Thanks to all who replied. From the responses, I now know that the distributor is functioning normally. The centrifugal advance only was
23 degrees as measured with the mechanic's Snap On advance timing light. Both advances showed 43 degrees. The car did drive ok on the freeway ride home but was sluggish on city streets. I decided to check the dwell and found that I only had a dwell of 28 degrees with brand new points. I inspected the points opening and saw immediately that the gap was too wide. I regapped the points and got a dwell of 48 degrees. I had to retime the engine to 0 degrees and readjust the idle. I also removed the plug from the advance hose and reconnected the hose to the distributor. I did pay $35 for the mechanic's work but if I went back and asked for a refund I'm sure he would have insisted on doing the work all over again. The mechanic works on air-cooled VW's only and has been in the same location for 20 years. He does claim to be an expert on air-cooled VW's.- posted
18 years ago