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Thu Jan 02, 2003 12:32 pm

WOOOOAH. Finally got some heat in Bishop Marley. Damn its about time. The problem is it is really really smelly heat. Stinks, like exhust. I know i sound dumb. None of my other air cooleds smell this bad though.
Any ideas?
Drew

Thu Jan 02, 2003 1:24 pm

How old are your heater boxes, presuming that you are using heater boxes. Old or cheap boxes can leak. What year is it?

Thu Jan 02, 2003 1:39 pm

That exhaust smell can kill you. If the heater boxes have rusted, or are leaking, you're venting exhaust fumes directly into the cabin, and risk carbon monoxide poisoning. Get it checked out ASAP!
Jeremy

Sun Jan 05, 2003 1:13 pm

I would look at how well the engine compartment is sealed. Once I got my heater working well, it really sucked exhaust fumes from the hole in the rotted out and rusted out battery tray area, which is conveniently located directly above the tailpipe. Welding in a new battery tray and sealing off all holes in the engine compartment totally eliminated the exhaust problem.

Sun Jan 05, 2003 2:57 pm

I had the dreaded smelly heat problem too, between the 1991 and 2002 rebuilds. Sealed up every little hole in the engine compartment. Still smelly. Installed new Dansk exchangers, copper gaskets, muffler, tailpipe. Still smelly. Sealed the heater valves and everything having anything to do with heat. Still smelly. Hose clamped the breather hose, sealed the air filter seams to each carb, still smelly. Gave up in 1995.
Found the real problem in 2002.
My machinist, who shall remain nameless, Harry Bieker of Burbank California, over-flycut my heads so the barrels were bottoming out at the upper fin surface against the heads. You could see soot emanating across the undersides of both heads. After my recent rebuild, the heat is once again available without headaches.
Colin

Mon Jan 06, 2003 8:43 pm

check for oil leaks that could drip down into the seams between the shell and pipe of the heat exchanger if this seam is rusted and there is a gaping hole oil will cook inside smells real nice too - consider removing them and having all these seams welded up for cheap - also consider a fresh air vent from a hole you cut in the spare tire well and attach a tube to the front of the electric fan - did it in my 79 and pulled air through the cab - so this fan sucks on clean air not engine blow-off improving your nice air/ to stinky a** air ratio!

Tue Jan 07, 2003 4:42 am

ALright Guys. I got it.
First off my flanges were destroyed. Fixed those. Battery tray had been nonexsistant. So for right now i grided now the exsisting tray real nice like, leaving me a ledge. Used a peice of stained oak wood as a tray and sealed it in. I got a slight leak on the number 1 push rod tubes onto the heaterbox. This is giving me slight smell. I powerwashed it all off. Kosher. Im doing pretty good now. Next i want to add an extra fan and insulate the pipe works underneath. I think with these acting as defrosters ill be good over the rest of the winter. All other passengers must suffer. Hehem thats alright says the mrs. well create our own heat. Well i must be off. We here in NJ just got more snow and im going to attempt to drive to school with this ice. I could skate down the street. Im gonna use an old trick and load the back full o bricks. Have a happy vw day boys. THanks for worrying and helping me out.
Drew

Tue Jan 07, 2003 7:25 am

Ah Hah! Since I was the one who apparently provided one possible useful theory (the one about the rusty battery tray), I have a further suggestion.

At night or in a pitch dark garage with the doors closed, take a shoplight and place it under the non-running (It's not running in the garage, RIGHT? Are you sure?) engine compartment of your van. You simply cannot and will not claim to the loyal and helpful posters on this site that you have eliminated EVERY SINGLE hole in the engine compartment, will you?

I didn't think so.

Until every single hole is sealed up, you risk at least slight carbon monoxide poisoning with your heater, and risk overheating the engine by sucking hot exhaust gases into that compartment. And I mean EVERY SINGLE hole, crevice, missing seal, missing rubber. You will be astonished how many holes there are in there, even if your seal is brand new and you have recently replaced all rubber grommets for wiring, gas lines, etc.

The light tells no lies.....

Tue Jan 07, 2003 7:02 pm

And don't forget the license plate lamp gasket, wire grommet, and screws coming through the deck lid! And the deck lid gasket! And the side marker gaskets! And the tail lamp gaskets!
Colin!

Tue Jan 07, 2003 7:32 pm

Dont forget the seals around the windsheild wipers. OK guys he was concerned. Its all good. At least we care, we could be mustang drivers.... oops

Wed Jan 08, 2003 9:39 am

Another important seal - found my missing cover seal for the alternator adjustment. It was wedged between the cooling fan mesh cover & the fan housing on my 76 bus. Go figure. Also noticed the tin that covers the left heaterbox rear connection to the cooling fan was not there. Some previous owner got lazy I guess. I will be replacing my exhaust elbows, heater boxes & muffler this weekend. Once that's done, the heater flaps will be wired open for the rest of the winter. I've been kind of Martha-Stewart'ish about getting this all ready - stripping & re-finishing muffler, header & heaterboxes with hi-heat finish. Also been spraying liquid wrench & beating at the bolts daily like they owed me money just to help loosen them before I start. The crusty ones are going to get the cutting disk. No more smelly heat.

Fri Jan 10, 2003 1:54 pm

I have a 77 Westy and was getting a terrible gasoline smell into the interior of the bus. It was finally traced to the little pipe which runs from the gas tank or filler tube area. Looking into the engine compartment, just above the battery on the right side there is this thin tube coming out of the area of the gas tank filler tube. It makes a right angle turn up, goes into the area of the air intake vents on the rear side of the bus. Looking into the vents, you can see the tube go straight up, then make a 180 degree turn back down towards the ground. Right in here there is a test tube shape portion of the tube. It continues down into the engine compartment and runs across the top of the engine compartment and right smack in the middle of the compartment and right smack in front of the heater fan which hangs from the top of the compartment. Right in front of the fan, there is a T connection with a rubber tube running over to the charcoal filter mounted to the front wall just above the flywheel area. The rubber T connection on mine was rotted, and since it was up high, I didn't even see it everytime I looked into the compartment to search for the problem. So all those fumes from the gas tank were being sucked by the fan and directed right to the interior of the bus. $ 3.00 for a T connection and some tubing fixed it.

Sat Jan 11, 2003 9:01 am

Oh don't get too upset by Colin. He is a Brit and can't help it. Brits actually like Carbon Monoxide smells: That's what causes the brain damage and their beautiful distinctively arrogant accents.

And his committment to VW's is only lukewarm, since VW's almost never leak enough oil for British tastes. Limeys don't build microwave ovens or computers because they can't figure out how to make them leak oil.

Colin has intense distaste for American enthusiasm for the Bentley manual which leads directly to a pernicious enthusiasm for VW reliability - enthusiasm is so....well.....so un-British. After all, if his VW breaks down, the coal-fired steam-powered public transportation in People's Republic of Great Britain is very reliable I hear.

In Britain, automobiles are not a source of enthusiasm, they are a source of Anglican angst and suffering. To own an elderly Jaguar, or MG, or Morris means that you accept suffering as an integral component of human existence. After all, the internal combustion engine precludes walking. To a Brit, it is axiomatic that humans are bipedal in order to place one foot ahead of another. Not for heeling and towing a brake and accelerator pedal.

British automobiles are famous for inadvertently encouraging long walks along roadsides. Notwithstanding Colin's anti-American diatribes, American trucks sell very well in Britain. Brits know a useful product when they see one. American pickups are large dependable things, extraordinarily useful in conjunction with British automobile ownership.

American pickups are frequently used to pull out Land Rovers stuck in the muck. They are powerful and can easily tow broke down Jaguar's and fried MGs. When Brits are outraged by the unreliability of their homemade products, a brief ride in an American pickup - which possesses the only reliable airconditioning in Britain - cools off their temper.

Interestingly enough, the British automobile industry is lately undergoing quite an exciting renaisance. This is caused by British auto companies being owned by foreigners and building British cars using American and German parts and industrial methods. Rolls Royces are fairly decent automobiles now that most of their parts are produced by BMW and their construction is overseen by VW. Jaguars are incredibly reliable, powerful and sexy cars now that they are....well.....now that they are a Ford.

Who would have thought that Mini-Coopers would sell like hotcakes? BMW is who.

Sat Jan 11, 2003 10:07 am

Brits Rant, Part 2

The Brits view the foreign ownership of their automobile industry as the last indignity of their fallen empire. The remnants of the once proud British "Empire" can conveniently be viewed in museums and in a 100-acre industrial park south of London (Referred derisively to as "Riyad/Damascus North") where talented American, German, and Japanese designers and engineers are busily reinvigorating the moribund British Automobile Industry.

Limeys are also supremely jealous of the new Pax Americana. The once-proud Royal Navy didn't look so good in the Falklands tussle when a drunk Agentinian fired off a missile and badly damaged the Royal Navy's only remaining boat (Wasn't that the minesweeper Korea gave them in a fit of pity?). No worrys. American shipyards quickly repaired it and it returned to glorious combat, wherein Britain reconquered its last colonial outpost: 2 isolated acres of windy island with a population of 400 goats. The Argentinians had the good sense to tie on a roaring drunk and leave before the combat actually started.

Britain is serene in the knowledge that if it ever gets in any real war worth its name, they can depend on the Yanks. (After all, just how hard could it be to keep the Irish in line?)

Brits can now vacation in the Falklands and rough it up with the latest Range Rover products (Chevrolet transmissioned, BMW engined, Ford airconditioned, Mercedes transfer cased, well designed by Jeep, and assembled by North Demascus's burgeoning Arab population). The thrifty-minded Brits can rent Brazilian-produced VW Beatles (Britain wanted their own indigenous Auto industry in the Falklands, but VW wouldn't trust them to build them right.)

Sat Jan 11, 2003 1:15 pm

Hmmm, what's THAT all about?

Sat Jan 11, 2003 5:34 pm

Beats me. . . I'm an American.
Colin
(from upstate New York)

Sat Jan 11, 2003 6:54 pm

That's just the nicest thing I've ever read. Nice job. Really.

Fri Jan 17, 2003 3:04 pm

It's always a pleasure to see someone so in touch with their anger. Have a great weekend everyone.

Jay

Sun Dec 20, 2009 1:51 pm

busboyjake wrote: - also consider a fresh air vent from a hole you cut in the spare tire well and attach a tube to the front of the electric fan - did it in my 79 and pulled air through the cab - so this fan sucks on clean air not engine blow-off improving your nice air/ to stinky a** air ratio!

I'm going to attempt this. did you put a screen or filter in the hole you cut in the spare tire well to keep debris from getting sucked into the fan?

what size and kind of piping did you use? have any pictures of your setup?

Sun Dec 20, 2009 2:37 pm

My '72 has the hole in the tire well. I don't know which PO did it. When I got the bus all the fan tubes were rotted so I can't tell you if it works or not. Seems like it should provided your heat exchangers are in good cond.