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1977 fuel injected camper no get up and go.
Posted: Sun May 07, 2017 10:35 am
by markannenorton
1977 Westfalia with rebuilt motor. Has been on several 300 mile trips. Went on 745 mile trip 2 weeks ago . Ran fine. 16 mpg. Camped for 3 days. As soon as we left to come home decreased power. Average speed 45 mph. Struggled to get up hills. Dropped to 11 mpg. Checked spark plugs. Spark plugs lean looking. Checked fuel filter several times, at first clean then saw some fine debris on third check. Thought trash got by filter, and stopped up fuel injectors. Limped 745 miles home with average speed dropping 35 mph. Switched fuel injectors. Fuel pump working with 35 lbs. of fuel pressure. Valves adjusted. All okay. Compression test -120 lbs. on all four cylinders. Has electronic ignition, flame thrower coil, checked Ohms on coil, and they were good. Switched spark plugs, drained fuel tank. Starts fine. Idles fine. When you increase RPM's it flattens out and doesn't have any power.
Re: 1977 fuel injected camper no get up and go.
Posted: Sun May 07, 2017 12:55 pm
by airkooledchris
markannenorton wrote: ↑Sun May 07, 2017 10:35 am
1977 Westfalia with rebuilt motor. Has been on several 300 mile trips. Went on 745 mile trip 2 weeks ago . Ran fine. 16 mpg. Camped for 3 days. As soon as we left to come home decreased power. Average speed 45 mph. Struggled to get up hills. Dropped to 11 mpg. Checked spark plugs. Spark plugs lean looking. Checked fuel filter several times, at first clean then saw some fine debris on third check. Thought trash got by filter, and stopped up fuel injectors. Limped 745 miles home with average speed dropping 35 mph. Switched fuel injectors. Fuel pump working with 35 lbs. of fuel pressure. Valves adjusted. All okay. Compression test -120 lbs. on all four cylinders. Has electronic ignition, flame thrower coil, checked Ohms on coil, and they were good. Switched spark plugs, drained fuel tank. Starts fine. Idles fine. When you increase RPM's it flattens out and doesn't have any power.
When you checked the timing, was it still within spec or had it changed and needed adjustment?
Have you checked to see what your electronic ignition unit is putting your dwell at? On a previous bus I swapped back over to points when the electronic pickup unit started getting wonky on me.
Re: 1977 fuel injected camper no get up and go.
Posted: Sun May 07, 2017 2:21 pm
by SlowLane
Suggest you check that the mechanical advance mechanism in your distributor is giving you full advance at 3000 RPM and is also settling back down to correct advance at idle. A partial dissassembly, cleaning, lubing and reassembly worked wonders for my dizzy years ago. When you consider how old the grease is in these original distributors, it's no wonder how well they respond to a little tlc.
Best of luck sorting this out.
Re: 1977 fuel injected camper no get up and go.
Posted: Tue May 09, 2017 6:54 am
by Bleyseng
Yeah, that would be my guess too. Check that the dizzy is advancing and clean the weights.
Re: 1977 fuel injected camper no get up and go.
Posted: Tue May 09, 2017 8:27 am
by sgkent
classic electronic ignition failure symptoms - been thru it on three or four cars in my life - no power and fuel economy goes to heck. ALTHOUGH the prior posts on checking your timing are quite dead on as to where you should start. What you may see is that the timing scatters all over the place. If you see that then it is a sign the electronic ignition is the culprit. The timing should be precise and correct. It should advance and fall back smoothly like the prior posters, Slow Lane, Bleyseng, & AirKooledChris mentioned. You also mention looking like a lean mixture. Anytime a mixture gets really lean It will misfire and throw unburned fuel out the tailpipe accounting for both a loss of power and poor fuel economy. A test for vacuum leaks is in order too. Torn boot, bad S-boot, hose that popped off etc.
Re: 1977 fuel injected camper no get up and go.
Posted: Thu May 11, 2017 9:02 am
by Amskeptic
markannenorton wrote: ↑Sun May 07, 2017 10:35 am
1977 Westfalia with rebuilt motor. Has been on several 300 mile trips. Went on 745 mile trip 2 weeks ago . Ran fine. 16 mpg. Camped for 3 days. As soon as we left to come home decreased power. Average speed 45 mph. Struggled to get up hills. Dropped to 11 mpg. Checked spark plugs. Spark plugs lean looking. Checked fuel filter several times, at first clean then saw some fine debris on third check. Thought trash got by filter, and stopped up fuel injectors. Limped 745 miles home with average speed dropping 35 mph. Switched fuel injectors. Fuel pump working with 35 lbs. of fuel pressure. Valves adjusted. All okay. Compression test -120 lbs. on all four cylinders. Has electronic ignition, flame thrower coil, checked Ohms on coil, and they were good. Switched spark plugs, drained fuel tank. Starts fine. Idles fine. When you increase RPM's it flattens out and doesn't have any power.
Where'd you go? All this good advice.
My additional observation is that lean plugs do not suggest ignition misfire so much as fuel delivery issues. You have pressure readings, yes, but you also have volume specification. Check volume with a warm fuel pump, warm engine. You might have a pump that is failing when electrically warm.
Please don't limp home again like that. It could damage your engine. I understand the circumstances can be compelling, but . . .
