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Aircooled 2.0L Vanagon power problem

Greetings, I don;t expect much power from this engine but... I'm having what I think is a fuel pressure issue. I'm in Phoenix AZ; the vanagon with automatic transmission does not easily start when "cold", I have to hold the pedal to the floor, for full throttle. The battery is fully charged. I recently replaced a clogged fuel filter. I do not hear the fuel pump run before engine start but obviously I get fuel. Idle is good and first gear power is ok. second gear acceleration is ok when the engine is cool. high gear acceleration is poor, she tops out at 70 mph, then once down to say

35mph in high gear, she had a real hard time accelerating. The timing is set at the 7.5BDC mark with low idle with or with out the vacuum line, the mark doesn't move, but idle does advance. I'm ready to install another fuel pump or pressure regulator. Anyone have a suggestion? Bill S in A
Reply to
Bill S
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I'm a complete novice compared to most of the talents in this group, but when I had a problem similar to this it turned out to be a goobered up carb and big pieces of stuff in my tank. I was surprised at how much rust had built up inside of my carb, that had missed the fuel filter. When I finally pulled the "float" gauge out of my tank and looked inside with a flashlight, I just about puked.

If you have all ready pulled out a nasty fuel filter, you may want to look around to see where all that rust is coming from. Then clean everything between point A and B. Also, consider rebuilding the carb. I solved a LOT of my problems in doing so, and it was a two hour job - and cost about $8 for the rebuild kit. Of course, make sure you get "the good kit" which should come with new air idle screws with the rubber rings all ready on them and thicker cardboard-like gaskets, not the paper thin substitutes.

Just my .02 cents (which is probably worth more like .006 cents, or .

004 cents NOS). ;-)

-Steve Ballantyne

Reply to
steve.ballantyne

That 2.0L should be FI, not carb. Right?

The pump will only run during cranking, I believe. That may be hard to hear.

A restriction in the fuel line (clogged filter for example) might produce the symptoms, especially the speed limit.

Before you spend any money on parts (and loads of effort), measure the fuel ring pressure. Helpful if the gauge could be read (by a helper) during a hiway cruise too.

If you don't have the Haynes manual, get one pronto,

Speedy Jim

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Reply to
Speedy Jim

I don't know anything about the mechanical end of VW buses .. but I just wanted to add that when I took my bus to Colorado the altitude totally messed up the timing. I could barely get it to move .. took a whole lot of tinkering with ..

Reply to
diane aka whatever

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