay serviced and tuned by a bunch of cowboys... Beetle Werks near Arundel, avoid them at all cost... Anyhow, idle speed has dropped to around 400rpm (it was probably around 800-900rpm the week before last, when I got it back from them). It’s also sounding lumping. I’ve probably put down about 1000miles since then so I’m guessing this is general wear? If was to learn to tune the carbs myself, where would be the best place to start and what would I need (I guess syncrometer)? Carbs are dual Dellorto FRDA 36 running on a type 4 2 litre. Carbs were brand new last year. Any help, much appreciated. Cheers, Jon Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Hi. Can’t help with tuning advice but I can recommend a specialist garage if required for future reference. Kustom Revival at Small Dole near Henfield. Have a chat with Ant the owner. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Could just be dirt in an idle jet. Or a plug lead pulled partway off and causing it to misfire one cylinder .. 1000 miles is nothing for wear. Try pullling plug leads in turn. One of them probably will do nothing. The others will probably stop the engine. The no change cylinder will be the cylinder with the issue. I would check compression in case something bad has happened but first go for simple things like dirt in the jets. Pull the idle jets out and then blow them through. Little crumbs of fuel pipe from pipe cutting during installation is a quite common source of dirt downstream of the fuel filter. Look in the fuel bowls for black rubber crud.. Dont touch any adjustments immediately as new carburettors should not shift settings by themselves. Then go and check with the snail flow meter to check balance at idle if its still lumpy. It could be stupid things like an endstop screw on one carburettor is a bit too closed .. something knocked by the garage.
Thanks this is really helpful. So basically something isn’t quite right then... so best bet is probably for me to take it to the chap suggested above and get someone who knows what they’re doing to trouble shoot it, before I start tinkering! It did idle at 1200rpm earlier and then gradually drop back down, which I guess could indicate something is blocking something flowing properly. I’ll check what I can though tomorrow, as I’m over in France, before I drive back. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
So to follow this up... I pushed the leads back on to the distributor and it came back to full power... however, after 2 hours driving the attached happened. Seems like all was not well in the carbs after all... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Something like that... sadly I’m in France and not sure if recovery will take him back to the uk. Absolutely gutted. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Left carb looks to have backfired and burnt out. The fire took out the leisure wiring and vacuum hoses. Luckily I caught it before it destroyed much more but it’s whether the AA will recover it or not. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Oh flock Looks like you put it out in the nick of time Are you all ok? Was it popping out of the carbs?
Yeah, delayed shock but ok. I’d been fairly well prepared... 3 extinguishers in the cab (the cheap AA one failed). Got the main fire out but the insulation carried on smouldering. Still had to push it through the French toll both and pay before I could finish putting it out!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I’m glad your all ok it could have been a lot worse If you have European cover I can’t see why the AA won’t help
It’s whether it’s worth the market value or not to ship it back. They were saying that you can’t just load a broken vehicle onto a ferry and bring it back, as the ferry operators won’t take broken vehicles as it’s a fire risk... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That doesn’t sound right otherwise what’s the point of European recovery. Have you contacted your insurance company
Not yet. I’ve just got to my AA arranged hotel. It’s been a bit of an ordeal! I’ll probably contact them tomorrow once I’ve got back. I’m not sure what the deal will be though, because if the AA offer me market value or nothing, I’m a bit screwed. I guess the other option is getting the AA to have him fixed over here in France, but again, I’m not sure if it covers that. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
All french recoverys where taken to depot near Lyon and then a bunch are transported back on multicar transporters.
It’s the not bringing back Broken vehicles bit I don’t understand . Surely breakdown cover is for broken vehicles You wouldn’t be asking the AA to bring back a non broken vehicle ?
