hi, last few drives my 2 litre type 4 has adopted a chirp on acceleration. I think I’ve heard this quite often when air cooled VWs drive past, but I’m not sure it used to do it this much. It’s not a fan belt as start up or Rev in neutral does not produce the noise. So it’s a pulsing bird like chirp. Like a fan belt, but not s shriek, but pulsing. I think this may be quite normal, but any ideas? Ta
Google type 4 distributor chirping / also search on here for it and on the samba. It’s a fairly common issue with type 4 motors I think Rickyroo has that issue and wrote up how to cure it.
With old Beetles it could simply be the exhaust, or some aftermarket big carburettors would also chirp. But that would be a permanent effect. Just get out a metre or so of hose, hold one end near your ear and then poke around the engine near the heads with the other end and see if you can hear a sharp crackling noise with the engine idling. That is some kind of exhaust leak. If its a cylinder head leak then at the least do a compression test to see if there is leaking followed by checking the torque on the cylinder head nuts on the studs. Also generally look for missing nuts on exhaust studs or completely missing studs.. If its the cylinder head to cylinder joint that is leaking then these can get worse as the metal gradually wears away with the hot gas. You may have to remove the cylinder head, clean up and replace bits, like any copper gaskets.. fitted by VW but turned out to double the available space for leaks rather than seal better. If your engine was fairly clean there will also be visible black marks from exhaust leaks on nearby metal. If its an oily mess.. no way can you see.
Well pretty much bang on with your diagnosis, local expert did an engine autopsy: wrecked heads, one in particular and barrels and pistons too shot to repair. So new top end needed. Gone for all new components and supposedly German. Bit of a bummer but looking forward to a decent engine, and hopefully not being stuck in lorry Convoys. Get her back next week.