Help! My fasty is revolting!

Fastback, Squareback, Notchback, T-3 Karmann Ghia.

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sad_rocc
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Help! My fasty is revolting!

Post by sad_rocc » Mon Aug 04, 2008 9:59 am

My 1971 F.I. stock (except for points upgraded) fasty has had a number of small issues creep up and then wander away over the last couple months but now it seems a good handful of them have arrived and are not going away. It's been such a good car to me but I haven't put the weekends into it that I should be and so it's letting me know. There's a whole bunch of issues but instead of making a dozen new threads I figured I'd put them all into one, ranked in order of most troubling (to me):

1. Leak on driver's side at heater vent/channel area. It's been raining here forever and that area is getting soaked. Not just a little leak, but puddles form. Mildew is starting to become an issue. It even runs underneath the pedals and I think I have to tear up the old sound deadening because I don't know if it'll ever dry out or if it'll hold moisture like a sponge. Newer windshield seal, door is dry on the inside, can't figure out where it is coming from! All I can think of is maybe it's running down the front doorjamb and in instead of out. The metal runner on the bottom of the door is pushed back slightly from where it looks like it should be, but doesn't really look like it'd be funnelling water in instead of out.

2. Pass. door filling with water. Hasn't been too bad lately, but I think it's running between the window and the door. I do still have window scrapers, but they're cracked and old. Thought about putting plastic betwen the door and the doorcard, but then I was afraid my doorcard would just get wet. On super hard rains, water will come inside as well, in a similar spot as above.

3. After sitting for a few days, the engine sounds weird. I don't usually drive the car from Fri night to Mon morning. When I start it, the engine sounds kind of clogged/muffled I guess, as if you were listening to it run while underwater. This happens rain or shine, but more often when rain is/has been involved. Revving it for a few clears it out and power and normal engine sound returns. Usually good until the next Monday.

4. Gen light on. Sometimes it will go off and stay off, sometimes it stays on. Sometimes it goes off while driving and comes back on at idle, only to go off again. (99% of my driving is in-town). No real noticable effect, although so little electricity is used it's hard to say.

5. Unhappy when it heats up. This has been a long standing issue. When I drove it in the winter, the colder the day the better it drove. Now that it's summer, after sitting in traffic and whatnot for a bit it starts idling poorly. Developes a bit of a hiccup, sometimes will seem about to stall for a second but then rumble back to life. Merely resting my foot on the pedal will bring the idle up high enough where it doesn't happen, but my idle doesn't seem low to begin with. Sometimes doesn't like hot starts. Backfires once in awhile when decellerating/downshifting. Loses power as it heats up.

6. Trunk leak. Appears to be coming in from where the ECU is, pooling in the trunk and running under the rear seat. Water might be coming in on the opposite side in the same spot but I can't see how. Trunk seals are there for the most part, but pretty much shot.

New Parts-
Generator
Battery
Fuel Filter
Fuel Lines
Spark Plugs
Head Temp Sensor
Voltage Regulator
Spark Plug Wires

Some other info:
When I replaced the plug wires, 1 came broken in the package. I happened to already have a new one, so I didn't return them. Once while checking to make sure the wires were secure on the distributor cap (they where), I got zapped. Cracked cap or just crappy wires?

The heat used to sort of work, but doesn't work at all any more. Cool air will blow through, enough so that I feel a draft around my ankles, but that's about it. I've replaced the heater hoses (I call them dryer vent hoses) a couple of times and the current ones are shorter than stock, but uncracked and securely fit. At least 1 cable connected to the flap works. The bellows under the rear seats are there and look good.

I have basic handtools, Muir's book and a Bently and a multimeter still in the package because I'm not quite sure how to use it. That's pretty much the extent of it. This car is also my daily driver. I am fairly new to aircooleds, have only the most basic mechanical knowledge and don't have a whole lot of extra cash to replace a ton of parts that may not need it. A winning combination! :help:

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Amskeptic
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Re: Help! My fasty is revolting!

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Aug 04, 2008 10:22 am

sad_rocc wrote: 1. Leak on driver's side at heater vent/channel area.
2. Pass. door filling with water.
3. After sitting for a few days, the engine sounds weird.
4. Gen light on.
5. Unhappy when it heats up.
6. Trunk leak.
1,2,4,6 : Water incursions can be a difficult symptom to track down. Best that you hop in the car and let your SO or kids go to town with the water hose AFTER you have dealt with the obvious. #2 is obvious, clear the drains at the bottom of the doors, they are tucked slightly under the door seals and crap can really clog up the works inside the doors. I would remove the door panels and clean clean clean the inside of the doors along the bottoms all the way to the drains at the leading and trailing edges. The heater channel leak is more problematic, but get the rear seat cushion out and look at how the sill plate construction takes on the heater channel function and see if you can track down any outside entry that would take in water. As for the trunk (front trunk?) is the seal in good condition? Is the latch secure? I put Gen Light #4 in here as well, because you need to make very sure that the voltage regulator has not been damaged by water. Pull the battery negative cable off the post and pull the regulator and clean the terminals and see if the protective vinyl swatch has loosened from the side of the sill where the regulator mounts. If the regulator has rust on the outside cap, it will have rust on the inside too. You can disassemble and clean the contacts and coils and make sure the rubber seal is perfect when you reassemble.

3 "Sounds weird" doesn't help me narrow down what is going on.
5 We need to distinguish if the engine is running rich to begin with. If so, the warmer it gets, the unhappier it will run. The corollary is true too. If it is relatively happy to begin with, but leans out as it warms up, then we have to track down temperature sensor resistances across operating temperature ranges. Unlike most of the later injected engines, D-Jet air leaks make the engine run richer. You must track down leaks at the obvious places like intake air runners and visible hoses, particularly to the MAP sensor, but also to the more subtle places like the oil filler tube, breather assembly, auxiliary air regulator, etc. I will be in upstate NY in September if you'd like a day of Learning About Your Volkswagen.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

sad_rocc
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Post by sad_rocc » Mon Aug 04, 2008 11:28 am

Thanks for the quick response!

I felt along the bottom of the door but did not feel a drain hole. I guess I wasn't close enough to the door seal so I'll try again. As for the heater channel area, I'll look under the rear seat as that area is definitely damp, but I assumed it was coming in from the trunk. I don't think it is coming in from the channel itself, as the wetest place seems to be just in front of the vent opening. Maybe the water is wicking up the carpet but the majority of the water doesn't pool in the vent opening, but just ahead of it. It sounds very likely that the dampness of that rear seat area is causing the voltage regulator to rust. When it comes to taking off the door panels, some of those little metal clips are pretty screwed, are replacements available? How does the armrest detatch?

For the trunk, I'm referring to the rear one. That plate on the driver's side is where my ECU is housed correct? It appears to be leaking from the bottom of that plate, running into the trunk and then making it's way forward and then under the rear seat. The seal on the trunk is there, but not good. The trunk lid itself is bare of any seal (it's an aftermarket replacement but fits well).

As for #3, yeah I know but it's really hard to discribe. I can try to describe better how it sounds, how it responds/acts and so on, but I don't know if that'll help you.

#5 I would have to say yes, it is running rich. I get 16mpg with 100% stop-and-go, in-town driving. I get about 20mpg on the few longer highway trips I've made with it. I know I have one bad hose which is the bellow that connects from the car body to the air cleaner. It's there, but split. I understand this is NLA. I did notice the other day that the rubber oil filler tube has some cracks in it. I'll check all the tubes/hoses and just start replacing them from the worst to the not so bad. I'm sure they're all getting old and worn out.

As for the intake air runners, are we talking about those little cloth tubes that connect the top of the runners to the center intake (plenium?)? They were replaced a couple years ago and I was given another replacement set by the p.o., but I couldn't tell how it was connected and didn't want to pull the runners off to find out.

When searching for local VW people that could enlighten me someone referred me to this site for your x-country tour specifically. I didn't have the funds by the sign-up date so I didn't think I could get on this year's list. I've lurked around because when I asked for help on thesamba, I found many of the people there to be jerks and the opposite of newbie friendly.

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Amskeptic
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Post by Amskeptic » Tue Aug 12, 2008 11:09 am

sad_rocc wrote: Thanks for the quick response!
Yeah, that was then, this is now. I had to . . . drive to Oklahoma from CA since we last chatted.
sad_rocc wrote: I felt along the bottom of the door but did not feel a drain hole.
This is not about "feeling along". This is about getting down and looking, closely even. They are tucked under the seal and you cannot miss them when you look. They have crescent openings. Cleaning them out is the difficult part. I do recommend that you take off the door panels. The clips are readily available, but as usual, they are cheap crap.

sad_rocc wrote:I assumed it was coming in from the trunk. I don't think it is coming in from the channel itself, as the wettest place seems to be just in front of the vent opening. Maybe the water is wicking up the carpet but the majority of the water doesn't pool in the vent opening, but just ahead of it.
Like I said, this can be tricky. You must use diagnostic talents and an understanding of gravity, airflow and even capillary action (as per your "carpet wicking" query). You might even have to get the car dried out, stripped down and sit in the thing while the car gets seriously doused and look look look.

sad_rocc wrote:How does the armrest detatch?
Door armrests should have three long self-tapping phillips screws coming up diagonally. The rear armrests are held on with two 10mm nuts accessible only after removing the lower side panels blocked by the rear seat. Yay! This is fun.
sad_rocc wrote: For the trunk, I'm referring to the rear one. The seal on the trunk is there, but not good.
You Fastback people must be specific with your plethora of trunks. Either way, replace any bad seal. Even if it is expensive, it is less than the damage now occurring.
sad_rocc wrote: That plate on the driver's side is where my ECU is housed correct? It appears to be leaking from the bottom of that plate, running into the trunk and then making it's way forward and then under the rear seat.
Fix that too. Be creative if necessary.
sad_rocc wrote: I get 16mpg with 100% stop-and-go, in-town driving. I get about 20mpg on the few longer highway trips I've made with it.
You will know that you have it squared away when you get 26mpg on the highway.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

sad_rocc
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Post by sad_rocc » Sun Aug 17, 2008 9:10 am

Got the doorpanel off and the drainhole I found was the very front bottom corner of the door. Cleaned out the crap in there, dried it out and added a layer of paint after sanding down some surface rust. I also used some gasket maker on the ecu area to hopefully seal that up. I scraped out the old trunk seal and used weatherstripping to reseal.

The voltage regulator is still as shiney as when it was new, even the spade connections are shiney. But, the car died last night and won't restart. Battery totally drained. I'm wondering if my generator failed. I'm hoping it has a warranty as it's less than a year old. Gonna break out the fancy multimeter and start testing everything I guess.

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Amskeptic
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Post by Amskeptic » Sun Aug 17, 2008 9:40 pm

sad_rocc wrote: Got the doorpanel off and the drainhole I found was the very front bottom corner of the door. Cleaned out the crap in there, dried it out and added a layer of paint after sanding down some surface rust. I also used some gasket maker on the ecu area to hopefully seal that up. I scraped out the old trunk seal and used weatherstripping to reseal.
Excellent. Dive in. The water's great. . . errrrr, outside of the car.
sad_rocc wrote: The voltage regulator is still as shiney as when it was new, even the spade connections are shiney. But, the car died last night and won't restart. Battery totally drained. I'm wondering if my generator failed. I'm hoping it has a warranty as it's less than a year old. Gonna break out the fancy multimeter and start testing everything I guess.
If the car can run itself once started, and even fire up the headlamps and remain running, the generator is working. You may have a short draining the battery. Try charging it up, next time you let the car sit for any number of days, remove the negative battery cable. If the battery holds a charge through that time, that would suggest a short.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

sad_rocc
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Post by sad_rocc » Mon Aug 18, 2008 1:24 pm

It runs fine with the glowing gen light and starts up without issue, however a quick run to the store at night with the headlights on did it in. I don't think I made it more than a mile. Typically the car sits Fri night until Mon morning and other than issue #3 (which I'm starting to think may be related to a damp distributor cap), it has no problems starting.

I took it to a garage and the verdict was a dead/dying generator. Not too surprising as it was a non-bosch rebuild. CIP1 has been quite helpful so far tracking down the warranty info on it. I love their lack of a phone menu to wade through. It should be a 1yr, 12k mi warranty, but we'll see. I hate taking it to a garage for something so simple, but I needed someone to work on it today while I worked at my job, as it's my DD. Do you think a short or something may be killing the generator? I know having that dot lined up with the generator band is very important and it was.

I had the exact same symptoms when my gen died less than a year ago. It put out a charge, but about half of what it was supposed to be putting out.

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Amskeptic
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Post by Amskeptic » Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:24 pm

sad_rocc wrote: Do you think a short or something may be killing the generator? I know having that dot lined up with the generator band is very important and it was.

I had the exact same symptoms when my gen died less than a year ago. It put out a charge, but about half of what it was supposed to be putting out.
Well, it has only been five weeks,but I'll respond anyway.
Generators are usually on/off, they work or they don't. They don't have nice little half failures like the diodes in an alternator.

But, a weak generator output is so very often the result of not polarizing the magnets, a critical first step with the installation of any new generator.
Colin Anybody there? there? there?
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

sad_rocc
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Location: Albany NY
Contact:
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Post by sad_rocc » Wed Oct 22, 2008 6:10 am

Can you be sure to check out this thread? http://itinerant-air-cooled.com/viewtopic.php?t=5070

More generator woes. I do not know of this polarizing of magnets that you are referring to, but I don't think it was done.

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