loss of power air cooled

[dubplate]

hi all its been a very long time since i was online i hope you can help me anyway,

my air cooled 1982 van was losing a lot of power even on small gradient hills and eventually had to get my first lift home from the flat bed RAC man,
as a very novice person looking into the engine bay i notice a piece of braided wire that is attached to a hinge that lets a metal flap up and down im guessing this allows air in and out , anyway that wire seems to be snapped or so short its not attched or doing anything anyway i cant see the other end or what it was attached too so was hoping for some advice on whether this sounds like why i was losing power and if so is it a novices thing to mend or bit more advanced,

i appreciate your help in advance

Regards

Andy

[fullsunian]

The wire/flap you are talking about controls the cooling/warming up of the engine. If the wire breaks the flap should go into fail safe by use of a spring so the engine gets full air cooling. The other end of the wire goes to a thermostat. Use less the spring is broken and the flap is not open I dont think this would make any differance to your lack of power..
Start with basics, timing, plugs, leads, carbs set up...and go from there. Did RAC man say anything?
IAN

[dubplate]

Hi Ian ,

RAC man was more like RAC boy he didnt have much of an idea or it was such a busy hot day that he was a little keen to get someone to flatbed me home , i was happy for this too as i had young son with me and was lucky enough to have lost power but enough to get me into a service station, didnt fancy breaking down with boy on the motorway, i think i should be able to get it to local VW guy , i believe hes on here DOUGWITHBUG? i was hoping the flap was the total answer to my problems but ill keep you informed , thanks again

Andy

[CovKid]

Won't be that flap but do check that all hoses are in place. If it were me, I'd start by getting a compression check on all four cylinders and if they check out ok, work through plugs, leads, carb etc until you find the problem. Compression test can save a lot of guesswork and time.

[dubplate]

is that a generally expensive procedure.... i know these vans and the word cheap dont run together but in the scheme of things

[sarran1955]

Hello,

I'm gazing into my crystal ball.............

Might be a 1600 CT engine.

If it was still running there can't be too much wrong.

Take it to your VW mate, and let us know on the diagnosis.

Cordialement,

[CovKid]

Not expensive to test compression. Look on ebay - "compression tester" - about £15. Worthwhile tool if you do your own repairs. I bought one when I worked on beetles and bays full time as it gives you a quick overview of all four cylinders and helps pinpoint any troublesome areas on the mechanical side. Once thats done you're just left with all the usual culprits. The time it saves is enormous.

[dubplate]

huge thank you to all responses , and im glad to be back online

[dubplate]

by the way Sarran1955 your crystal ball is good, got any lottery numbers

[billybigspud]

Check the vacuum hoses and reset the timing.

[CovKid]

If someone fitted a points type distributor (god forbid a 009), the gap may have drifted from spec and that would make a huge difference to performance. If thats the case, sort those before messing with timing.

[sarran1955]

by the way Sarran1955 your crystal ball is good, got any lottery numbers

Long as you keep it polished and shiny they last for years,

A bit like a CT engine

A link to my videos might help:

http://www.youtube.com/user/sarran1955?feature=mhee" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


These are easy fix engines, and not too dear,

Q do you have the electronic ignition ( identified by the electronic boxes on the lhs of the engine bay?)


Cordialement,