Van wont start

[beechav7]

Right i have a 1982 VW T25, 1.6 Aircooled van. It has only 46000 genuine miles on the clock, and i am seriously having starting problems..right this is the issues i am having

engine turns over but doenst fire, checked spark plugs (perfect - brand new), fuel is there (checked this aswell) replaced all the HT leads, still the same, now on some freak occasions if someone turns over the engine and i turn the Dizzy a little, sometimes and i mean sometimes it decides to fire and run, BUT, within minutes it can cut out and i have to start all over again, i am toying with the idea to get a mobile mechanic to come out but these are not cheap. Anyone got any ideas..? another point is when i did have it running it ran at very low revs and sometimes took ages to fire up, and there was odd occasions when it would cut out at junctions etc, now i did adjust the mixture and this seems to have made it worse as it was blackening the spark plugs off unbelievably quick, so i put this back to where it was. Also when it was running it seemed to misfire every so often, like a back fire, also sometimes when you stopped it, for some reason it would backfire,like a cannon going off....a little embarassing at times..but i love it..

this is staring to grind me down, ive been all round the doors and no luck, desperation starting to creep in, thing is ive being doing the van up over last 2 years and i love it, but to be fair i have paid little notice to the engine as a mechanic i am not, i have the basics but nothing too complex.

So cAn anyone help and suggest what i need to do..?

[Mushr00m]

Sounds like your fuel/air mix, your ignition timing & possibly your engine timing are all to "cock". Unless you have a Gunsons 500 colortune & a strobe light, you'll probably be best advised to take it for a tune up, which I imagine would cost about £70-£100 to have it set up.

Have you had the timing belt off recently?

It may be a notch off which would cause the sort of probs you describe.

Hope this helps & best of luck.

[dugcati]

If it's a CT engine common things/stuff to consider or look at......

* Check that the timing is set to 5-7 degrees ATDC NOT 7 degrees BTDC
* As you look into engine bay back right cylinder is number 1 - time up to this.
* Speaking of timing check valve clearances - these should have hydraulic lifters in them but sometimes they are swaped out for solids...
* Also worth checking out that the heads have not cracked - these engines are renowned for cracking heads - if they are cracked you will have no end of probs...
* Alredy mentioned but carb set up could be needed too


***E D I T***

What carb is on it by the way?

[beechav7]

Looks like my best bet is to take it for a tune up, costly but i need this sorted, i think it is a combination od timing/mixture etc, i need it setup correctly, thanks for the help, im gonna get it nooked in some time over next few weeks, only problem i have is how do i get it there.....better dig out my tow rope......

[Mushr00m]

A lot of tune-up service mechanics will come to your home with the equipment to do a full tune-up. Just check Google or Yell for your nearest in N Tyneside.

Best of luck.

[Rozzo]

A lot of tune-up service mechanics will come to your home with the equipment to do a full tune-up. Just check Google or Yell for your nearest in N Tyneside.

Best of luck.

but make sure they have experience of the old Aircooled stuff before they come out

[The Silver Surfer]

I can recomend a great bloke, he is mate and is very clever.

Northern Classics & Campers - Specalists in: Car & Commercial ...
My name is Ray Miles, we are located in Darlington, Co Durham. We specialize in Volkswagen's & Classic car restoration + camper conversions. ...
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Ray has loads of experience and worked fir years in america fixing VW's