Loud! loss of power

Yesterday I was driving around in my 74 Super Beetle and I pulled up to a red light, stalled, and when I started back up the engine was suddenly much louder and there was a noticeable decrease in power. It sounded like I had a hole in the muffler (I don't) but now I'm baffled. Now my car is loud and sluggish.

I should mention that one of my tailpipes had come loose and fallen out about an hour prior while I was driving. I went back for it but somebody had run it over and flattened it (obviously I didn't put it back on the car). I'm not sure if it's related but, any help anyone has would be greatly appreciated.

I combed the newsgroups but couldn't find anything that seemed similar to my situation.

Thanks!

Vaughn

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Reply to
Vaughn M Hannon
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"Vaughn M Hannon" wrote

Sounds like it may have spit out a spark plug.

Reply to
Scott H

do a compression check and let us know...

does it miss? will it idle? any "unusual" sounds like ticking, knocking or a "bwop, bwop" sound hopefully its not a loose head, or threads pulled on the head stud, or a valve seat or a burned valve or compression rings ( just trying to think of things that case lack of or decreased power) or it could be you need to adjust timing and valves and maybe check for exhaust leaks. but always be prepared for the worst.

BTW you have to watch those pea shooters - stock mufflers can burp them out. I take a small punch and "peen" them before i put on the clamp. makes it hard to change the peashooter, but usually its time to replace the muffler by that time : )

--

**************************************************************** dragenwagen 1966 Type I - Daily Driver 1969 Type I - Undergoing heater channel replacement
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"Old VW's Don't Leak Oil, They Mark Thier Territory."****************************************************************
Reply to
dragenwagen

Spark plug loose? Exhuast gasket leaking somewhere? Stuck valve?

Reply to
Anthony

have you checked your spark plugs. you may have blown one out, stripped the head.

Reply to
Mary Junkins

I did that once, but do not remember my engine being suddenly louder. Just a sudden loss of power.

It's wasy enough to check for though. Check the spark plug wires, if one is flopping around with a spark plug in it, then you know!

John Kuthe...

Reply to
John Kuthe

I've had that happen, also, and BELIEVE ME -- it will be noticably louder!

Larry

Reply to
Larry St. Regis

Ditto! You hear echo back off buildings.

Reply to
David Gravereaux

Thanks for the help everybody. Sho'nuff she spit out a spark plug. I'm about to go back out and replace it. Thanks again!

Vaughn

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Reply to
Vaughn M Hannon

On 3 Feb 2004 15:36:31 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Vaughn M Hannon) ran around screaming and yelling:

Vaughn, sorry to be the bad guy, but you probably won't be able to just replace the plug...chances are excellent that it took most if not all of the alluminum threads out with it...repeat after me "TIMESERT"....this is your friend(a solid steel insert repair for sparkplugs, and other threads..) JT

Reply to
Joey Tribiani

especially at 2 in the morning!!!!!!!!!

Reply to
Cletus

Turns out I'm okay. I believe this particular plug didn't get in as tight as it should have. I didn't have an extension for my wratchet when I replaced the plugs a while back and if I recall, this one was a pain in the ass to get in there without. I suspect it was loose and it finally worked itself out. It's in good and tight now. Thanks tho!

Vaughn

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Reply to
Vaughn M Hannon

On 3 Feb 2004 23:14:29 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Vaughn M Hannon) ran around screaming and yelling:

Excellent Vaughn...you *may* be okay(not trying to scare you) or it may do it again on down the road...if it does its not that big of a deal to fix it...be careful from now on out when replacing the plug, do not overtighten....if some damage was done overtorquing it will definitely ruin your day.... JT

Reply to
Joey Tribiani

DON'T use a spring style insert! if they catch on the plug, they rip even more aluminium out of the head - as they wind out, they try to expand and do a LOT of damage!. The genuine TIMESERT inserts are good because they are a solid insert which is almost impossible to get out, unless you try really hard :-) "Helicoils" are a NoNo.

Allan :-)

Reply to
Allan Williams

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