Every time my bus has been left in the garage for a wile,, like weeks , it's a sod to start it's a bit like after you have run out of petrol and have to pump it through , I end up squrting easy start in and running bk up to start her although this took a few attempts yesterday, after she's started all is good jumps of the key, battery is fine. my bug that is on the drive in all weather starts no problem even if left for months ?
Mines the same mate . Anymore that 2 or 3 weeks and bus takes a while to start .I once took the top of the carb (34pict) and noticed that there was very little fuel in the bowl.so i just put it down to evaporation and learnt to live with it . And as you said the birds bug will start almost of the button after being stood for a while. I just put that down to it being a different carb (30 pict) . There probably is a "technical" reason for this which someone else will know . I just crank the bus solid for 10 secs and then wait for 30 secs then it will fire straight away and is fine stopping and starting untill left for a while again maybe a one way valve will help but who knows I would of thought the only place it can run away or evaporate is down the throat of the carb itself ????? . Be useful to know the reason for it though Sent from my FIG-LX1 using Tapatalk
My bug running 34 icts does it. Like bac2bac6 above, I have took the lids off the carbs after its been standing for a few weeks, and the bowls where nearly dry. I have read somewhere that worn spindle bushes (which mine does have) speeds up the evaporation, although I am not sure how true that is..
old fuel goes bad quite quickly and the ethanol content and absorbed water sinks to the bottom of the tank. why don't you start the engine every week at least and run it up to temperature. I do that with mine if not driving it during the winter. Also I installed a simple on/off fuel tap in the fuel line just inside the engine bay so I can easily switch fuel supply off after parking up. The tap stops fuel draining out of the carb and fuel syphoning from the tank. works for me.
A stop tap in the engine bay may stop fuel draining from the tank but it won’t stop fuel draining from the carb.
All of the above. My Dells drain down after a few weeks of no use. Needs a good crank to fill them up again.
OK, so just need to run it more often then Bug must be a mechanical miracle ,,,,, probably spoke to soon
It was just a thought! Mine had the carbs and pump higher then the tank which was ok when over half full.
The problem can be that there is no petrol vapour in the manifold at first. Mine has a shutoff solenoid and after leaving it for a week first it fires first turn of the key. Then it dies. Then while I am messing with remembering to dab the pedal maybe once or twice and then take my foot off to get it to start, then I flood it. More stamping makes it worse.. In that state, simply holding the pedal to the floor and cranking it fires after 30 seconds of cranking. Always remember that a healthy battery should be able to crank for longer than it takes to fry the starter motor. A minute will not kill anything.
I'll try that next time,,, but yes I don't like to crank it for long, seconds probably , so I'm not giving it long enough
so if you leave the van for a while, its best to disconnect the battery leads. and keep it charged up. the battery may be worn out already.
Yes this sounds very familiar. We are so used these days to jumping in our cars turning the key & it starting in a couple of seconds regardless of the engine being cold or hot. I remember many a flat battery from flooding & too much manual choke back in the day.
