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Wed Feb 19, 2003 4:01 pm

Here's one; Lately my 1302 has been vibrating alot all the time. To my imagination it sounds like what poorly meshing or biting cogs would make. Also the car is loseing alot of power or torque, though the engine is firing fine. After driving the engine smells metalic. I'm very worried I might have to give her to the under-taker.

Thu Feb 20, 2003 8:04 pm

Misfiring on one cylinder perhaps - that will give you both symptoms - lack of power and vibration. It will also result in the engine running hot (you use more throttle to overcome the dead cylinder so the others are working harder.

Check plugs (try new NGK B5HS to replace Bosch plugs - I've had bosch plugs bad out-of-the-box).

Check wires - pushed on to the dizzy cap and plug properly?

Check points - if the gap has closed up (rubbing block worn down) then you can get a miss (been there - done that).

If you want to test the sparks, with the engine running, pull off one lead at a time - you should get a drop in rpm if the plug was firing OK (use insulated pliers and/or heavy leather gloves - a 20,000 volt jolt is no fun!)

Regards
Rob
Rob and Dave's aircooled VW pages
Repairs and maintenance for the home mechanic
http://www.geocities.com/aussiebug1970/

Sun Feb 23, 2003 7:21 pm

Get this; the engine has somehow fixed it self! The only vibrations seem to happen when ideling or before 10kph. I'm not losing power either. What happened? Should I still get it looked at?

Sun Feb 23, 2003 7:44 pm

Aussiebug is probably right.