[T3] Idling Oddities...

Jim Adney jadney at vwtype3.org
Thu May 19 20:39:10 PDT 2011


On 19 May 2011 at 17:24, Ken Main Mail wrote:

> Working on the 71 T3 Square back 1600 FI auto.  Getting it ready for next
> year in Colorado at the T3 gathering.
> 
> I am about to put the correct distributor you sent me last year.  When I
> look at the inside the distributor you sent me where 2 short springs do
> something centrifugal (I think),  one of the springs is stretched.  Can I
> use my old distributor spring?

That spring is supposed to be "stretched." If you look at the advance 
curves in the Bentley manual you can see the step in the curve where 
the advance catches up with the slack in the spring. Don't change the 
spring.

> I still have my old one running the engine. I get perfect start,
> perfect idle cold or warm.  I notice a lot of black smoke inside the
> tailpipe and spitting carbon a black spray. Big thing is I cannot step
> down on the gas pedal it seems to sputter and hesitate and shakes. I
> barely gently depress the gas pedal and it goes real slow and of
> course it does pick up speed.  Step down, more throttle it boggs down,
> no power. I need a heads up on where to start to resolve this problem.
> Does being at 5000 feet elevation have anything to do with this? 

5000 feet will definitely limit the HP of any naturally aspirated 
engine, but it shouldn't make it run poorly. The first thing I would 
suspect is that the advance isn't working on the one you have, so I'd 
start by installing the rebuilt dist and see if that helps.

If it doesn't, check your gas mileage. If it's low, then check your 
system voltage with the engine warm and running at med rpm. It should 
be above 14 V. If it's below 13.5 V, replace the voltage regulator.

Email back to us at each step and let us know what you find.

-- 
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Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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