Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2010 20:25:41 -0400
Reply-To: Jonathan Poole <jfpoolio@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jonathan Poole <jfpoolio@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Adjusting the idle on '82 AC Vanagon
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Hello Samantha,
As stated, the approximately dime size flat headed screw looking thing is
what you turn to adjust the idle. This screw will be a little to the right
of the throttle body (thing that opens and closes by a pulled cable when the
gas pedal is pushed down).
If you look around inside the engine compartment you should see a little
sticker that tells you what the idle should be, and what some other tune-up
settings are for your van. This sticker may be covered in grease, or paint
but on my air cooled vanagons it has been on the drivers side of the engine
compartment.
Since you say that you are new to your air-cooled van I'm going to share a
few maintenance basics. You may want to skip these, or if someone where you
are knows them just have them show you in person instead of reading this
brief list here. If you are interested though below are a few basics that
you may want to start attending to from day one. Again, this goes beyond
setting your idle, so be warned..
One thing that you need to be doing is training your ears, nose and eyes to
be paying attention to your van. She will often let you know before a
problem get's bad that she needs something. Sometimes I have to remember to
turn off my radio, roll down the window and listen to make sure that all is
well. In the long-run you will get good at taking care of your new van and
it will bring lots of trouble free service.
Some folks say that these air-cooled vanagons can be high-maintenance,
problematic or things like that. They are probably truthfully sharing their
own experience with a poorly maintained air-cooled vw. Any old car, and
air-cooled ones as much or more than most, need to be well maintained. One
tendency of air-cooled engines though is to overheat if all is not well and
if all else is as it should be on your engine periodic tuneups and
considerate driving should be all that is needed to avoid overheating your
engine. So, consider getting familiar with doing your own tune-ups and oil
changes so that you can keep a close eye on your engine and ensure that it
is treated right. A lot of mechanics out there, no matter how good and
honest, may not have ever seen an air-cooled engine before and may not know
how to treat it, even though maintenance is often simple. After you have
done a full tune up and oil change for the first time you should be able to
duplicate the jobs easily in the future.
If you decide to do some of these things yourself you will need a few
tools. I keep a tach/dwell meter, timing light, 10 millimeter open end
wrench and a small (not tiny) to regular sized flat head screw driver on
hand for my quick tuneups. A sturdy oil catch basin that can be closed up
for returning the oil to a recycler, a 13 mm wrench and an oil filter wrench
(I prefer the type with nylon webbing) are all you need to change the oil,
besides the new oil and filter.
A lot of folks have good luck with 20w50 weight oil and mahle or mann oil
filters. When you change the oil don't worry about cleaning the screen
every time. It isn't needed and you can damage these engines by
overtightening or cross-threading the screen cover's nut. Stick to the oil
filter and drain plug only and you'll be good.
For a tune-up you start by inspecting the engine, look for leaks or
cracked/loose plastic/rubber etc. Smell for gas and look for smoke etc. If
the belt is tight, nothing is smoking/banging/leaking or looking ugly you
can proceed to the tune-up.
Next I check the point gap, since this is a wearing component. Without
getting into the details you plug in the dwell meter and hope that you are
at the recommended 47 +-3 degrees (if I remember right). Open or close the
point gap as needed using your flat-head screw driver. Again, I'm skimming
over a lot of details. You may have an electronic ignition setup which
eliminates all of this anyway.
After getting the point gap set plug in your tach and set the idle speed.
Somewhere around 800-900 rpm is what is recommended I believe. Now you can
pull out your timing light, hook it up and check your timing out at idle.
Adjust the timing by light by loosening (using that ten millimeter wrench)
and rotating the distributor until she is set up right. 7.5 at idle may be
the right setting for your engine. Reset the idle and recheck the timing as
needed. If you have an electronic ignition the timing should remain set so
you only need to check this if the van is new, or adjust it to correct a
running problem.
I usually run through these tuneup steps if the van starts to act sluggish
or before or during long trips.
There are plenty of other details to check out on a new-to-you van but most
will either beg for your attention or can wait a little while.
Good luck to you and your new van,
Jonathan Poole
'83 AC Westy
Hello, I'm new to the list and new to owning a Vanagon! I'll probably be
picking your brains a lot folks.
My VW is an 82 air cooled non diesel non westfalia van. Mr. Mustard has an
idle adjuster some where but we can't find it and neither can the other
Eurekan VW heads.
Where can I locate this elusive adjusting doo dad? And how far do i need to
adjust it?
Thank you so much!
Samantha
