Running rough and lack of power

Howard Rose · 2005-11-15T18:04:05+00:00

After running perfectly for a while, my '66 has decided to throw atantrum and cunningly find new ways in which to confuse me Basically, when I am driving the car there is a lack of power in thesecond half of the gear ranges. Idling seems to be fine, andacceleration of the car when idle seems fine too.However, when driving the problem becomes apparent! In first gear atabout 12mph the acceleration goes completely flat. Second gear about18mph. Third gear 30mph and 4th about 40mph. The car WILL NOT gofaster than these speeds in those gears. Also a hill near where I livethe car struggles to get up it in second, whereas it always managed itno problem before (not a particularly steep hill either). Accelerationbefore the flat spots is poor.When running, the sound of the engine goes "flat"... as in thepup-pup-pup-pup-pup sound of the engine stays at the same frequencyinstead of changing with the revs as it should.Any idea what the problem can be? Spark plugs and points where newwhen I serviced the car in late August. I've cleaned and gapped theplugs and points, and also reset the ignition timing (static, as perthe owners book). I've also checked the plug leads, sprayed WD40 intothe ends and made sure they are seated correctly. Cleaned inside thedistributor cap.I also found some oil on the contacts of the coil, so if it's possiblyblown I replaced it with my spare 6v blue coil. That seemed to curethe problems of acceleration in 1st gear, but only for about 30seconds.I haven't touched the carburettor, since it was set up by a friend ata show a month ago... and ran beautifully after that.Engine is completely stock Fseries '66 1300 SP, bar the 6v Bosch bluecoil which I fitted tonight and the fuel pump is a Brazilian unitabout 18 months old. All hoses are in place, oil level is OK, exhaustdoesn't appear to be holed. Valve clearances where done in July, but Ihave not checked them! New manifold fitted in September.This problem has only occured in the last few days!!Any ideas? It's...

Michael Cecil 20 years ago

You'd trust another mechanic with your cars? Not me.

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Ben Boyle 20 years ago

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Joao Eliseu 20 years ago

I have to trust. I can't do everything on my car. I don't have the tools the knowledge and the time. I usually check everything I can after the job done. On my beetle, before I ask someone to fix something, I always ask the way they intend to do the job. When I rebuild the engine, I went there almost everyday asking question and to see the way the job was being done.

Joao

72 Super 1302

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Packrat46 20 years ago

If you really trust this mechanic then you would be better off staying away until the job is done and then check it out. The more time you take up with him will cost you more in the long run. Laber cost 50.00hr, 75.00hr. if you watch and 100.00hr. if you help. If he is a real good friend then almost free if you bring the beer.

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Joao Eliseu 20 years ago

There are jobs that I can't do. My wife would be very "upset" ;- if I rebuild an engine on my garage, you know what I mean? I can rebuild the suspension because it doesn't make a lot of mess. I don't trust him completely. He begins to work on beetles about 15 ago and learn with his one mistake. I had to ask him to put the flaps and the thermostat, because usually he removes that parts from the cooling system and never set the timing correctly or puts the distributor on the right position. I'm a friend for him, because I usually translate and explain him why they work that way, because I have a few manuals and read a lot of stuff here. My last issue is related with the diagonal arm bushing. I?m trying to figure out the right position for them. He doesn?t have time or knowledge to find that information. I will inform him about my conclusion on that. I already know that he mess with the washers. There are things that I can?t control. He keeps removing the flats and the thermostat, but the distributors are being putted on the right position since I told him how they should be set. I?m very fond of beetles so I try my best to keep them working the RIGHT way. I would like to have the knowledge of people like Jan, Speed, Bob and a lot more to help others

"Packrat46" wrote:

Joao

72 Super 1302

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Joao Eliseu 20 years ago

I mean Speedy not Speed ;- Joao

72 Super 1302

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