Hurry up and get it sorted Darren please, I'm in a hotel room in Turkey that's got wifi, I can't leave until I see that you've sorted it matey...no wifi in the bar
@Dicky @Clive Neilands I can do Skype, I have a tablet If either of you have a minute today just tell me and I can arrange it Thanks very much! I'll try checking the leads this morning though.
Does sound like leads. One of mine was disintegrating and the engine was running on 3 cylinders. Still went but was down on power and sounded rough. Can only echo previous advice from folk more knowledgeable than i....check and double check, mechanic friends or not. I consider myself a fairly accomplished mechanic.....ive done engine transplants from late model vw's into mk1 era ones, and im not afraid of the spanners but I still had very little clue about air cooled motors.....you only know the stuff you work on, so having a mate that works on newer cars doesnt always mean he'll know his stuff when it comes to your bus unless hes had one or worked on one before. Get yourself a decent set of sockets and spanners, one of the very good guide books that are out there, and a good internet connection and theres not much that even a novice cant tackle with these old vw's if you are methodical and have the confidence and willingness to try. If you can follow a recipe, you can follow a repair manual.....its just a series of steps done in a sequence thats all
I just went and looked at mine and there are some things that don't match. On one of the pics it looks like the distributor isn't fully seated, so can you check the rotor is going round Darren? Take the cap off and turn the engine over. Does it move or have we already asked that question? There's a lot of reading in this thread. Second the distributor is slightly different to mine (a 79 engine) though that might not be significant. It looks like somebody has cut some metal out - maybe to fit a different distributor.
I'm heading down to my van shortly. I'll tell you when I'm ready and give you a call. I will try doing the leads first though!
I'll check the rotor arm, thanks! I couldn't tell you about the distributor. I am probably going to get nowhere with this but worth a shot, a lot of suggestions to go through... I'm sure one will work but I risk making things worse by fiddling. Thing is empty pockets require you to do things yourself rather than pay a mechanic £35 per hour!
Did you push the rotor arm down properly? Wondering if its not seated properly. And maybe a jolt whilst driving has knocked it out of its seat. Either way, I think this will be a cheap and easy fix. So don't panic
WHO the bloody hell is your "mechanic" friend & why is he always in quotation marks? Good thread though
New info...!!! - We have just discovered that someone in the past has turned the carbs up (pretty sure it was before I bought the vehicle but if it was one of my mechanics I'll give him a mouthful). I have been told that this can ruin the engine! Does anyone know anything about this? They have been turned back down now though.
That doesn't really mean anything. What has been turned up? Turning it back down without knowing which screw it is isn't a great idea. If it runs too lean you'll melt it.
