Itinerant Air-Cooled

So some developments. I pretty sure there's not a vacuum leak, but an ignition issue. About a week and a half ago, after getting my driver's side door back together after the accident, I took Greta out for a drive and something triggered in my mind to reconsider the ignition. Put my son in the driver's seat, had him maintain low, idle-like RPMs, and started pulling plug wires. Sure enough, #2 cylinder wire showed no difference in the engine idle.

I had to leave on a business trip the next morning so no luck diving further, but at least some progress. I'll try a bit more investigating tomorrow, but it's the 4th and then we leave on a family vacation on the 5th so probably not addressed again before mid-month. Love to hear a plan of attack though.

BTW, my new door after that accident:

I guess I should update this thread and call the issue as solved. Colin visited me this past weekend and we sorted out the isssue ailing me as a bad fuel injector. Swapped for a spare and back running on all four cylinders and idling again. Happy days!

Ronin10 wrote:I guess I should update this thread and call the issue as solved. Colin visited me this past weekend and we sorted out the isssue ailing me as a bad fuel injector. Swapped for a spare and back running on all four cylinders and idling again. Happy days!

So, tell the readership about this "bad fuel injector" so that they might avoid such consternation and aggravation and potential engine damage not to mention the mental anguish . . .
Colin

Aye, aye Cap'n...

So the symptoms were that the engine wouldn't idle without the driver feathering the gas to keep the RPMs up. Seemed like a substantial vacuum leak, but with new hoses and tubing all around that was unlikely. Checked anyway (multiple times) and couldn't find a leak source. At one point, I was sitting in the driver's seat, waiting for the engine to warm up, and it occurred (divine inspiration perhaps) to me that the engine was running uneven, i.e. a cylinder was out. Plunked my son into the driver's seat and had him hold idle-like RPMs while I started pulling wires at the plugs to see if I was getting spark to all the cylinders. Every cylinder had a spark, but when I pulled the plug for #2, there was no drop off in RPMs, hence that's the bad cylinder. This was maybe 4-6 weeks ago. Travel and general "too busy-ness" ensued and I wasn't able to progress with diagnosis until Colin arrived for my IAC visit.

We did some other stuff first, but once we got my engine in we did the obligatory recheck for vacuum leaks, then swapped the #1 and #2 injectors. Sure enough the problem followed the injector so that when we now pulled the #1 plug wire, the engine showed no drop off in RPMs. This was a spare set of injectors that I had sent off to Cruzin' Performance for refurbishment back when I rebuilt the engine over the winter so I was a little disappointed to find out that one of them was bad. We dug out one of my old ones and replaced it for the now bad injector and bingo! all four cylinders running.

If I recall correctly, Colin said that last five or six (?) bad injectors he has come across have ALL been Cruzin' Performance refurbs. Might be a time for the greater ACVW community to find an alternate refurbisher and to stay on top of injector cleaner additives as you go through your regular maintenance.

Ronin10 wrote: If I recall correctly, Colin said that last five or six (?) bad injectors he has come across have ALL been Cruzin' Performance refurbs. Might be a time for the greater ACVW community to find an alternate refurbisher ...

WitchHunter Performance did a fine job on my injectors. Fast turnaround too.

SlowLane wrote:

Ronin10 wrote: If I recall correctly, Colin said that last five or six (?) bad injectors he has come across have ALL been Cruzin' Performance refurbs. Might be a time for the greater ACVW community to find an alternate refurbisher ...

WitchHunter Performance did a fine job on my injectors. Fast turnaround too.

Would you bless them to the Known To Be Acceptable sticky?
Colin