[T3] Fluttering engine performance...

[Dave Hall]

If the carbon button is missing, the engine would not run at all.  Tracks on
the cap surface (inside or out) could make one or two cylinders misfire as
the spark takes the lower resistance path instead of the spark plug gap.

If the ignition is marginal for any reason, small changes elsewhere may
improve it or make it worse.  

Did you check the spark advance system is working?  Using a timing light,
the mark you are timing to should go left as the engine speeds up.  Do you
put a drop of oil on the felt pad under the rotor arm each time you go in
there?  Is the points gap about right?  These are other things that need to
be right for reliable ignition.

Sometimes the injector plug doesn't make a perfect connection - a very thin
blade slid down beside the connector will release the tongue and let you to
squeeze the contact slightly to grip the pins better.

Dave.
UK VW Type 3&4 Club
-------------

-----Original Message-----
From: type3-vwtype3.org-bounces at lists.vwtype3.org
[mailto:type3-vwtype3.org-bounces at lists.vwtype3.org] On Behalf Of Bryon
Garvin
Sent: 23 November 2010 05:25
To: type3 at vwtype3.org
Subject: Re: [T3] Fluttering engine performance...

Disclaimer:  I'm no expert

But I had strange problems like this about a year ago.  Jim rebuilt my
distributor and in the process discovered that I had a Beetle cap and not a
Type 3 cap.  Beetle cap was taller than a Type 3.  The combo of that new cap
and distributor rebuild was the absolute trick.  Car lost all of the
previous problems.

Also, I remember some talk about that little carbon "button" at the top of
cap.  If that's missing it causes problems too.

I know others will have more info than me, but I thought I'd throw that out
there if it helps....

 - Bryon, '71 Fastback

On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 9:49 AM, J. Jonik <j_jonik at yahoo.com> wrote:

> T III   FI  Std.  1971
>
> Symptom: Driving along just fine, after finding and replacing one bad 
> injector, after about 7 miles on the highway, then some stop and go 
> street driving, suddenly engine seemed to flutter when accelerating. 
> Noticeable power loss to a degree while fluttering. Then it stopped 
> doing that til the next gear change, and after the next stop.
>
>    That was just when hitting gas after stopping, and when changing gears.
>
>  Being away from home, but having some spare parts, I found that 
> Throttle valve switch clicked a lot when turning the engine over with 
> big screwdriver while making sure timing was right.
>    So, when timing adjustment (none needed to speak of) was done, ran 
> the car for a while.
> Then tried to drive it. It stalled.  Trying to rev it didn't get any 
> response. It just slowly stalled out.
>    So, suspecting something funny with TVS, I changed it for a spare.  
> Car started ok, and drove sort of ok...but still with that flutter, 
> although less noticeable, when accelerating. It was ok when idling or
cruising.
> Checked to see if it was running on all four cylinders. It was.  The 
> newly replaced injector wasn't at fault.
>
>    For no reason, I switched to a spare distributor cap.  Then the 
> problem disappeared.
>
>  So....does this make sense? Was the problem a combo of both TVS and Dist.
> cap?  What was happening to make that "flutter"?   Was it something
causing
> irregular electricity, or irregular fuel delivery?  Or is that the 
> same thing?
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment scrubbed 
> and removed.
> HTML attachments are only available in MIME digests.
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Unsubscribe?  See http://www.vwtype3.org/list/ Need list help? 
> mailto:gregm at vwtype3.org 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
<http://lists.vwtype3.org/private.cgi/type3-vwtype3.org/attachments/20101122
/203e0567/attachment.htm>
_______________________________________________
VWType3.Org mailing list - type3 at vwtype3.org
http://lists.vwtype3.org/listinfo.cgi/type3-vwtype3.org
Contact gregm at vwtype3.org if you need help with the list.