Re: [T3] never a dull moment....

["Jim Adney" <jadney@vwtype3.org>]

On 10 Nov 99, at 10:02, mark kaylor wrote:

> well i must say i've never had so many frustrating experiences related to 
> any car in my life.  my square is really testing my patience.
> i'm tired of dealing with the starting situation, so now i disconnect the 
> ground strap on the battery every time the car will be sitting for awhile.  
> and it works. go figure. as far as i can tell there's no shorts but its the 
> only thing that assures my car will start right up in the morning.

When you take your ground cable off, insert an ammeter in there 
and measure what kind of current you have between the (-) battery 
post and ground. That will tell you if there is an unexpected drain.

I once bought a car where the PO had installed a great new stereo, 
but didn't know what they were doing. They installed it with all the 
hot leads always hot so the digital display was on all the time. This 
ran the battery down every few days. Of course they threw away 
the owner's manual (and why not? We weren't going to follow it 
anyway!) so I had no way to figure out the correct wiring.

> i'm running 92 octane exon gas, that's the best stuff we have around here.
> now i looked at the idiot manual for some diagnosis, and i think i can count 
> out rod knock since he assocites this with letting off the gas going uphill. 
>   my car only makes noise when the gas is ON.

Noises are really very subjective to describe in words. It is very 
hard to convey to someone else which noises are harmless and 
which are terminal. In the long run you will just come to know 
which are normal for your engine and which are new. In general, 
new noises mean that something has changed, and if that change 
is internal (not just a loose muffler heat shield flap! then is may be 
cause for concern.
 
> another question, this seems really dumb on my part but what the hell.
> the last time i did my valves i remember being a little confused.
> i have a 1970 fi square.  according to muir, after doing #1 "rotate the 
> engine counterclockwise until you come to the next timing mark", 

Muir should have said to rotate to the next GROUP of timing 
marks, or to the next place where it looks like such a group could 
have gone. There is only one GROUP, but there is a 2nd place for 
a group 180 deg from the GROUP. Thus you turn the crank 180 
deg between each valve adjustment.

You can either turn the engine forward (CW), my preference, and 
adjust the valves in the firing order: 1432, 4321, 3214, or 2143.

Or you can turn the engine backwards (CCW and adjust them in 
reverse firing order: 1234, 2341, 3412, or 4123.

> and one last thing...could my engine noise have anything to do 
> with the fact that my oil is really really beat, as in black, very 
> runny, and very full of gas?  just wondering.... 

If your charging voltage is normal (above 13.5V) and everything is 
hooked up correctly then you should not be running too rich. Still, 
measure your gas mileage. That will tell you a lot. 

You DO need to change the oil periodically, too. ;-)

Jim
-
Jim Adney     jadney@vwtype3.org
    Madison WI USA

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