[T3] 73 T-3 oil temp?

[Jim Adney]

On 25 Sep 2021 at 9:21, William Jahn wrote:

> I don't know if  anyone remembers. A while back I was having issues
> starting the car in the morning. I use a primer switch and even when I
> hold the primer switch when cranking it still won't fire right up , I need
> to give it a bit of gas or it will quit. If it quits the second time it
> fires right up.

As you state below, you need to prime the fuel loop until you no longer hear 
air bubbling up inside the gas tank. That usually takes ~15 seconds or so. 
This clears air out of the fuel loop, but the short branches to each injector 
can still have air in them. It's common for some cylinders to start firing while 
others still have air in them; the engine will stall if you don't give the "good" 
cylinders some extra gas to keep them going until the rest of the cylinders 
start firing. I often have to do that; it's normal.

Once the starter is engaged, the primer switch doesn't do anything extra. 
You can keep it on, but the brain is already keeping the pump running.

> I repaired the electric AAR over a year ago because it was not closing and
> kept the idle high. I suspect it is now stuck closed , the reason is because
> when I repaired it I  would use the prime switch till I heard no more air in
> the lines. It would fire right up and the idle would be a bit higher , in 5
> minutes  it would drop back to 1000 RPM in neutral. Now when it starts it's
> always at 1000 RPM.

I would expect any AAR in your area to be mostly closed at this time of year. 
It should be fully open if you get down below 32 F, but your car probably 
never sees those temps. With the ambient temp this time of year in your 
area, it should be mostly closed.

> From what I recall the AAR acts as a sort of choke by allowing in more air
> the MPS senses a vacuum leak and enriches the mix.

No! It's not a choke; it's an automatic throttle. It lets more air in and the MAP 
sensor adjusts the F/A mixture accordingly.

> Taking the eclectic AAR apart is not something that's in any way fun. I
> always read about the people with FI who have the standard trans and the oil
> heated AAR having to constantly clean and adjust them.

I'm sure lots of people do this, but it's seldom necessary. (Yeah, I used to do 
it, too, but that was before I understood what was going on.) FYI, one of the 
services I do is rebuild the MT AARs. They can stick and I can fix that. As 
you have noted, the AT AAR is difficult/impossible to disassemble and put 
back together nicely. I have tried soaking them in various solvents to free 
them up, which sometimes helps, but I don't have any better solution for 
them.

> my main concern is running down the battery. I don't drive far enough most of
> the time for the charging system to charge it back fully. Most of the time
> when I check the battery it's @ 12.5 volts . Drove it a mile yesterday,
> checked the voltage and it was 12.97 after shut down. Once that surface
> charge drops off I bet it's back to 12.5 or  close to it. 

That sounds perfectly fine. Nothing to worry about here.

> I need to pull the battery just to check if the level in each cell is fine. 

Checking the fluid level once a year is a good thing to do, assuming you 
have a battery that lets you look in. You can do it with the battery in the car.  

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