Van cutting out at junctions

[golf2tim]

Hi, I have an 1.6 air cooled van and it has a problem of when depressing the clutch and slowing down it cuts out, but if you restart it, it will idle fine. Also if you do slow town driving it's fine, only seams to happen when slowing down from speed. can anyone help

[CovKid]

Air leak. Classic symptoms. Check for missing hoses, leaky inlet and carb gaskets, and possibly worn throttle spindle.

[golf2tim]

Air leak. Classic symptoms. Check for missing hoses, leaky inlet and carb gaskets, and possibly worn throttle spindle.

will have a look tomorrow. Thanks for the advice

[CovKid]

Weak mixture can cause it too. The possible faults I've suggested can contribute to weak mixture.

[djhammy]

HI that's exactly the same problem and symptoms i have. Have just found out that my 3 year old Webber conversion carb has a worn throttle spindle letting in air. Not sure what to do will see if i can get it repaired. Vacuum advance has also packed up but thanks to Brickwerks i have a nice new one to fit.
Good luck and good advice Cov Kid as usual you are spot on.

[CovKid]

Depends where you are but the best guy I know for repairing throttle flaps (and he's reasonable) is Roger Ball in Great Clacton - you can find him in the phonebook - 2 Totlands Drive. He is VERY precise and re-turns the spindle as well as making brand new bushes to fit. Very knowledgable guy with a deep-rooted love of volkswagens and plays a mean blues harmonica. His work exceeds that of the original carb maker and he uses superior materials.

Up to you to clean and regasket etc but he is definately the best (in my view) at reworking worn splindles. If you use him, tell him Ralph sent you. I'm sure he'll do postal - call him and ask.

[meehaja]

similar symptoms to mine, and it turned out to be several hoses had come loose. reattached everything and checked hoses for perishing/leaks. all good now.

[golf2tim]

Thanks for all the advice - i'm going to have a look at it today.

Cov Kid, may well give Roger a call too.

Cheers

[Ali140128]

Crikey, I came on to post a question about exactly this issue as I'm having these problems with mine. Problem solved (or at least diagnosed. Hopefully).

Ali

[CovKid]

http://www.thephonebook.bt.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - residential numbers - R Ball - Clacton (won't put his number directly on here)

Roger Ball makes a lot of stuff for custom bikes, mods for mobility scooters and so forth and is well known for his engineering skills, so anything in the milling/turning line is his bag really - that and Little Walters, the Blues Brothers etc as he can often be heard playing blues harp on the Clacton music scene. He owned an orange bay for years and was always rebushing beetle carbs which suffered from throttle flap wear. You only need a little wear for air to get in and then it'll either idle roughly or die at junctions, that kind of thing. I once had a top bearing go on a T25 and he made me a new one in minutes.

Having spoken to him this morning, he says carb makers tend to fit nylon bushes to throttle flaps. He dumps these and fits phosphor bronze bushes which have superior wear characteristics and lube nicely. He said give him a call and he'll sort your carb for you no problem!

He needs carb body (where carb can be broken down into sections, you can just send body part that has the throttle flap if you like) as he needs to ensure it all fits together perfectly for you. Usually he'll put the throttle flap stem on the lathe to ensure it runs true first then measure everything to make sure the new bushes fit like a glove. I've seen Roger do many over the years (at least 18 years) and all of them are still perfect. Unfortunately I've also seen people fork out for brand new carbs when the old one only needed a clean, new gaskets and the throttle flap sorted. In fact the throttle spindle is about the only place that wear occurs and Roger's bushes far out-last the original ones. He'll tell you all about it if you ring him.

Evenings (except weekends when he's out blowing his harp) are probably best time to catch him. Its a great pity I moved away as between us we were a force to be reckoned with when it came to v-dubs, but his enthusiasm for the flat-four rear engined clan is as strong as ever and I think he's on the look out for a T25.....

[golf2tim]

thanks for the info, have been working on the van this morning found that the carb was very loose. One nut wasnt even on!!! Took carb off and found that the studs were stretched in the hosing through over tightening from whoever did it last. Ive put in new studs and retightened onto body. Going to run it as it is for now then start re adjusting the mixture.

Thanks for your help and will def keep Rogers info incase i need more help.

[golf2tim]

When doing the mixture, when do you know when you got the idle right. I've only done mixture adjustments on mark 2 golfs with rev gauges, the van hasn't got a rev gauge so not quite sure.

[VWCamperfan]

Adjust mixture screw only until engine is at max idle revs and running smoothly then turn mixture screw out quarter of a turn. Engine rpm should drop a little.
Adjust when engine is at normal operating temperature.

[VWCamperfan]

Forgot to mention... By applying the brakes at a junction etc. you let air into the inlet manifold from the brake servo. If the mixture was already a bit weak because of a loose carb then this would have been enough to stall the engine.
Hopefully after this it won't do it any more!

[djhammy]

HI Cov cheers for the info alas Clacton is like the other side of the world to us down in Southampton though i did manage a visit in 65 as a kid to Butlins..

Sounds like he's the man though. I would like to tell Webber what i think as less than 3 years use is pretty bad and i hardly do more than 6,000 miles a year. No wonder JK don't sell them any more. It was a pretty bad conversion any way as the screws don't match up and had to butcher the original carb to attach the throttle cable.

Cheers

Dave