Stranded on the way to ALASKA!

[Desertbusman]

Sounds like he has work to do in the engine compartment getting everything sealed up. Or else the unnecessary excess engine heat is apt to fry more pistons.
_________________
71 Superbug
71 Westy

[Gruppe B]

[quote="Desertbusman"]

[giller]

Picture of Ben's engine. We talked about the seals, holes where tubes are missing and the fuel filter (moving it outside the compartment). Also, there's no firewall or tin between the engine and the fuel tank.

Maybe you guys can have a look and see if you see anything else? There's also a second battery on the right side which you cannot see in the picture.

[Desertbusman]

Yes, the 2 fresh air hose holes thru the rear tin do need to be blocked. And there might be a large preheat hole next to the one on the right.
The thing to do is lay a droplight on the ground under the engine at night and look where light shines up into the engine compartment.

As far as the bulkhead missing from the fuel tank compartment that might have to do with it being an odd ball bus that we don't have here in the states. If it's just the tank and the tank compartment that might not have any bearing on air leaks from the underside of the bus.

Still suspect regarding heat issues would be the ignition timing. Setting it at 30 degrees BTDC has to do with the starting point which is zero degrees TDC. And knowing where exactly that is. Sometimes it can be figured out from the timing marks on German pulleys on our U.S. delivered buses. But on a late year Brazilian bus it's anyones guess as to what the timing marks on that pulley mean. Our manuals don't cover that bus and that engine.
_________________
71 Superbug
71 Westy

[HastaAlaska]

Guys,

First of all merry Christmas!

I would like to say the 4 hour journey I had didn't take me 13 hours, I wouldn't like to but I can't.

The engine started pinging up the hill and getting really hot. I retarded the ignition a little but still got some pinging so I retarded it a bit more.

Now there is no pinging but it is running stupidly hot! Like smelling, and smoke coming out of the carb and not a chance of touching the dip stick! (retarded too much?)

I've been to 6 mechanics looking for the timing light to see where I am at, impossible! I went to a vw mechanic who tried to time it statically and adjust the idle from the butterfly screw (you know what I mean right) and wouldn't listen to my objections that it was not the right process. I almost took his fingers off slamming the boot! I got 10 kms down the road before it was even worse!

I really think I am about to crack another piston. Why is my engine running so hot, could there be another reason? Because I am just focusing on timing here.

I am really worried I have to be in Costa Rica in 3 days and I don't think it is going to make it.

Obviously I understand if you have better things to do over Christmas, I wish I did. Please reply when you can.

Ben

[giller]

Ben

Could you get to David if I tracked down a mechanic? I know a few people who live out that way and probably go into David for mechanical issues. David is a big city, so there must be someone who'd have a timing light and proper tools.

Chris
6567-6774

[busdaddy]

Sorry to hear that Ben.
Are you sure the sound you are hearing is really pinging?, filing ring lands so the stuck oil ring can clear could sound that way if there was any excess play in the groove, a replacement piston that doesn't fit the cylinder perfectly can also clatter. Retarding the timing will make it run hotter without a doubt, sounds like you've got to determine just what the noise is, if it is a piston slapping you can likely run it a while like that if you take it somewhat easy, running it super retarded will cook more than one cylinder and strand you big time eventually.
Set the timing back (forward) where it was before and remove the plug wire leading to the cylinder you rehabbed and see if the sound goes away (power will be down on only 3 cylinders), if the sound stops you have to decide if you want to reconnect and learn to hear the subtle difference or rebuild again where you are, or remove the plug and push on to someplace with better parts and mechanics.
_________________
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!

[Wildthings]

I would recommend paying the extra and running premium fuel for now. Don't know that it will fix your problems or not, but it will do no damage except to your wallet.

[Ian]

[Ian]

I also noticed that your manifold has a port for the brake booster. I didn't see a check valve. I, personally, would cut a piece of the hose off and plug it with a lugbolt or even a piece of stick that fits very tightly. Could be your booster went bad or there is a leak in that hose which goes all the way to the front of the Bus. That would create the world's biggest intake leak ever. The only downside is your pedal may be a little stiff.

Lastly, check for debris in your fan. Just reach your hand around there, engine off obviously, and see if a piece of paper towel or newspaper or garbage bag has gotten stuck in your fan. Sometimes I find random pieces of road debris in my fan, and once my friend did an oil change on his Bus and his paper towel ended up in his fan, couldn't figure it out til he came over to my shop.

Last but not least, I noticed in the pics you don't have any heater boxes or J-tubes. Do you have anything connected to the exhaust ports on the back side of the head?? You at least need j-tubes, otherwise the cooling fan will be sucking hot exhaust in, which won't cool your motor at all.

Check all of this stuff and let us know.
_________________
All your Buses are belong to us.
Love and good roads!
IN LOVING MEMORY OF ROB CRESS 1968-2012
**ACHTUNG DO NOT USE AA BRAND PRODUCTS OR BUY ANYTHING FROM PACIFIC PARTS INTERNATIONAL IN CALIFORNIA**

[Wildthings]

Have you ever checked spark plug color after a highway run yet?

Note that head temperature and oil temperature are necessarily not closely related. Head temperature is related to combustion efficiency and oil temperature is related to the condition of your bottom end and the flow through the cooler. Both temperatures are dependent on sufficient cooling air flow.

[808OvalGreasemonkey]

After reading thrue all of this,I have come to the conclusion that;
1. He has a VW "mystery pulley" on his engine. He has no established timing marks of any value.
2. Made the mistake of not being intrinsically knowledgable in his equipment to be self sufficient enough to have success in this endeavor.
You have to take the spark plug out of #1 zylinder and insert a chopstick/rod in your engine and turn the engine over by hand until the chopstick is at its highest point. Turn the engine back and forth and you can see where the Mark on the pulley will line up with the case. If you have several marks close together,yiou will have to make your best guess as to which one is your TDC or 0 deg. mark. THIS is what you need to base your timing off of.
If you can get one,a degree pulley would take all the mystery out of this.
I think you are using the timing marks and you have not established what they even mean,VW's have all kinds of crazy pulleys with BTDC marks/TDC marks/ATDC marks,and these can ALL be on one pulley!!You could be retarded or advanced.

[808OvalGreasemonkey]

Also,are you tapped into the correct vacuum port on the carburetor? Yuo can let the engine idle and rotate the distributorCLOCKWISE until; it runs rough and SLOWLY rotate COUNTERCLOCKWISE until the engine starts to idle smoothly,this will give you a base setting and run it,if it still runs hot,rotate it COUNTERCLOCKWISE some more until it makes good power and does not ping. If it pings,retard it somne more by goiong CLOCKWISE.
Distributor adjustment=
1. Clockwise=RETARDED TIMING=hot running/low power.
2. COUNTER CLOCKWISE=ADVANCING THE TIMING=more power/pinging/hot running.
Get er' dun
And take this however you may...
If you are going to drive thousands of miles in a old car,BUY THE BEST MANUAL YOU CAN AND READ IT! Buy spare parts,PREPARE!

[Ian]

I would suggest against sticking anything into the spark plug hole.

I would look at the pulley marking thread which has already been linked to in this thread carefully, and use the degree pulley as shown in that thread.

Then use the watching the valves trick and you will be guaranteed on TDC.
_________________
All your Buses are belong to us.
Love and good roads!
IN LOVING MEMORY OF ROB CRESS 1968-2012
**ACHTUNG DO NOT USE AA BRAND PRODUCTS OR BUY ANYTHING FROM PACIFIC PARTS INTERNATIONAL IN CALIFORNIA**

[808OvalGreasemonkey]

A chopstick ain't gonna hurt a damn thing. The pulley thread is "sometimes" applicable,but there is so m,uch mysterious crap out there.
My point is,he NEEDS to establish a simply MEANINGFUL timing mark,so he can atleast be headed in the right direction.
These are OLD tech motors,timing a engine is such a easy and basic skill,however it can lead to disaster if incorrectly adjusted.

[Wildthings]

[HastaAlaska]

Hey guys,

Just pulled in to let the smoke clear and check out what you have come up with

Chris I have lost confidence in the mechanics, even the VW mechancis haven´t a clue what they are doing! I am heading into David now, to look for a timing gun! Then I am off to Costa Rica ASAP, if I can that is!

This morning I found an old timing gun that flashes about 30% of the time and set it to about 25-28 BTDC at max advance with the hose plugged because some posts say to retard a degree or 2 if there is pinging. I did this before I saw your message so I will put it back to 30BTDC. Just to say the current situation as is is HOT HOT HOT (no surprises there then), and it seems to still be pinging, which makes me think maybe it is a different noise as you said because it shouldn´t ping at 25-37* right? I thought it was because it is a matalic noise that is only really audiable under loads, hills mainly. Does that fit with the piston you said busdaddy?

Also I have srung a pretty decent oil leak from what I think is the fly wheel, is that the right name (it is the one at the bottom connected to the crank.) I am putting that issue aside unless one of you says it needs addressing urgently. I can replace that with the engine in the bus though right!


FYI when I reconnected the vaccum advance it still only revved to just under 30. I read in another post that another members´advanced to 40 with the hose, but then here it says only under load so I should assume all is OK with my advance?

I will try removing the HT from number 3 anyways and see what happens.

Oil is 20/50, but now it is natural(?) as sythetic wasn´t available.

I did do the valve adjustments myself and it was my first time! The TDC mark lined up with the crank JUST as piston 1 was reached the top. That was like 5 o´clock on my dizzy cap and was marked with a scratch. I adjusted them in clockwise order 1 4 3 2, I didn´t do it in numerical order. I also compared this method with the "adjusting 3 valves on one side, turn 360 then adjust 3 on the other side" should I do it again?

I think you might be on to something with the intake leak Ian, I am pretty sure those seals are bad (there are no gaskets) Being that they might be hard to come by can I use the standard high-temp silicone gaskets which they seam to use for everything here? I will confirm with...bug spray you said right

Thanks for your input Greasemonkey, I measured my pully and confirmed the timing marks when I originally set the timing and valves so I am confident about TDC. Researching and preperation is all I have been doing this month, Christmas litterally went by without occasion. You are probably right that I am not knowledgeable enough to be doing this, but hey I for sure know more than the local mecanics and when there is no other option on the roads less travelled, you kind of have to go about learning yourself. You are right about the manual, and parts, I couldn´t find a manual for the brazillian bus, but I did print the haynes which I read before leaving, it has been invaluable. I also brought with me as many spares I as could carry, they have all long been used and getting replacement between Colombia and mexico is sometimes difficult / impossible. I am doing the best I can!


Keep it coming guys, it is litterally me, you and the dog here right now.

Ben

PS my pulley is 175mm which I think is pretty standard from what I have read. The marks that were on there line up with the no 1 JUST arriving at the top so as long as that is OK, we can move on from there.

[HastaAlaska]

PS will check on the spark plugs too

[Ian]

[Wildthings]

When you rev your engine up under no load do you hear any unusual noises?

I am concerned that when the head sealing rings were removed the jugs didn't get shimmed properly. Not only could your compression be through the roof, but the pistons could be slapping against the head.