Electrical issues / questions 1.9DG water-cooled

[filiphiruta]

Hello guys, this is my first post on this forum, i really hope my questions will not sound stupid.
I recently bought my first ever T3, a 1984 1.9dg hightop camper.

As it is my first project, and considering i am 22 years old, no mechanical or electrical skills, just some raw passion, i cant really deal with these problema i have, i will mention them below and after that my questions.

Problems:
- some wires from the coolint system / carburettor are cut off and discontinued, i dont really know which is which, i know one is from the carburetor heater, and one from the automatic choke if im not wrong
- water cooling system does not seem to work, radiator is not getting warm, neither all the pipes from the engine bay
-water temperature indicator is not working, not even i run the engine for a few minutes, i didnt run it longer because the idle is not really stable, and i didnt want to overheat the engine as the cooling doesnt seem to work
-2 missing connectors / wires ( the ones i marked in the picture)

Questions:

-what are the connectors i marked in the pictures

-how do i need to rewire the empty connector or the wires that are cut off, i saw in a video that the automatic choke wire should be on the cable as the idle cut off valve.

Im sorry to take your time with such problems or questions, i tried my best to research, i own all manuals, but the electrical diagram completely confused me. And also i cant find anyone willing to help me ( not free or course) in my hometown so the only thing that remains is to repair it myself.

Thanks in advance, i hope I summarized all.











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[prossett]

A lot of top VW mechanics started off just like you

As luck would have it I have a 1985 VW T3 high-top camper with a 1.9L DG water-cooled carburetted engine. But I'm not one of the aforementioned top mechanics LOOL and I bought it 4 months ago so I can't answer accurately... but I can help with pics.

As far as I know it's all in the right places, and it runs very well, thanks to the previous owner. In fact, I'm just back from my first tour!

I just took 3 random engine pics today, just left to right. Here they are to get you comparing a bit. I can take detailed pics of the parts you asked tomorrow.

Easy does it, so don't rush into it

[R0B]

I can tell you the three pin round plug is an old factory diagnostic plug. Now defunct.

[filiphiruta]

I can tell you the three pin round plug is an old factory diagnostic plug. Now defunct.

You think? Its coming from behind the engine somewhere, looks like the transmission or something, ill send a pic later today


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[filiphiruta]

A lot of top VW mechanics started off just like you

As luck would have it I have a 1985 VW T3 high-top camper with a 1.9L DG water-cooled carburetted engine. But I'm not one of the aforementioned top mechanics LOOL and I bought it 4 months ago so I can't answer accurately... but I can help with pics.

As far as I know it's all in the right places, and it runs very well, thanks to the previous owner. In fact, I'm just back from my first tour!

I just took 3 random engine pics today, just left to right. Here they are to get you comparing a bit. I can take detailed pics of the parts you asked tomorrow.

Easy does it, so don't rush into it

Thanks a lot, it would really help me if you can take some close up / detailed pictures of the black wires that come from the carburettor so i can chase them, thank you for your kind words


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[filiphiruta]

A lot of top VW mechanics started off just like you

As luck would have it I have a 1985 VW T3 high-top camper with a 1.9L DG water-cooled carburetted engine. But I'm not one of the aforementioned top mechanics LOOL and I bought it 4 months ago so I can't answer accurately... but I can help with pics.

As far as I know it's all in the right places, and it runs very well, thanks to the previous owner. In fact, I'm just back from my first tour!

I just took 3 random engine pics today, just left to right. Here they are to get you comparing a bit. I can take detailed pics of the parts you asked tomorrow.

Easy does it, so don't rush into it

Also a picture of the black marked connector in my pictures would help me


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[Rik]

Hi, welcome here! I don't know much about the electrics of a petrol engine, but is is not that weird if the radiator stays cold after a few mins of idling. Idling just doesn't really warm up things that well. Does your engine itself get quite hot quickly?

Have you opened your coolant tank and started it up to see if the fluid is being pumped around? Or loosened the bleed screw on the radiator and gave it a good rev to see if fluid comes out? That would give you an idea of whether the coolant is at least flowing around.

Also I don't exactly know how the waterpump is driven on one of those engines, but you can check the belts to see if all of them are present and driving the pullies.

Also, these are not stupid questions. I'm pretty young myself and can remember how daunting everything was when I just started wrenching! Just keep searching stuff online and if you can't find a solution just ask it

Have fun learning with your project!

[prossett]

Here's tracing the 2 black wires.

video

As for the other connector, down low on the back of the left side of the engine (always looking forwards), I don't have it.

[filiphiruta]

Here's tracing the 2 black wires.

video

As for the other connector, down low on the back of the left side of the engine (always looking forwards), I don't have it.

Thanks for the video, there are supposed to be 3 wires from the carb, the automatic choke, the cut off valve and the small heater of the carb. I think the automatic choke and the heater should be connected together, you dont have a small heater on the carb ? Also the “ diagnostic “ connector is a thick wire that comes from the back of the engine somewhere


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[prossett]

Hmmm, we may have reached the limitations of comparing engines. There could be differences from the factory, and there could be differences from work by previous owners. Also it doesn't help that I'm new to VW, too.

Only 2 black wires, and no connector from lower left coolant pipe.

Also, my engine could be missing things! Although, as I mentioned, it runs well.

In any case, the wires are not critical to the cooling system - rather it seems their job is to fine-tune the carb based on the feedback from coolant system. So Rik's advice above to verify that the mechanical pump is circulating coolant (even without the wires management) sounds like a good starting point.

Then, once you're satisfied the water pump is indeed circulating coolant thru the radiator, you can try connecting wires temporarily following the video to see if the choke engages to help it start richer, and if the idle adjusts when the coolant temp rises. That's what I guess those wires/sensors do.