Rotor Arm Removal

[Strides]

Hi All, I have a 1.9DG 1986 Caravelle, which has been suffering from cutting out at junctions and when easing off the throttle and difficulty idling without choke.

Having replaced the HT leads, plugs and fuel filter and with persisting problems I'm moving onto replacing the distributor cap and rotor arm. Probably a silly question, but how do I get the rotor arm off?? I've looked in my Haynes Manual and it says "remove the rotor arm" which wasn't too helpful. I've tried pulling, wiggling, twisting but no luck. I'm at the stage where it seems like I'll do some damage. Is there a trick I am missing? Thanks.

[ermie571]

Pretty sure they pull straight...can be a bit tight.....but then I haven't done it myself for ages...and now I find myself questioning myself...

sure someone will come along......or if you are desperate,,,,,elite vw 01268 581111 will know!!


Em
x

[Fritz]

Just a good TUG will do it, if it breaks (you are replacing it anyway) just make sure none of the bits go 'down stairs' in the dizzy.


Regards


Fritz,,,,,,,,,,,

[Strides]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I'll give it another go tonight. Cheers.

[toomanytoys]

poor idle could be... badly set timing, vac advance fault, air leak on the intake somewhere.. or most likely dirt in the carb blocking the idle jet...

[dugcati]

....... just make sure none of the bits go 'down stairs' in the dizzy.


Regards


Fritz,,,,,,,,,,,

Thats good advice last thing you want is a dizzy strip/swap for the sake of a stubborn rotor arm....there should be he plastic dust seal covering the top of the open dizzy

[Simon Baxter]

Anti flash over shield, to give it it's correct name.

[Strides]

Thanks again for your input, everyone. I still couldn't remove the rotor arm last night - even got a mate over to try in case I was being stupid / weak. It seems stuck fast, and looks like it's been on there a long time. I settled with cleaning up the metal edge and gave the carb a bit of a spray with Wynn's carb cleaner.

Put everything back into place and started it up - ran absolutely fine for 5 mins in situ, so I jumped in to take it for a spin (about 3 miles) and all went well until I turned round to head home. The power seemed to die, then it faltered and bunny hopped a couple of times over the next few hundred yards before cutting out. Managed to start and limp it along a bit closer to home before it finally failed entirely. I could fire it up, where it would run erratically and seemed to 'hunt' when trying to idle, but the very second I touched the throttle it would cut out. Towed it home behind an underpowered Ford Fusion at about 3mph!

I'm pretty stumped, but here are some observations: I took the air cover off the carb with the engine still warm and the choke flap was in the vertical position, pressing the throttle barely budged it - it just seemed to waver slightly. I noticed the spring on the spindle between the choke housing and the carb body seemed a little loosely wound. New HT leads all nicely in place and nice new dizzy cap connected exactly the same as the old one.

I've kind of reversed the original problem where it used to run if you revved it hard but cut out if I eased off approaching a junction or roundabout or at idle without choke, but now it just about idles (barely) but can't handle any throttle. Needless to say my girlfriend is very unhappy with me as in her eyes I've broken the van by uneducated tinkering. Any advice gratefully received!! Thanks, Dave

[VWCamperfan]

Sounds a bit like fuel starvation. As a first port of call, check the fuel filter just outside the rear of the fuel tank on the drivers side.
Just out of interest... Take the dizzy cap back off again and make sure everything is still ok in there, just in case...!

[Strides]

Thanks for the reply, Mark:

Sounds a bit like fuel starvation. As a first port of call, check the fuel filter just outside the rear of the fuel tank on the drivers side

I have just replaced that filter, but the van must have been running for half an hour in total since it was done, so I guessed (hoped) I hadn't blocked the flow of fuel somehow. When it cut out yesterday I checked it by undoing the clamp on each side in turn and fuel did flow out of the pipes. The filter itself was only partially filled with fuel though - looked like an air bubble in there. Do you know if this is normal, or could this be a cause of the problem? (wish I'd had a proper look at the old one before I took it off). Cheers.

[VWCamperfan]

Nahh, thats normal. There is an air bubble in there but thats normal with the angle of the filter being horizontal.
There may be a blockage in a fuelway in the carb. If you can, start engine with air intake removed from the top of the carb. PLace hand over top of carb to make an airtight seal. This will cause a vaccuum under your hand (nothing to worry about!) and hopefully suck anything out causing a problem.
This doesn't allways work and should be done with the engine running at higher revs but as you cant speed yours up at all then we'll just have to try it as it is!

[dugcati]

With what you have said I would go with fuel starvation to start with - check out the following...

* Are the breather tanks clear - as fuel leaves the tank for the engine air has to get in
* Fuel pump delivering enough pressure - also check the pump drive rod under the pump/in the engine incase it's short= less pump movement
* Carbs - are the floats allowing the valves to open and let fuel in there / are the valves jammed/jamming shut / is there carp in the bottom of the carb bodies causing idel jet blockage (already mentioned)

Whilst your playing with the dizzy and have the cap off it's worth proving the vac advance unit it working too - pull the vac pipe to the carb off at the airbox end and suck it - you should see through the "Anti flash over shield" (cheers Simon ) the innards of the dizzy rotate around the centre shaft with the rotor arm on it a bit.

[toomanytoys]

Need to change the rotor arm... even if you have to grip it with some big pliers to break it (dont twist it on the dizzy shaft though...)
Sorted a similar problem for "redboxerK9" (I think!!!!) last year... went through everything and found the rotor arm breaking down when hot...
Could also be the idle cut off valve on the carb, but you should at least be able to keep it running bu pumping the accelerator....

[Strides]

Thanks for the updates, guys. I'm away for a few days so won't be back onto it until Sunday but will let you know how it goes with the tips you've provided. I must admit to not being too confident about the carb work, but am more than willing to have a go.

As for dugcati's advice:

Whilst your playing with the dizzy and have the cap off it's worth proving the vac advance unit it working too - pull the vac pipe to the carb off at THE airbox end and suck it - you should see through the "Anti flash over shield" (cheers Simon ) the innards of the dizzy rotate around the centre shaft with the rotor arm on it a bit.

One observation I've made is that the vacuum pipe at the front (furthest away from you as you stand at the rear of the van) on the left side of the bottom of the carb was not connected to the vac unit on the dizzy. Instead, at the dizzy end of the pipe a screw had been pushed into it. I was told by a mechanic (classic car expert, but not VW's) that this screw would still provide enough of a seal to create the vacuum required. Anyway, the van has been running in this manner for the 10 months I've owned it, and at least the full year before that as I know the previous owner personally. So, it looks like the vac unit on the dizzy may have indeed gone wrong at some point and been bypassed, or taken out of the system. Maybe that combined with the fuel flow problems have caused it to give up on me.

You can probably tell I am very much in the novice stage of this game so please excuse any mistakes I'm making in terminology or function of parts. I will run all the tests you guys have suggested and update you. Having read through the threads about redboxerK9's issues as suggested by toomanytoys, the first job will be getting some massive pliers on that rotor arm!!

Thanks again, very much appreciated. Dave.

[toomanytoys]

Might have to resort to a junior hacksaw and cut it a bit first.... its only a plastic material and should break....

OK... Vac advance unit... the DG doesnt have a twin vac unit.... (well neither my very early one aor the very late one I have do) and so could be the wrong dizzy on there too... if its a 2L Aircooled one the timing advance curve will be all wrong... see if you can read off the bosch or VW part number on the body....
In any case the screw shouldnt be in the other side as that effectivly creates a fixed volume that wont change much so restricts the advance available (if the diaphragm isnt split........)
Brickwerks has the correct vac advance units for sensible price...