UPRIGHT ENGINES w/ SOLEX CARBS
On the trip home from Mr Appleby's last Memorial Day, Moonbeam (1966 Type II) earned her new name: FLAMING MOONBEAM. She did this by exploding into flames as Kevin was driving her on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
The culprit in this case was familiar to me, as I had caught fire in the Stephmobile (a 67 type I) in downtown Cincinnatti the summer before from the same cause, but at the time I thought it was a fluke.
No fluke, folks. We went through a box of carburetors here at the junkyard and all but one suffer from the same problem. Check it out on your vehicle.
Learn or burn.
The gas line to the carb on upright VW engines fastens to a brass tube that is pressed into the carb. What apparently happens is electrolysis between dissimilar metals, resulting in (my guess) aluminum oxidation around the tube. When this tube becomes loose enough, the fuel pressure can force it out of the carb, and now you are spraying gasoline onto the hot engine just as fast as your fuel pump will supply it. There's that telltale HWUMPHHHH sound, and then flames and smoke. Lotsa each.
Solution 1:
Here's my solution: remove the tube and clean it up. Get some Loctite (or similar product) and use it liberally in re-installing the tube. You may want to use a hammer and punch to deform the tube about 1/4 inch from the end being re-inserted into the carb.
Solution 2:
Here's a solution from the VW Museum: Leave the tube in place, and using a moderately sharp nail as a punch, make 8 or 10 indentations in the aluminum of the carb around the periphery of the tube (right where you see the tube disappear into the carb). The theory here is to deform the aluminum so it presses against the tube.
Solution 3:
Here's Kevin's solution and it's how Flaming Moonbeam is even today: get some mechanic's wire and tie the gas line and the hose clamp to the carb so there isn't any slack and if the tube comes loose, it's not going anywhere.
When I use solution 1 on a carb, I slop enough Loctite around the joint so I will recognize it when I next work on the engine. The latter 2 methods are sufficiently visible on their own. This repair is now performed on every engine that comes through the shop, unless it looks like its already been done.
Kevin carries a fire extinguisher now. I carry a fire extinguisher now. You should carry one, too.
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LATE MODEL VW BUSES ( 73- )
Just got a pretty disturbing phone call, and I'm not real sure if what follows is a bona-fido VW fire hazard, so you be the judge.
Here at the Junkyard we get a lot of calls from people all around the country, some looking for parts, some looking to find homes for old and worn-out vehicles, and some just to get free advice. Usually free VW-related advice, but not always.
But in this case, it was a call from Patty in North Carolina. Her bus had caught fire and been generally destroyed, the gas tank having become involved. Nobody was hurt but that was just luck. And when she told me the story, I got a bad bad feeling that that might not be the end of it, so listen up.
About 8 months ago of a Saturday morning, someone had the radio on public broadcasting and those car guys were on; you know who I mean. I don't listen to them much any more, having developed philosophical differences with their agenda over the years, but on that morning one of the callers had a problem with a 76 Type II that got my attention.
The complaint was a gas smell in the back where the infant daughter was wont to ride, and the problem did not capture my attention (a fumey VW is a thing forever) so much as the incredibly bad advice dished out by those condescending morons.
After belittling the bus for being obsolete - sans air bags and anti-lock brakes and electric windows, one of the pair pinned the problem on a leaking diaphragm in the fuel pump because the 76 VW bus didn't have fuel injection. Their advice was to replace the fuel pump.
I say: this is bad advice because 1975 was the year of VW fuel injection, and I don't believe I have ever seen a bus 75 or after without fuel injection. Even those buses later converted to carbs use an electric fuel pump because there is not a take-off on the block for a mechanical pump. This means that those buses generally have fuel pumps without diaphragms leaky or otherwise.
It turns out that Patty heard the broadcast, and having the same problem, she went somewhere and asked them to change the fuel pump, which - of course - they did. Unfortunately, she saw no reason to tell them why, so when her truck got back from the shop the gas smell was still there, but at least she had the peace of mind of knowing that she had taken care of the situation.
More recently, while Mario was preparing the Orange Hippie van for a trip to Florida for Spring Break. He had the same problem - a gas smell in the linen closet - and traced it down to the real cause.
The problem with both Patty's bus and the Orange Hippie was not a leak in the mythical fuel pump diaphragm. The problem is the decomposition of the rubber fuel tank filler hose at the gas tank. The gasoline smell - and the eventual *KABOOM* conflagration - come from gasoline sloshing out of the tank right back there under the linen closet by the hot engine.
Is this a common problem? I went out the yard and checked some hoses from vehicles that got scrapped this last year and my opinion is that they ALL looked suspicious. Hard to tell if they are leakers without having something in them to leak. But they all looked somewhat like Mario's old fill tube, each and every one.
Now this is a remarkably easy problem to verify. Remove the round metal cover on the side wall of the engine compartment near the regulator. With a full tank, jump up and down on the bumper, slosh that gas around in the tank, and reach right in the round opening and grab the hose.If you get gas all over your hand, why ... I guess you've got a bad diaphragm too, huh?
Replacement is a bit more involved but the replacement tubing is available at your corner parts store. Take the old one to match up.
Is this a common problem? Should you be worried? Got me. But if you smell gas in the back of your Type II and its later than a 67, you might want to check it out.
Here's an ancillary lesson: If Patty had asked the mechanic to find the gas smell instead of just ordering a new fuel pump, she might still be driving her bus around. Whenever someone calls here looking for a specific part, we try to find out why they think they need that part. In enough of the cases, it is because they have taken the advice of someone who is ignorant of old VWs or is just plain mistaken. There's a lot of that going around.
c 1996 Air Cooled Volkswagen Junkyard of Richfield, Ohio
"Where Advice Is Always Free" (216)659-3638
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