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Novice question - enging won't start, oil in air filter and coming from dipstick

Hi all,

We have a 74 Bug I'm hoping to get some advice on. Our fuel pump (mechanical) was leaking at the "seam" area so we purchased a new one and put it on today. We had no issues and the car was idling for about an hour while we adjusted the idle and were really just letting it run since it hadn't run in about 2 months. We then backed the car out to take it around the block (here in NE PA, it's getting to be fall so we're in the last weeks of running time before it gets wrapped up for the winter). We got about 500 feet driving up a hill from the garage and it seemed to not be getting fuel. My husband was driving and it would intermittently get fuel (mind you while we were tuning it, pressing the gas pedal as well as the arm on the choke never had a problem and was running smoothly so we believe the fuel pump is fine). After some sputtering it went a little further and then about 1/4 mile up the road, it just quit. Neither of us recall any of the idiot lights coming on. (We have a temp/pressure light.) We got out and opened the hood and there was oil coming out from around the dipstick as well as a LOT of oil on the air filter - presumably coming up from the carb.

We plan to take the engine out and have a good look in the coming weeks but any advice as to what it might be? We didn't hear any noise to indicate that we threw a rod and I had thought possibly a bad ring but given where the oil was coming out, I'm not sure what to think.

Thanks in advance... looks like we're in for an unexpected winter project.... good thing we just picked up an engine stand yesterday (fate!)

-michele

Reply to
ismlv
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Drain the oil and see what comes out. It may be overfilled with oil, or it may be oil and water. Refill with 2.3 qts.

Clean out the air cleaner and as much of the air passages as you can. Remove the spark plugs and turn the engine over rapidly with the starter.

Try starting it up again.

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----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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Reply to
Jim Adney

Reinstall spark plugs... Then try starting again. LOL

Be Cool.....AIRCOOLED !!

"Wild" Bill Tucker

President Rare Air VW Club Pensacola, Florida

'78 VW Bus ( "Old Rusty" )

'76 Bug "The Grape"

'69 Squareback , Arizona car, Automatic

Rare Air VW Club Website:

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Reply to
Wild Bill Tucker

Given that you just changed the fuel pump because it was leaking 'at the seams', I would wonder if you haven't a crankcase full of gas. In any event, don't even try to run the engine. Change the oil.

Reply to
Lorem Ipsum

Hi all,

Thanks for all the respones. I've got a few more follow up questions.

1.) Since it idled fine while we were tuning it for about an hour but crapped out under driving conditions, does that indicate anything? 2.) Once it died, we tried to turn it back on again and it make no noise at all (almost like the battery was dead which it clearly wasn't). Does that indicate anything?

(I've tried to find the answer to the two questions above in some manuals we have and I'm not getting anywhere.)

3.) Can someone tell me roughly what a compression reading should give? We are going to start messing around with it this weekend and I'd like to at least do a test on it. 4.) This is going to sound ridiculous but can someone confirm for a standard mechanical fuel pump, which port on it should get the line with the fuel filter? We forgot to take a close look before we disconnected it and think we have it back on right but since the engine died, I have serious doubts. The pump we put on is
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Thanks again!
Reply to
ismlv

My GUESS is that the crankcase was full of oil/gas from the previous failed fuel pump. Running quietly in the driveway was okay, but once you started actually running at higher rpms it stirred up the crankcase contents and blew it out the breather into the air cleaner. From there it got sucked into the intake and now some of your cylinders are fouled with the overflow.

Another guess: Some of the cylinders have enough of this fluid in them that they can't move. (Liquids aren't compressible.) Try removing the spark plugs and cranking the engine with the starter to see if you get any more activity and to try to clear as much of it out as possible. Some will get pushed out the SP holes, and some will just get pushed into the exhaust. Expect smoke once you finally get it started again.

90 to 135 psi

Remember to change your oil first, and a new set of spark plugs might be a good idea if the old ones come out covered with oil.

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----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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Reply to
Jim Adney

Thanks for the added info. This makes me feel better that the engine may not be a complete gonner (i.e. I was thinking we could have blown a piston or something really bad... not that that still couldn't be the case). The views on the list have calmed me down a bit and given me hope that we might be able to go for a ride this weekend.

Reply to
watson524

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