Bought a brand new VW beetle in 1964. In anthracite grey it was an absolute beauty. Total price was £624.00. Yes....six hundred and 24 pounds.
Bought it from kays of Derby.
Everything wonderful until one day with about 5000 on the clock I checked the engine oil and horror. It was about two inches above the normal level.
Well I'm sure you know the beetle was air cooled so it could only be petrol which was getting into the sump. back to main dealer Kays and saw Mr Phillips the service Manager. When I told him the problem he threw his hands in the air with horror. "Oh no.... we had one about three months ago with exactly the same problem. We had that car in time after time, did everything to cure it. VW even flew over a valve to go in the fuel line from the tank at the front to the engine at the rear to prevent the petrol siphoning when it was standing into the carb and flooding."
"Surely I said the obvious place to look would be the fuel pump which sits on the top of the flat four engine sump." Course it is said Mr Phillips we changed that twice" Did you finally cure it I said, "Yes we did he said, the trouble is that we still don't know what it was we did which finally cured it"
Exactly the same scenario followed. Kays were very good they had it in for a couple of days, lent me a car and away they went. Every couple of days I had the car back, regular oil changes in the garage where I worked and each time the level kept rising with petrol. To cut a long story short they cured it and again they didn't know how and the problem went away.
Several years later in unusual circumstances I met the ex manager of another Midlands main VW dealer and began to tell him the story. I didn't get far before he stopped me. "I know the story, you kept taking it back etc etc. I'll tell you what it was"
Come on lads..... give your theory. A signed new style photo from HJ for the winner.
Alvin
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I do know of a maddening water in fuel problem with the VW 1600 Fastback of the era, where they Type 3s ?
Something to do with a route for rainwater from a vent or somewhere that allowed water into the tank with associated poor running.
Often many garage/dealer trips needed to find that one as well.
But to your fuel query....not the missus filling the car up with fuel through the oil cap?
If not I give up! Oh if I was right I'd pass on the photo, send it to a charity auction to go with their collection of Quentin photos....will no-one bid for them?
David
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A split diaphragm in the mechanical fuel pump?
When this topic has been milked to death I'll tell you about a Peugeot 404 I once had, which had a problem very much like engine "hunting" under drive load at certain speeds - not yet, though. Let's see what we all make of Alvin's problem first.
Byee!
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The dip stick was from another vehicle and was too short?
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Water in the oil. All sorts of things lead to this. Combustion, condensation, breather system and so on. An engine used for short, cold runs can accumulate enough emulsified water in the oil to raise the level. A good fast run, getting the oil hot enough to evaporate the water usually lowers the level.
This means that someone pottering around town for a year or so might never have to top the oil up. The oil used has been replaced by water. The next hot run results in a low oil level.
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Good try lads but none of you are winners.
The ex VW main dealer whom I mention was actually a German although he spoke better English than myself which isn't that difficult!!!
What he said was...." Don't just think that there was your car and the other man you spoke of. This happened across the world in all countries where the Beetle was sold. The problem was a small red fibre washer in the fuel pump, but what you have to remember is that VW source their components from many sub-contractors and fuel pumps for the Beetle were made by several companies. These fibre washers cracked and somehow allowed petrol to run down into the sump. But they were all made by the one company.
Dealers who had this problem bought to them changed the fuel pump immediately as it was the obvious thing to go for. But of course in many cases the new replacement ones off the shelf were made by the same sub-contractor and quickly failed. This made them start looking for another reason why the sump should be filling with petrol. Eventually they probably changed the pump for another new one MADE BY ANOTHER SUPPLIER but by this time they had done so much other work on the car that when success was achieverd they were not sure how they had cured the problem. VW eventually recognised what was happening and informed all dealers around the world what was happening"
Sorry none of you won lads. HJs picture will now be sold off for charity.
regards
Alvin
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I'll swap it for a moderately thumbed paperback of Pam Ayres Greatest Peotry Hits, circa 1974.
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