AFM and Fuel Injection

[josh]

I had problems with my perttronics but that was a few years ago and I think theyv'e redesigned it since. Mine lasted a litlle over a year and I new others with the same problem. I recentley rescued a stranded bug driver by swapping his igniter for my spare set of points.
The statement about the fuel injection not being designed to work with electronic ignition is false. California aircooled type 2s 79 and later used a factory electronic ignition. This is my favorite ignition. Since I live in ca I scour junkyards for these They ussually work If all visuall signs are good even after 20 years. spare parts for all but the distributor can be taken off of most vw's from the 80's and maybee 90's.
One major source of vaccum leaks is the intake boot between the throttle valve and air flow meter. Take it off and inspect it for cracks and that the hase fittings are tight and sealing.The manifold boots and gaskets can also leak. Any part of the intake system is suspect.
There could be crap at the bottom of the gas tank letting inough fuel get by to idle but not to run well under a load.
In my opinion buying a 009 is a waste of money. I bought all the hype and used to use them on my vw's until I realized they ran better and got better fuel milage with the stock distributor(or 79 and later type 2 distributor,I even have one in my squareback wich required moving the distributor drive gear. We even installed these in old porshe 356's and 912's at the shop I used to work at with rave reviews from the customers every time).

[josh]

Crap! I hope I didn't just cause these ignitions to dissapear from all the auto wreckers.
Oh yeah. Leaking fuel injector seals can cause a terrible vacuum leak that is hard to find. I would buy some and replace them since they're cheap and once you inspect them the job is almost done anyway and check the injector spray patterns while the injectors are out.

[Tram]

Josh-
The statement that a 1976 stock Bus was not designed to run with electronic ignition is NOT false. If you do your research, you'll find that the '79 Cali model with injection is fitted with most AFC injection parts that are '79 Cali model ONLY part numbers. Why? The Cali model was lower compression, had slightly different camshaft timing, and was de-tuned so as to not overheat the catalytic converter. These engines were designed as such so they could run leaner. Thus, this engine needed quicker and more radical advance than Federal models. The parts were also out of this world expensive and hard as hell to get out East where I was a tech at the time.
I was an apprentice and a line tech with VW beginning in the '70s. In those days, there were so many different part numbers for vacuum advance units that we ordered replacements BY PART NUMBER, NOT by application! The reason for this was that every different part number had a different advance curve and max advance. As you know, the wrong advance, or too much advance, can burn a hole in a piston fairly quickly.
If the Cali model distributor works for you in a different model Bus, that's fine, but VW issued many service bulletins about wrong distributors, timing, etc. and had a policy that flatly stated that if a customer modified a new VW in ANY way, the warranty was void... PERIOD. I think that the VW engineers deserve a little credit for knowing the functionality and limitations of what they designed.
This was such a serious problem- keeping Bus engines within the useable design curve- that new Busses came with a special ign. rotor designed to cut off spark at a certain RPM. How many of those rotors do you see today? How many Bus engines have been ruined by over- revving? Hmmmm.
Finally, as to the 009, I didn't say that it was the answer to everyone's prayers. I said it was acceptable IN A PINCH. The reason I say that is that the 009 is the ONLY distributor built that will serve in EVERY application without prematurely destroying the engine with too radical an advance curve. I think that the originator of this thread was more concerned with getting his Bus running than optimal MPG. Like everything else, MPG is only PART of the story. If you're getting 5mpg more than everyone else, but your engine only lasts 50.000 miles, what are you gaining, really? Being a VW trained snob, I tend to look at Muir's "Idiot" guide mainly with contempt. BUT- one point he DOES make that is totally right on is that you need to look at a car as a SYSTEM rather than as a series of problems. If you adopt this mantra as the cornerstone of problem solving, you'll do far better and be far more satisfied with your VW than if you don't.

[pogolo]

Well, I got even more apathetic and took the bus to the shop. Turns out the tank is clogged at the fuel line. I had replaced the fuel filter, but never did a pressure test. Duh! They blew it out, but looks like I'll be removing the tank and cleaning it out. Sucks. Did this for a motorcycle tank, but this is considerably more work. I've seen lots of posts and pictures of this -- this will be the first time I've taken out the engine. Thanks everyone for all the help and input. As usual, I learned even more about my engine than I knew before.

[notsobigkahuna]

i had rusty inlet/outlets on my bus when i got it. took out the tank - a bit of a miserable job but you don't have to take the engine out, just lower it. much easier

[ratwell]

Glad to hear you found the problem: it was bucking just like when your pump went out last year.

Do you know fore sure it's not just a problem with the hardline coming down from the tank? Anything they blew through just went back into the tank unfortunately. If you had an access hole cut in the body to replace the fuel sender you can take a look inside and fish out foreign object with one of the telescoping probes with the claws at the end. See this webpage:

http://mywpages.comcast.net/awisniewski/vw/fueltank/fueltank.html

On the topic of removal:

The gas tank is heavy even without any gasoline in it and it will have to be pumped out before you attempt a removal. When I removed my tank to clean it, the engine was out. Dropping an engine is easy once you've seen it done with a jack, two jack stands and some blocks to support the engine.

I've also removed the tank from a junkyard bus and although it was easy to remove I can't say it would be easy to install simply because with the engine in the way you have lousy access to the hose and tube that connect the tank the the filler neck. It's almost the worse bus job in the world.

My advice would be the following since you haven't owned the bus for that long would be to drop the tank and invest in your overhaul now. Use the opportunity to replace all of these items so you dont' have to worry about them late.

- replace the filler neck
- replace the molded hose that cracks
- replace the breather hoses behind the firewall
- dust and repaint as necessary

While the engine is out:

- check the clutch disk and throwout bearing
- replace the rear main seal with a viton seal
- repaint your engine tin
- clean the fins on your oil cooler
- etc
_________________
'78 Westfalia CDN
'76 Doublecab
Read the Baywindow FAQ

[pogolo]

Yup. It's only a temporary fix. I'm looking forward to dropping the engine. Will do a compression test to see if it makes sense to have the heads freshened up. I'll also be able to replace some of the gaskets and seals that are leaking oil (finally). Doing the tank won't be any fun, but I'm still looking forward to the project.