Bought a new bus today! It made the 130 mile trip home without much fuss, but near the end the engine did "stutter" a few times, I think 3 times, spaced out about 10 minutes.
It was just a momentary loss of power, maybe for half a second, then right back to normal. All of the visible electrics (headlights etc) stayed on.
My first guess was a fuel delivery problem, but because the problem was so short and pronounced, perhaps it's somewhere in the ignition.
Any input is greatly appreciated. Need to be running strong for Jazz Fest this weekend
Like raygreenwood said, a bit more specifics would be helpful. Also, did the previous owner provide any maintenance records, such as what was recently done to the vehicle? Of course, unless you have paper records, word of mouth can only be trusted as far as earshot, unless you know the person you bought it from.
Welcome fellow Busser. You have entered the VW world of aircooled technology. You must first wash, vacuum and clean the windows of your new addition. Next, get some sage from the local American Indian. Burn the sage in and around the bus and also bathe your self in its cleansing smoke. You must chant your thanks to the VW godz to show your appreciation. Bonding with your bus is the first step. The second step is to obtain any and all information from the PO and what you have thusfar discovered yourself. There are those, out here in cyber-world, with knowledge, they can provide, to help you. The payback is that once you yourself become knowledgable, you lend your support to others in need.
Unfortunately, none of the VW books I ordered have arrived, so identifying the engine may be tough. It appears to be the regular old aircooled vw. I do know that it does not have an electronic ignition, and that there are no performance parts or anything on it.
I'm afraid that's all I know at the moment.
I bought the bus with the knowledge that a rebuild will be needed, so it's no big deal if it isn't running quite right, but I'd like to drive it as long as is practical before putting a bunch of money into the engine.
What year bus. Camper? Fuel injected? Carbed? How many? Stock exhaust? Headers? Automatic? Manual? What state is the bus from? What state are you in? ( live in ). Do you have to get it smogged for registration?
What year bus. Camper? Fuel injected? Carbed? How many? Stock exhaust? Headers? Automatic? Manual? What state is the bus from? What state are you in? ( live in ). Do you have to get it smogged for registration?
Ok, thanks for being patient. Here's some info, in order of last post's questions:
1977 camper, 2.0l FI, stock exhaust, no headers, manual, California bus now living in Mississippi, and needless to say, MS doesn't do an emissions check
New question, and I probably don't even want to know the answer, but as I said, the bus was purchased with the understanding that a rebuild was in the works.
The seller said that the alternator belt quit turning a while back, and to fix it her mechanic welded in a new bearing where the crank exits the engine case. Sounds pretty odd to me...she insisted the crank wasn't turning while the engine was running, which doesn't make much sense. Any ideas on that?
Well, I guess the Woodruff key in the crank ( half moon ) could have sheared off and stopped the fan from turning, but I've never seen that without overheating the engine pretty quickly ... Welding a bearing in ? I doubt that ! Sounds like "Shady Mechanic talk"
As for the stumbling, probably Electrical related ( 98% sure ). Cylinder Head Temp Sensor should be done ( buy a spare they're cheap ! ), ground block under the intake manifold should be cleaned ..... and spray contact cleaner on all your electrical contacts. TV tuner works OK but Stabilant is good stuff ..... very $$ though ...
I had what sounds like a simular prob. It turns out my tank had a bunch of crap in it and was plugging my fuel filter. Anytime The engine needed more fuel, climbing a hill, etc. It would starve itself out of fuel. Just a thought you might consider.
Okay, my bus did this exact same thing. I'd be driving along and would have a problem where it would just stutter, then regain power. Only, with me, it was bad enough that sometimes I couldn't get to speed easily.
Anyway, I did a bunch of things one weekend, and one or more of them did it.
Here's what I did that I think helped:
1: There is a metal fuel line that runs under the bottom of the tank. It exits from the tank on the pass side and runs over to the driver side where it connects to a rubber hose that connects to the fuel filter. This metal hose has a couple of bends in it, and over time crud can build up in it. I replaced it with some really high quality (It was either BMW or Mercedes stuff from the dealer--don't go cheap here!) rubber fuel line. Just pull the old metal line out and run the rubber stuff over the tranny, connect it to the outlet on the tank and the fuel filter.
2: Replace fuel filter!! These are getting hard to find, dealer says NLA so buy a few if you can.
3: Run some fuel dryer (Heet or the like) and fuel Injector cleaner in strong quantities. I believe that I had a bottle of each for five gallons of gas. This will especially help if the bus sat for awhile.
Tips:
Before you get started, find a large, empty container to drain gas into. I hope you don't have a full tank! Run it close to dry if you can. You want to drain as much of the old gas out as possible. 1, to keep it from running all over when you disconnect the lower fuel line and 2, to help get junk out. It actually might not be a bad idea to invest in a bottle of heet now, to help drain out any water.
Anyway, have the tank to catch gas ready. Then pull the hose off the front of the fuel filter (filter is still on car for the moment) and put the hose into the gas can to catch the gas. It will help to drain more gas out if you use a jack and raise the driver side of the bus to make the gas slosh towards the drain on the pass side. You can even raise and lower it a couple of times to slosh more out.
When you are satisfied that all the gas is out, do the above three things, and you will probably be all set!
Hopefully, doing this will get enough crud out of the gas tank to help keep the filter from clogging again.
However, when you get ready to rebuild the engine, pull the gas tank and have it cleaned to guarantee nothing else will clog up your filter.
Finally, and VERY importantly REPLACE ALL OTHER FUEL LINES while in there. The bus may run fine not doing this, but if you spring a leak, it will only be charcoal and you will have many more problems!
Also, I do agree with checking and cleaning all electrical connections. Something to invest in while doing this to help avoid dirty connections in the future is di-electric grease. It is basically a clear silicone grease, often sold as tune-up grease, that helps protect the connections.
Ray