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Sat Apr 21, 2018 7:24 pm

I Bought a 1974 automatic westfalia 1800cc with single over the engine carb set up. Brought my van to a local "VW Specialist" who has worked on this particular van in the past and he had a hard time diagnosing why the van would bog down and burp when pushing on the accelerator. changed the coil twice and said it was good to go. I went to take the van on my first ever test drive and as soon as I put it into gear and hit the gas, it would stall. forward or reverse it didn't matter. after a couple of attempts I learned that lightly touching the gas would not stall the vehicle and eventually was able to get it driving up to 60mph if I was gentile and didn't accelerate too quickly. after 20 miles the van started stalling at all red lights and stop signs and would take longer and was harder to start up again each time. I am a back yard mechanic in need of some advice.
Van did sit for a couple of years before I picked it up but compression is good, does not blow any smoke, might be burning a little rich
-new plugs
-new battery
-new coil (mechanic tried several different ones)
-new carb
-new plug wires
-removed and cleaned gas tank
-new fuel filter
-new oil and filter
-distributor seems good

Might be a vacume issue or could the exhaust be plugged?
any advice or suggestions welcome at this point!
Thanks,
Ben

Sat Apr 21, 2018 8:27 pm

Welcome Ben,
Here's some light reading to start with, the journey to a happy motor despite the worst choice for induction begins with a single step: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=217070&highlight=suck

Sat Apr 21, 2018 8:40 pm

How is your timing set? If you set your timing by the book and the vacuum retard can is bad your timing will be way too far retarded. You need to set your timing to 28° BTDC @ 3500+ rpm, hoses off and plugged. You also want to check that both vacuum nipples hold vacuum, if not you do not want to hook them back up but leave the hoses plugged off so as not to cause a vacuum leak.

Ethanol laced fuel does not age well, it will clog jets and cause other engine problems in short order. I would suggest adding FI cleaner to your gas as well as some upper cylinder wall lube for the first tank or two of fuel.

Sun Apr 22, 2018 5:52 am

Thank you for referring me to previous posts on the subject, gathered a lot of information from there. I'm pretty sure timing was set to the book which is why I am on the hunt today for leakage. As soon as I find out more I am sure to find more questions so stay tuned! And again, thank you for your wisdom!
Ben

Sun Apr 22, 2018 5:59 am

Have you cleaned the carb?

Sun Apr 22, 2018 6:44 am

did your mechanic do a smoke test?

Did he check the distributor to see if it was advancing properly.

Sun Apr 22, 2018 7:02 am

bens74bus wrote: I'm pretty sure timing was set to the book

As I said, you can not set your timing by the book if the retard can is bad or you will be way too far retarded (like by 12 or 17 degrees) and the engine will have little power. Most retard cans are bad these days so this is a very real possibility, almost guaranteed.

Sun Apr 22, 2018 5:18 pm

^^^^^ Get a timing light to check. If you have a single carb, it's
doubtful you even have the proper idle retard port to run decent
with that miserable after TDC idle timing. It's horrible.
Also consider a fresh set of cylinder head to intake gaskets, they are
famous for partial blow out & all kinds of low-speed drivability issues.