why my 69 its overhating?

[morenosd1]

I have a 69 bug after a little driving overheat. I whant to know if some one here knows why?

[Stray Catalyst]

You'll have to give more info in order for us to give you anything but guesses. Does your bug have the stock engine, with all the stock sheet metal, and are the gaskets between that sheet metal and the body intact? Has it just started overheating, or did you change something and now it's running hot?

Vacuum leaks are one common cause of overheating, but there are a number of other reasons.

[morenosd1]

i just got this car I know its a 1600 dual port. last time I running over heat, the tiny red light was on and I can see smoke come out the back of the engine. its this bad? I check all the tins and seals are there. this my 7th vw and I never have this kind of problem before thanks for the help. I still love this cars lol.

[heliarc]

Rats nest in the doghouse? Or just general clogging of the cooling fins. I don't know. But if you know for a fact that all the tins are in place, and the deck seal is there and in good shape you might have to go deeper.

[morenosd1]

I m confuse because on the freeway runs perfect the only problem its when im stop.

[Buggin_74]

was it the oil light or generator light that was on?

i just got this car I know its a 1600 dual port.

Does it still have a non vented engine lid? that will cause problems.

the unvented decklid worked fine for the original 1500 single port but the 1600 dual port has a bigger cooling system and needs a vented engine lid.

[Marc]

1969 was the last year that had a green oil pressure light (and no tenths-mile wheel on the odo, on the early cars). Later speedos all had red lights for both oil pressure and charging system indication.

There is no light that monitors temperature (nor was there on your other six VWs) but if the oil pressure light is flickering at idle that may indicate a problem in that area.
If the charging system warning light comes on at idle, there's no cause for concern in most cases.

Check that the fan belt isn't slipping. If you can rotate the generator pulley and the crank pulley doesn't turn too, the belt is too loose and/or glazed and needs adjustment or replacement.

With the engine off, reach around in front of the fan shroud and grope the cooling fan (it can be pretty grimy, don't have a good shirt on). Sometimes you'll find a paper towel or a collection of leaves that's partially blocking the cooling fan. If the firewall padding has gotten soft and/or come loose from the body, it will suck into the fan and restrict airflow as well.

In my experience you can drive a DP1600 around town all day long (other than on hot summer days) with an unlouvered lid, but a few miles of over-45MPH will cause overheating. Propping the lid open at the bottom with a tennis ball to let some more air in is usually good enough except in stop-and-go traffic on a hot day, where it permits hot air from underneath to recycle.

Smoke is never a good thing, but without knowing its source there's little point in speculating. If you can firmly grasp the dipstick handle and hold on indefinitely, that's around 140°F - the inside of the engine is of course hotter but that's a reasonably good indicator. With the engine off, grasp the crankshaft pulley with both hands and push/pull on it as hard as you can - it should have no more than .006" of movement in and out. That's just barely enough to see, and enough to make a light thunking noise. More indicates a serious problem with the thrust bearing which requires a complete teardown of the engine to address.

[Buggin_74]

1969 was the last year that had a green oil pressure light

1968

69 was the first year of the new speedo with red warning lights and lables.
68 was a one year only speedo with the old style face and green oil light but internal fuel gauge.

[morenosd1]

hi marc I did the pulley test and I can hear the thunking noise. I m in trouble? and yes the red light was on. I cant touch the oil stick was super hot.

[Stray Catalyst]

If it's more than .006" of movement, yes.

Take a look at the engine number number - it's under the generator, you may have to scrape off a little crud in order to read it. As your engine is a 1600DP, it's probably not the original engine for your car - there may not be an engine number at all, if it's a replacement case. If there's a number, and it starts with H5 or B5, then your case is one of the weak ones, that is probably not worth the effort to rebuild - you're better off getting another engine (look on your local Craigslist for one, or for anybody parting out a VW that has an engine for sale). Salvage what you can off this engine and keep the parts for spares.

If your current engine is one of the better ones then you may be able to rebuild it, but if you're getting any significant end play (indicated by the test that Marc recommended) you'll need to tear it down and send the case to a machine shop - it's still likely to be cheaper to replace the engine, though you can use the re-machined case for a future engine rebuild, while still driving around on the engine you buy. Get one of the books (the Muir book, or the Bentley manual) and a reasonable set of tools, and you can build it yourself if you have the time, the money, and the interest.

[Stray Catalyst]

If the engine is hot and the red light was on, your engine is likely to be toast - the VW engine uses oil for cooling, and running it low on oil will kill it in a hurry - I killed one engine that way myself. When it's cool, change the oil - if you find metal flakes that look like tinsel, you've killed the bearings and the question becomes, rebuild it or throw it away. You can still salvage many parts from it, but not the engine internals at that point - well, you CAN salvage those, but you'll need to get the crank reground by a machine shop.

[morenosd1]

thank so much for the advise Stray. I think im gone to get a new engine a single port its better then dual what the difference. more power ?

[Stray Catalyst]

Dual port has a little more power. Single port has a little more torque at the low end of the range. Read the engine number - H5 and B5 cases are pretty much invariably single port, and really aren't a good deal unless they're turn key and cheap. What sort of engine you want depends on how you drive, and how much money you want to spend. If you're looking for a cheap, simple car that can do highway speed but won't be racing, or climbing dunes, or anything like that - 1500 single port is just fine. If you want to go faster, 1600 DP is better. And if you want to have a powerful car, then expect to spend a fairly large amount of money, but the sky's the limit.

If, in the future, either dashboard light turns on - TURN THE CAR OFF and pull over immediately. You have a chance to avoid serious damage - those lights aren't like the modern "check engine light" that only means that you need to make your mechanic wealthy, they're a sign that your engine is within 10-30 seconds of becoming a boat anchor.

Depending on where you live, you may be able to find a turn key (used, no warranty) engine on CL for $300 or so. If you buy a good engine from a VW mechanic, you're looking at closer to a grand, and if you want a NEW engine - well, check CIP1 for prices, but it'll be expensive.

[morenosd1]

thanks buddy I was so stupid to let go one 1500 single for $400.00 I was so dumb lol and I was running the guy even post a video on you tube of the engine running. have a nice day im gonna post some pic went I m done with the project.

[Stray Catalyst]

Where are you located? I know of some engines for sale up in New England.