Hey Guys,
Just picked up my first VW about a month ago and think I've found my new life-long hobbie! She's a 1980 Westfalia, Air-cooled, 2.0L fuel injected (2000cc I believe).
My problem is this:
I've done a ton of reading all over the net but I can't quite confirm if the noise I'm hearing is pinging or not.
(usually) occurs when the engine is at a higher RPM with a load on the engine. The sound I'm hearing can be described just as pinging is generally described - "metalic tinging sound - similar the a bee-bee in a glass jar" coming from the rear end.
The reason I'm not sure if it's in fact pinging or not is because the sound happens as long as the van is in motion. Let me explain further
- I'll be clipping along in town at about 60 km/h in 4th gear - the engine is pinging away - I press the clutch in to take load off of the engine (at least I think that would take the load off - I'm a newbie) and the pinging continues as I coast ... when I hit about 20 km/h the sound seems to have completely faded away. There is never any clunking or hard knocking that I read goes hand in hand with the pinging noise.
I know pinging can be attributed to over heating and timing - The engine runs like a champ (although I've got to replace the push rod tubes and seals as she's leaving quite the mark wherever I park) - I don't have a CHT guage in it at the moment but plan on installing one very soon as I'd like to take her up north in a few weeks (about 9hrs each way so I need to narrow down if this is pinging or something else
- cuz if it's pinging I'll have to take another vehicle :-( ). I did the dipstick test tonight after running the van around town for about
20 minutes and the stick was quite warm - though, not too hot that I had to let go of the stick but if it was 20% warmer I'm not sure I could have held on to it.That's about it ... Sorry for being so long winded - just wanted to be sure to get everything across.
Thanks in advance for any advice/knowledge you pros' can lay down for me.
Jon