From: bew@brahms.udel.edu (Ben Williams)
Subject: Re: Help on '66 1300 beetle engine needed
Summary: Exciting conclusion to this saga of pain & glory & spark plug wires...
Keywords: BOSCH, points, condenser
Organization: University of Delaware
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 03:26:48 GMT


Well, I thought people might be interested in the outcome of my attempt to
get my '69 beetle with a '66 engine past inspection:

Besides the other stuff I had done before me first inspection (where I failed
emissions), which was setting timing and checking that dwell was ok.  And then
the stuff I did after that:  adjusting valves, adjusting idle air screw.  My
Haynes manual said that if you get a big spark when you open the points with
the electrical system turned on, you should replace the points/condenser.
Well, when I tried this it did seem to be true, and there was a little build-up
on one of the contacts (which I had tried sanding down a bit), but it didn't
seem that bad to me.  But I had new BOSCH points and condenser I had bought
4 years ago when I bought the BOSCH spark plug wires I was using.  So I
installed the new points/condenser and this really did improve things.  When
I used to idle the engine would shake like crazy.  With the new points/cond.,
I could set the idle down to the 850 RPM that most of my manuals recommended.
AND when I would drive around, when I came to a stop at a traffic light, I
would swear that the engine had stalled it was so quiet compared to what it
used to be.  I bet it was the little cylinder called the condenser (this is
just a capacitor, is it not?  I would be interested in knowing its electrical
specifications (Farads, volts) since I like to fool around in that area as
well.  Anyone know?) that made the difference.  Anyway, I also removed my spark
plugs and cleaned them with a wire brush (all had looked ok, but #1 was covered
in black soot).  I measured cylinder compression with a cold engine and got:
1:125psi, 2:115psi, 3:100psi, 4:125psi.  Now, the idle was much improved, but
I still had smoke/liquid coming out of the left tailpipe.  And I still had
this acceleration coming in spurts (as someone else described it) problem.
Well, one night before shutting off the engine I went back, opened up the
engine compartment lid just to see how things looked.  Well, I noticed this
small light coming from behind the engine.  I go 'what the heck is this?'
Well, as you've probably guessed, it was the spark plug wire for cylinder #1,
shorting to the fan housing.  I was flabbergasted!  These were BOSCH (which
I thought was invincible :-) spark plug wires I had installed 4 years/8200
miles ago and they had -- a LIFETIME WARRANTY (which I am planning to take
advantage of)!  It's true that my engine for some damn reason will get totally
covered in oil, and this might have had something to do with this happening.
But I wish you could see this spark plug wire.  Right where it has written on
it "BOSCH - 7MM SILICONE - HIGH TEMPERATURE" it looks like a 2.5" precision
surgical cut of the outer insulation has been performed.  Then there is a
small 1/4" equally clean cut of the inner insulation.  And then the inner
wire core looks like it has been pulled out with a pair of long-nosed
pliers - it sticks out about an 1/8 of an inch.  The electricity just went and
pulled it right out like that!  Weird!  So THIS is what was causing my
acceleration problem, and this is exactly the kind of thing I had suspected
(I mean, I assumed the problem was a yes/no combustion happening in the
cylinder problem, rather than some adjustment not being right) but I just
assumed it would be the #3 or #4 cylinder.  And I just wasn't thinking that
the wires could be bad - they looked fine just looking at them though they
were lumpy in places.  I pulled this one wire away from the fan housing and
I felt like I had just had my engine turboized.  I had been running on 3
cylinders for the last year!  No wonder I had been having trouble getting up
hills.  And here's the real stumper - when I looked at the left exhaust after
fixing the #1 cylinder problem, it seems to have almost totally cleared up.
I'm not sure about this, but that was my impression.  Can anybody explain
this??  So anyway, I took it to inspection again and passed (YIPPEE!!).  Before
my HC level was over 2000 ppm.  When I had it checked this time, the computer
monitor the guy was using showed 150 ppm.  That doesn't seem possible, but
I wasn't complaining and I'm now good for two more years!!!  THANK YOU SANTA!

Ben.
 
-- 
Ben Williams
bew@brahms.udel.edu

               What we got here is a failure to communicate... 
Newsgroups: rec.autos.vw