Re: [T3] Engine started! As did new problems...

[Greg Merritt <gregm@vwtype3.org>]

<x-flowed>At 7:04 AM +0000 6/11/03, redyouth@juno.com wrote:
> note that I don't have an auxilary air regulator, and that the

	Hm, problems with an AAR can make the idle speed oscillate 
high and low... not sure what happens if you lack one altogether. 
Probably somebody on the list has an extra one they can get to you.

> Then just recently I was looking at the dash while it was idleing
> and I noticed that when it dropped way down the generator light
> would go on, then go off when it picked up RPMs again, so believing
> this to be because of the fan belt, I went to tighten it.  Turned

	You've got a "chicken and egg" problem.  The generator light 
is coming on because the idle speed is dropping too low.  The idle 
speed is not dropping because the generator is having trouble.

> I had noticed that somehow there is a compression leak in #3, which
> may be because I don't have the SP tight enough (a problem I have
...
> while doing this is and that is how I first pinpointed it to #3,
> besides that it sounds like it is coming from there).

	I'm not sure what you're hearing... make sure you do not 
overtighten a spark plug, or you will definitely have big problems.

> There is another air sound (probably a sucking sound) coming from

	Find a length of hose and use it as a stethoscope to find the 
exact location of the sound.  One of the hose at your ear, the other 
end probing the engine.  Works wonders.

> I then pulled each SP wire and started the car, and each time it

	On an injected car, you can instead pull each fuel injection 
connector in turn.  Less chance of a shock that way. ;)

> Another problem I had was with static timing.  When I hooked up the
> light and turned the engine the light came on before the timing mark
> and stayed on until after it passed--is it supposed to turn on right
> when it hits the mark?  If so, would I simply rotate the dist
> counterclockwise until that occurs?

	What year is your car?  If you have Muir, it will guide you 
through how to do the static timing.  If your timing is off, the car 
will not run right.  Start with this first.  It's best to have a 
timing light, but you can generally get where you need to be with the 
static method.

	If your timing is too advanced (you were turning the engine 
"forward" when you did the test, right?), then you need to rotate the 
distributor clockwise to retard the timing.

	Also, the light should stay on for as long as the points are 
open, which is a good healthy portion of the rotation of the 
crankshaft.

	Really, the timing is so important... follow the procedure in 
a manual to get it right on.  You can set this precisely, and 
independent of everything else.

	By the way -- just how tight were the valves?  One of the 
first time I tried adjusting valves, even with two of us, we had 
something out of order and the pistons were not at TDC when we made 
adjustments at each cylinder.  "Wow, the valves are sooo tight!" we 
thought.  We ended up adjusting most of the valves way, way too wide 
before we'd realized what we'd done.

	Keep at it!

-Greg

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