[T3] Engine Craziness (was Dwell Meter...)

[Jim Adney]

On 24 Feb 2012 at 10:56, Tony Rongey wrote:

> I've got my dwell at 46deg and timing is 0 at 900 with the rebuilt distributor.
> When the engine is cold it starts right up, but wants to die if I let the RPMs 
> drop below about 1200.
> After driving for a few minutes - about halfway warmed up - if the RPMs get 
> below about 1500 it coughs, sputters, and usually dies. But it will start right 
> back up.
> Once it's fully warmed up it runs great and idles pretty well.  If I shut it 
> down I have to crank for at least half a minute before it will fire up, but it 
> runs fine once it starts.
> Any clues? (Note: Even though the car is a '70, the FI and harness are all from 
> a '69)

I don't know what to say. I'd be tempted to put your old distributor 
back in and see if these symptoms go away. If the problem is really 
in this distributor, it would have to do with either the ignition 
points, the FI points, or the condensor. Each of those parts has 
always been really reliable, but it's always possible that there's 
something wrong with one that you got.

If the problem turns out to be in the distributor, I completely 
willing to look it over for free and fix whatever is wrong in there, 
but it might be simpler and faster to swap some parts between your 
old and new distributors first to pin the problem down. Just keep in 
mind that all the parts you have were from distributors you supplied, 
but I thought they were all in good condition when I looked them 
over. Still, I may have missed something.

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