Gene The Camper Yesterday we traveled from Leeds to Cardiff on the Megabus to pick up Gene, our 1976 Type 2 Campervan. All was good for maybe the first 45 minutes, then we had issues on the motorway. Below is a description of what we experienced in the hope that someone will have experienced the same and can point us in the right direction. We were happily cruising at between 50 and 60 depending on the incline of the motorway, when after about 45 minutes we felt some juddering, this progressively got worse, although intermittent, we found the juddering resulted in a big loss of power, taking us down to 30mph at times, then we'd find he'd recover and we'd be back to cruising for only a short while (then it's happen again). When juddering, it sounded like we were back-firing too. We managed to make it home after thinking with 100 miles to go that the AA were going to be called out. We've been out in him today, just locally and no motorways, and had no issues. Hope for some helpful advice. Rich & Kelly.
Welcome to the forum!! First off, what is the engine size and what carbs are you running? Could your problem be fuel starvation causing the poor running at speed staring the carbs of fuel
Gene The Camper Hi. Thanks for your reply. The engine is 1641cc and the carb is a SOLEX H30/31PICT. I was thinking it may be fuel/air mix and was hoping a good service would do the trick. Cheers
Suggests fuel starvation to me too. Check the two fuel tank breather pipes, one from each side above the engine, are connected together and fed into the air filter on the carb. Its not unknown for these pipes to be plugged and the link pipe to the carb to be removed. A vacuum builds up in the tank resulting in fuel starvation until you slow down or stop.
I'm not much use with technical info or mechanical help but instead offer a warm welcome to the forum & hope you get your problem fixed... Robo...
Oh the drive home in your new bus is shocking! I bought mine about 7 weeks ago and I drove from Plymouth to Porthcawl. I asked the previous owner if it would get me home and he looked at the floor! Lol well it did but not without worrying me to death that it would blow up, it clanged and banged and popped and hissed but it did get me home. Then let me down on my first outing 10 miles from my house. All I can say is you learn an awful lot fairly quickly and in no time you'll be on top of it all and have a massive list of things you will want to sort! Anyway the first thing I did was all the service things we can all do, oil, filter points plugs air filter fuel lines leads condensor and believe me your bus will run a lot better. Good luck on your new venture, hope I've helped!
I'd check for a fuel filter myself, if fitted it should be under the van between the fuel tank exit and the point the fuel pipe goes through the tin ware. If you're going to change it yourself, make sure you disconnect the battery and clamp the fuel pipe( tank side obviously) They block quite quickly if there's a bit of crude in the tank.
Gene The Camper Thanks all for your replies and suggestions. Spent today giving Gene a thorough clean, inside and out and he looks super. Had a look in the engine bay but [glow=red,2,300]cannot see a fuel filter?[/glow] This is the first thing I'll change, although a full service will quickly follow; Plugs Leads Dizzi Cap Points CondenserOil FilterOil Should be fun.
The first thing I thought was fuel filter. Then check the connections to your fuel pump. Be sure they're solid. On my last Beetle the PO just twisted two bare wires together. No tape or anything. On a FUEL PUMP. And always troubleshoot starting from cheapest/easiest and work up. Best of luck. Let us know what the trouble was.
30/31 is 1300-1500 beetle carb. If it hasn't been re-jetted for your larger engine you'll have problems. My first thoughts are you over-heated it...
Had this twice and it was the carbs on both occasions 2nd time they were leaking out fuel so check this as you might not be able to smell it if your heater piping is disconnected.
Gene The Camper Took Gene to DubTricks yesterday (www.dubtricks.co.uk). Really nice bunch of guys and quickly pointed out that I'm running the wrong carb and should have a 34 for the 1641cc engine (meaning I'm running lean). Anyway, Gene is booked in next week for a full service, a new carb and a thorough health check so I'm hopeful that will sort the problems. Thanks all for your advice. Rich
