Second tune-up: still learning!

[vvolfbus]

Hello Samba friends,


After successfully getting through our first tune up and some small repairs, we’ve been putting some miles on the bus all over the Mountainous West. Its already time for another tune-up!

So, today we took the distributor out and replaced the cap, rotor, condenser, and points, and then adjusted the points while it was out. We put the distributor back into the bus and now we have a bus that won’t start. My thought is that we screwed up the timing putting the distributor back in, but when I went to check it with the static timing light, it read nothing with several complete rotations. Key was turned on in the ignition, cranked forward and backwards, tried it with the vacuum hose on and off, moved the distributor around by hand, tightened and loosened the distributor - we are kind of at a loss for the next problem solving step here.

Video below. Sticky starter in the beginning (it’s cold at 10,000 feet), but you can hear it trying to start near the end.

Thank you for your help!




Link

[EDragnDean]

Try to static time. If you are not getting any light, your points are not opening (readjust), or your not getting power to the distributor (coil) or wire.
Also double check your spark plug wires are in the right order on the cap.
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[TomWesty]

Did you mark the position of the distributor with a scribe before you removed it? If not it’s something to think about doing the next time. I’m not a Type 4 guy so I can’t help much with what your problem might be. There will be plenty of them along soon to help with that.
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[sjbartnik]

sounds like distributor not seated in the drive gear.

Pop off cap, can you spin distributor shaft by hand? If so, distributor is not seated.
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[Spike0180]

[vvolfbus]

Thanks for the help. We took the valve cover off and rotated the engine to TDC when we could see the valves for cylinder 1 moving. After moving the engine around so much, it was hard to tell if we were putting the distributor back into the right position. We put the distributor back in and retested the static timing light. Now, the light is on all the way around a full rotation.

It’s late, we are going to start looking at the points in the morning. It still feels like we are making a lot of beginner mistakes but we are keeping our chins up!

[EDragnDean]

[vvolfbus]

Up and running!

We still have so much to learn, but I think the victories are starting to come a little closer together.

Also, after traveling in this thing a bit, you’d have to tear her away from me! Next stop- Zion National Park this weekend!

[CarlosZ]

So what was the solution? Inquiring minds want to know.

[vvolfbus]

First, the distributor wasn't seated correctly. We somehow found ourselves in the third firing position instead of the first after too much fiddling.

Once we figured that out, we realized that the points weren't closing 100% - keeping the static timing light on. So, we reset the points.

Then we used the static timing light to get close enough to start the car and the strobe to tune her in (a bit of a feat at 10,000 feet but we are starting to learn what she should sound like).

Rookie mistakes but they still manage to stop us in our tracks every once in a while.

[jquillen]

I'm assuming it was the points? Since that was the last thing you were going to check. Fill us in when you get the chance
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'79 Mexico Beige Westy "Pedro"

[jquillen]

[vvolfbus]

Thanks for following up! It really does seem to take a village.

[Volswagon]

It didn't take me but one breakdown in the boonies because of shitty points. You can't see what your doing in there as with a Type 1. Install a Pertronix unit, set it once, and drive the wheels off. Never missed a lick until the cam broke some 200K miles later.
Best money I ever spent on her.
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'75 Bus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=697183&highlight=

[Wildthings]

At ten thousand feet you can advance your base timing quite a bit, about 1° for every thousand feet above 4000 feet in elevation.

I have been running points my whole adult life and had extremely good luck with them. I only take a peek at them once every 10,000 miles or so and maybe will file the peak off the one contact at that time. I don't do anything to them that isn't given in the manual, or at least at one time wasn't common to do.

IMO, by changing all your ignition stuff at one time you are asking for trouble. Rotors, caps, and condensers are typically good for a 100,000 miles or more and new stuff is more apt to fail than used stuff.

Unless Bosch has improved their quality do not buy Bosch point sets, they are junk and will let you down at the worst time. The ventilated Echlin points you can get from NAPA seem to work very well. Read up on how to properly apply the lube that comes with them. Properly set up your points should not affect your timing for at least 12,000 miles and maybe much longer.

FWIW I just replaced a failed Hall ignition sensor on my Vanagon yesterday and have replaced multiple Petronix units and proprietary ignition units on my other old rigs. On every rig but the Vanagon I have gone back to running points as I got tired of being stuck out on the road with failed electronic units.

With your distributor sitting on the bench you should easily be able to set the point gap on new points to 0.018" +/- 0.001". This should put you right in the middle of the accepted gap range. With used points it is hard to set the gap accurately if you do not file off the high spots on the one contact first, so the use of a dwell meter would be called for.

[alman72]

are bad points in the BUS DEPOT tune up kit?
http://www.busdepot.com/37139a

[Wildthings]

[jquillen]

Just order a bunch of stuff from BusDepot a few days ago and one of the things ordered was new points! Man, I hope they aren't crap!
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'79 Mexico Beige Westy "Pedro"

[Spike0180]

[alman72]