Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2002 09:00:21 -0500
Reply-To: Stan Wilder <wilden1@JUNO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stan Wilder <wilden1@JUNO.COM>
Subject: Re: High Octane was: what's the best kind of gasoline?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
If you want to hear how that motor sounds and you don't have anybody to
drive slow and lug the engine for you.
You can find a tall brick wall or back of a building, get as close as you
can and still open your drivers door.
Drive along the wall at the speed required to reproduce the noise you are
faintly hearing before .............. that noise will resound back at you
from that wall like its amplified. Works the same for noises on passenger
side you just need to leave the sliding door open to get the full audio.
Most detonation can be heard if you have the engine cover off and race
the engine while you're standing over it.
A good detonation test is simply to get your front wheels against a
parking stop and accelerate the van as if you were going to drive over
the parking stop. This lugs the engine pretty good and you can detect any
number of stress related noises from your van.
Knock sensors are a common topic on this list but most vanagons with
standard engines don't have them. I believe that they are on some in line
4 conversion engines.
Be wary of any knock or ping your engine develops, it can be caused by
overheating, overworking the engine or something showing its wear or that
its going to soon fail.
Then to negate everything I just wrote: There are ticking, clicking,
taping, knocking sounds that are common to VW engines, I've never heard
some of these noises from other automobile engines. A carbuerated engine
will produce a complete different range of sounds that you don't get with
an injected engine. It takes an educated ear with VW experience to
identify many of these sounds and relate them to the proper engine part
or function.
If you suspect detonation, it can be caused by carbon build up on your
piston tops and combustion chamber. Run 16 oz of Marvel mystery oil in
your next tank of gas and possibly in the second tank as well. This
should reduce the carbon deposits. There are other products that can
perform the de carbonizing and I wouldn't discard them, I just prefer the
Mystery Oil.
Stan Wilder
83 Air Cooled Westfalia
On Sun, 13 Oct 2002 13:08:33 +0100 Clive Smith
<clive.harman-smith@NTLWORLD.COM> writes:
> High speed detonation isn't pinking. You'll not hear it at full power
> on
> many engines, but it'll damage the engine in seconds flat, the
> spark plug's
> earth electrode often being the first to go (with inevitable damage
> to
> cylinder walls/rings) , then bits off the top ring land. Looking
> for
> microscopic ally spatter on the plug's ceramic insulator will
> reveal
> 'incipient' high-speed detonation - always cast a cursory eye over
> your
> plugs whenever they are out.
>
> Pinking now and again is a different set of cylinder conditions and
> doesn't
> in the short term cause a lot of damage.
>
> Clive
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Andrew Grebneff" <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Saturday, October 05, 2002 8:31 AM
> Subject: Re: High Octane was: what's the best kind of gasoline?
>
>
> > >
> > >The key is to listen for pinging. If you can't hear your motor
> very
> > >well, try warming the motor up thoroughly, then take the motor
> cover
> > >off, and drive up a fat hill in 4th. Ping? Retard the advance
> slightly.
> > >No ping. No worries.
> >
> > Be careful. Just because you can't HEAR pinging, it doesn't mean
> that
> > it itsn't happening (ie subaudibly).
> > --
> > Andrew Grebneff
> > 165 Evans St, Dunedin 9001, New Zealand
> > <andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
> > Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut
>
>
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