Rich running

[jadney@vwtype3.org (Melissa & Jim)]

>I have a '71 FI square that appears to be running rich. When I start in the 
morning a 
>large cloud of smoke pours out of the exaust. After about 1 minute, the exaust 
>clears-up.
>
>Also, I've noticed that when I stop, sometimes the exaust will waft up to 
the driver's 
>window and it will have a strong gas smell. Gas mileage is about 20 mpg in 
city.

Your mileage is not far off the mark, but the smell could have a number of 
sources.  Here are some possibilities:

1)  Your fuel overflow hose is cracked.  If you find that your car dribbles 
gas out behind the right front wheel whenever you top up the tank, even 
though you are very careful not to spill, then you need a replacement 
311-201-179A.

2) You may have cracked, leaking fuel lines.  Look everything over carefully 
while the engine is running.  Any wet or dripping fuel hoses are an 
indication that you need to replace your lines.  If so, do them all; the 
ones that seem fine now will leak by the time you are done manhandling them 
to replace the others.

3) You may actually be running a bit rich.  If your voltage regulator is old 
it may be regulating at a lower voltage than your D-Jetronic FI needs and 
this will make it run rich.  Voltage should be 14.1 - 14.4 V at the battery 
at 2000 RPM.  It will measure 1/2 V more at the generator and 1/2 V less at 
the fuse box.
If yours is low, replace it with a genuine Bosch.

If you don't understand what might be necessary to do or to check any of 
these, get a Bentley manual and study it, or get help.  Otherwise you can 
get yourself into lots of trouble, expense, and/or heartache.

Jim
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       Melissa Kepner                                    Jim Adney
       jadney@vwtype3.org              jadney@vwtype3.org
                             Laura Kepner-Adney
                             Madison, Wisconsin
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