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On 8 Jun 2003 at 4:16, Chris J Valade wrote: > 30psi? I thought 28psi is what I wanted? 68-9 were 28, 70-3 was 30. > I put a piece of cardboard between the open points, connected the > timing light to the negative/1 of the coil, grounded the other end on the > car, then when i touched the wire to the condensor onto the ground of the > timing light, the light stayed on. But if I grounded the light to the > condensor wire itself, the light didn't turn on. Also, when I had the > positive on the condensor wire and grounded it to the engine, the light > stayed on no matter where or how much I turned the engine. Is this > normal? Or does it mean something is shorted, shot, etc? Not sure what you're describing here. I think you're not using a "timing light," you using a "test light" which just indicates the presence of voltage. I gather that you're trying to static time your engine and it's not working, so you did these tests. Really, all you need to do to test this is to connect the test light across the points (like you had them above: coil minus to ground) and then turn the engine over and see if the light goes on and off as the engine turns. It should. It should be on any time the points are open and off whenever they are closed. If the light is always on the points aren't closing, or there is a break in the wire somewhere. If the light never comes on, the points aren't opening, or there is a short to ground, around the points, somewhere. > I then was looking at the points, and I noticed they are too > tight (a .3mm wouldn't fit when they were fully open...I couldn't check > with a .4mm or adjust them since .3mm is the biggest I have right now). > Then, I cleaned off the rotor tip with a pocket knife and went to check > the dwell, and when I did that the car nearly started for a split > second--my father believes I may need a new rotor and/or dist cap, but I > wanted to get an opinion from the list. Anyhow, I tested the dwell and > got 74--well, this could be wrong: is the meter supposed to stay at the > reading, or jump to it, go back to zero and not move again? We did it > multiple times and it jumped to the same reading. I know this is going to > be high though since the points are too close. You're reading this while cranking the engine with the starter, right? Normally, the dwell meter should give you a good averaged reading which stays pretty steady, but if the rpm is slow there may be significant needle "wiggle." The real number will be somewhere in the middle of the needle travel. You will get a better number once the engine is running. Yes, 74 is too high. You are shooting for something in the range of 45-55. > Would the dwell being at 74 and/or the fuel pressure being at > 34+psi prevent the engine from starting? Probably not. > I was still unable to get a spark from the big wire from the coil > to the dist, which bothers me...especially since I got it before and I > have tried about 3 different grounds, one of which I used to get a result > from. Any ground will be good enough for a HV spark. It's kind of like the 600 lb gorilla; it will go wherever it wants to. > Would a leak from the crankshaft seal also cause oil to form > droplets and to drip from the two frontmost bolts on the crankcase? Any > suggestions on how to track down the source of the leaks? It's possible. To find out the leak source, wipe off everything as well as you can and then come back later and see where the fresh oil is coming from. > I got a compression gauge, but couldn't do a compression check > since the one I got was too short, so I had to return it and will have to > do it tomorrow with a different gauge. Yes, this is a problem. Snap On makes one which is long enough, but there are a lot of types out there which won't work. Beetles have less reach to their plugs than we do, so even most gauges sold for VWs won't work for us. > I also couldn't check the fuel pressure again since I don't have a > proper fuel pressure gauge...anyone know where I can find a good priced > fuel pressure gauge? Maybe I should just get and install a dash one. I'd just buy a 30 or 50 psi gauge at a hardware store. I recommend against dash gauges for this because this is seldom a problem and the plumbing for such a gauge is much more likely to cause a problem than to solve one. -- ******************************* Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, Wisconsin, USA ******************************* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org