The Stupid Question Thread

[Wildthings]

[Everpress]

[Wildthings]

[Everpress]

[KentABQ]

[Everpress]

[Everpress]

[Wildthings]

The grounds near the battery can be a mess, not sure what your vintage bus has exactly though.

[busdaddy]

I'd remove every bulb and shine up the inside of the socket payng particular attention to where the titties that hold it in make contact, any corrosion there means no ground. I'd also clean up the fixture ground wires as well as the terminals they attach to on the body, and finally the rest of the terminals on the fixtures.
A smear of vaseline on the bulb bases as well as on any terminal you just cleaned will prevent future corrosion.

Rewiring using pics of how it was before could be reproducing previous fails, always use the factory wiring diagram as your primary guide.
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Rust NEVER sleeps and stock never goes out of style.

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[Jalabert]

Well, everything you've detailed is (or should be) on different fuses, so I think your instinct about it being a bad ground connection is probably right.

Vw fuses by Simon Bishop, on Flickr

There are ground connections for the headlights on the back of the headlight bucket, IIRC. Give those a clean...

I don't know too much about early buses, but I know that on the post '73 the reverse lights were an option, so I suspect yours might be an aftermarket / PO fitment? Might be worth disconnecting all of that while you troubleshoot?

Good luck...!
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'73 westy, 1700 type 4 with 34icts

[Everpress]

Obligatory "it worked before I...".

So I never got all my lights/signals to work altogether, but I have gotten all the lights except a pass. side brake light to work one time... it was glorious.

Stupid question - how do I fix this:
I have two headlights that work on normal
The passenger headlight doesn't work when I turn on the brights
The passenger side front signal doesn't work at all
The passenger side rear driving light does not work
The passenger side rear brake light doesn't work
Both reverse lights fail to work.

Essentially, I am running half a bus electrical-wise.

What have I already done?
1) Wire brushed all spade connections in the engine compartment
2) Checked all fuses (fine; none blown)
3) Wire brushed the fuse connections (just because I was already there)
4) Visually inspected for loose wiring/hanging wiring
5) (reverse lights) Switched the spade connections to the transmission around a couple times to see if I could get them to engage

What is new to the bus since I had some/most of the lights working:
1) New engine
2) Rebuilt transmission

I checked all the wiring from photos to ensure I was hooking up the right connections in the engine bay.

At this point, I'm kinda out of my regular comfort zone and need some help. I have a test light for tracing blown fuses (headlight setup that someone recommended to me when I was blowing fuses trying to get both headlights to work a couple years back). I have a multimeter, but no real experience using it (I used to to repair some studio monitor speakers about a year or so ago following some youtube instruction - worked a treat).

Basically - you guys are wizards and I need some magic.
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1969 Bay Camper
1904 DP
EMPI 34 PICT 3
2000 MAGNASPARK II Ignition/Distributor

Refurb, not resto (I’m not made of restoration money!)

It's not a perfect loaf, but it's my loaf.

[AndyW31]

[busdaddy]

Welcome!
Freak out time starts at 250 degrees, 235 isn't bad at all.
_________________
Rust NEVER sleeps and stock never goes out of style.

Please don't PM technical questions, ask your problem in public so everyone can play along. If you think it's too stupid post it here
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

Слава Україні!

[AndyW31]

What's a realistic temperature to set a "Save my Bug" dipstick to for a 71 Westfalia? It seems I can set it off after about an hour of rolling roads at 55 on warmer days. Checking with an ir gun on the case below the distributor 235f seems right on from the factory. Is my bus running hot, or should I adjust the calibration up to 250f or so? I know the dipstick isnt the best way to watch temperature, but figure its a good warning to pull over or slow down.

I've got full tins, svda distibutor timed about 28-29 degrees with the vacuum unplugged, empi 34 pict 3 with 130 main jet. I accidentally burned a piston last summer, think it was a combination of timing in the 31-32 range and getting in a hurry on a short stretch highway, so its a got about 2k miles on a roughly rebuilt (new bearings, pistons/cylinder, exhaust valves) stock engine.

[wiscowesty]

Happy independance day America. Does anyone.have any insite on the use of multi electrode spark plugs in a air cooled engine? I was searching the web. All the varied opinons confused and hurt my feeble brain. Also they might be a awefull chore to gap correctly. Would such plugs be a burden on coil , points and condenser? Thank you for any knowledge shared on this topic.
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78 westy. F.I., wrassling her back together

[busdaddy]

[Wildthings]

[Mispeld]

Were EA engines exclusively for 411, 412 and Porshe 914? Did they ALL have the oil filler tube on the breather on top of the engine? Were they ever used in busses or did any of them have the bus style oil filler tube?

I picked up a EA engine longblock that's been sitting for decades. It has the hole on the bottom right to attach the bus type oil filler tube. Maybe it was machined out at some point? I don't know enough about these and searches are not clear.

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Tom
1977 Westy. 2.0 Fuel Injected.

[busdaddy]

[Jalabert]

Thanks BD - went and checked in with the machinist today and the thrust surface of the bearing, the case and the crank were all in good shape. I would have thought that a problem with the thrust surface would manifest as excessive endplay, though?
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'73 westy, 1700 type 4 with 34icts