G'day folks, I'm after some advice about my VW pop-top camper. So you know what I actually have, I call it a 74 Kombi, a guy I know in the UK calls it a 'Bay Window' and a friend in New Jersey calls it a 'Microbus.' It has the larger type rear lights and twin Solex carbies. I bought it because I had some romantic notion of doing the Big Lap (once around Aussie on the coast road) with the wife and the hound now the kids have finally left home. I bought it through a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy who knew VWs (yeah, I know). It needed a little TLC but it drove well, albeit like a maxi yacht in cross-winds, and had no trouble keeping up in freeway traffic. It's a 3 speed auto and takes a while to get up to traffic speed. The other day I noticed it was idling roughly at traffic lights but was fine otherwise initially . within an hour the thing was running rough with a marked loss of power. I figured (hoped) I was looking at a dud spark plug or lead. I replaced the plugs, points and rotor which seemed to be cracked but there was no improvement. A mechanic friend of a friend (who refuses point blank to work on VWs) did a few tests for me. The leads were okay. No 2 cylinder was the problem. It' was getting spark but it had no compression. He's sure it has a burnt out exhaust valve. I asked around some VW 'experts' and I've been told it might have 'pulled a valve in' whatever that means. I'm led to believe that I'm up for a lot of money to fix things - the engine is hard to get out as the rear apron is welded in not bolted in and even reconditioned heads are very expensive. Big question: has the aforementioned hound now got the best doghouse on the block, or can the car be repaired without a second mortgage?
- posted
17 years ago