QuestionWe cleaned out the carburetor again, and put on a new condenser. It doesn't stall now on take off, and gets up to 70+ mph. Still idles rough and pulling 1 and 3 plug wires still make no difference. At least we can drive it now. We have a Weber carb book but it's really not too clear as to what we need to adjust. It seems that it must just be fuel at this point. What do you think?
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We made absolutely sure we had #1 compression stroke TDC by finger in hole air pressure test and a straw to measure exact top position. We readjusted the valves. We then tightened all fittings along the intake manifold and tested the fuel pump.(mechanical) Reset the idle screws. Revved up to 1800 rpm and pulled the non responding plugs. It made no difference. We then fed gas directly into the carb through a very thin line. All that did was to almost stall the motor. We took out the #1 plug and ran the motor briefly and there was spark at the plug. Same with #3. Finally just to see if we couldn't get some response we removed the distributor wires from #1 and #3. then plugged #3 into #1, --nothing. Also #3 into #1 and nothing. I should have thought we would at least get a backfire. I've got nothing left. What other crazy thing can I try.-------------------------
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Question -
You say 2)Remove passenger side rear-most plug (#1)
My Haynes manual refers to that plug as (#2). It says (#1) is passenger side toward front of car. I will recheck the compression stroke and readjust the valves providing I had the right cylinder. I have a Webber 2 barrel carb no choke. The seals look tight.
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Question -
Haynes
I have a 69 Beetle that missfires. When I pull The wires off #1 AND #3 cylinders it makes no difference in performance. #2 and #4 cause a stall. I checked gas filter and carberator needle valves etc., timing, points, rotor cap. Seems to have spark right at the plugs. Compression about 135 each. I adjusted valves. Carberator seems to function okay. Needle valve not stuck. I used a new spark plug wire to #1 but it still won't fire. Firing order 1432. It is so odd that the opposing plugs on the distributor won't fire. My son said he heard a funny sound from the motor but I think his fanbelt was just loose. Any sugestions?
Answer -
Hi Herman,
You probably have the compression stroke incorrect. Try this:
1)Remove the wire from the Coil.
2)Remove passenger side rear-most plug (#1)
3) Turn the engine with a wrench with your finger over the #1 hole. When you start to feel air force out, you know you are the correct firing stroke.
4) Look at the mark on the lower pulley and line it up exactly with the center of the engine block. (It already should be very close). Now you know the #1 piston is all the way up top.
5) Take off the distributor cap, and loosen the distributor. Check the points and make sure they are not burned, and the wire is not touching anything else but the plug for which it goes into (leading to the condenser). Adjust the points to the prescribed setting (I belive it's .015".)
6) Put the rotor back on to the distributor and line it up exactly with the little notch grooved into the rim of the distribor where the cap sits. You are now definately in #1 firing position. With all the wires off the cap, place it on and see which nipple sits over the notch, and place the number one plug wire over that.
7)Going counter clockwise from the #1 plug, install the wires in this order: #2, #3, #4. Be very careful to ensure that those wires indeed lead to the proper cylinders.
8)Re-install cap, make sure it sits perfectly, reinstall #1 spark-plug, hook the coil back up and start the car.
9)You will need to do a timing adjustment, and from there, you should be just fine.
Let me know how you make out!
Ron
Answer -
My bad --
I meant rear most as in (against the firewall)
Sorry for any confusion.
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Herman,
This is a challenging one, but I'm sure we can figure it out.
It only takes three things for those pistons to fire, spark, oxygen, and fuel.
1) Are you 100% sure that you have compression?
If you do -- I have another idea:::::
Remove the valve cover, and place a towel under the valve train. Turn the engine on briefly and make sure that the lifters are going up and down ok, and not sticking.
If you are 100% comfortable with the compression and valves, lets move away from the "air" part of this.
2) Spark: You have spark at the plug. Try a new or different spark plug wire. Try a different cap and rotor.
(we did all the other tests, so let's eliminate the spark for now)
3) Fuel/Air:
These Webers sound like they could be creating a fuel delivery problem, or simply just not sealed to the head properly.
At this point, if nothing else works -- I would place an old stock carb and manifold back on this engine and see if the cylinders fire up.
Finally, smell the oil on your dipstick, does it smell like raw fuel?? If so, change it -- it will create bad crank case vapors and cause the motor to run erratic.
Let me know how this goes.
Ron
AnswerI wouldn't worry about the cylinders not reacting when you unplug them. They are functioning, as the car would never be able to make 70MPH on 2 cyls.
It sounds like you have a carb. problem. Can you get your hands on a stock solex carb (that you know works) and do a quick swap-out to eliminate a carb problem?
I think this would be your next logical step.
