How Hot Is Too HOT!! Did i Over Heat My Motor?!

kangaboy · Post by **kangaboy** » Thu Sep 11, 2003 8:57 am

well i dont wanna make it a baja untill i find another body. the apron looks really good, it is new, but it is just to close to the muffler. we had a hell of a time getting the motor in the beast. anyway, my two hoses look like crap. i got electrical tape around one and the other is shot. do i have to go to a vw shop to get these, or can i get them from the auto stores? also, i dont know if i told you this or not, but the seal on the left side of the motor is no good. the rubber cant ride on the tim because it is too far away, it bowed out in the accident. so hot air can get right up in there. maybe it is just a combonation of all the little things. when the motor starts up and goes, it is like it is perfect, no hesitation, never misses, strong through shifts, so i think i am alright in the loing run so far.

73fback · Post by **73fback** » Thu Sep 11, 2003 10:40 am

If you don't have all the tins in place and that many holes to allow air to get in, I would suggest doing the baja thing sooner than later. You can probably drive around the neighborhood with little negative affects as it is, a couple of longer drives and you engine will be no more.

Find some way to plug those gaps, maybe spray foam?

kangaboy · Post by **kangaboy** » Thu Sep 11, 2003 3:16 pm

yeah, so far all i use it for is a couple of ten minute drives to work a week. i dont think i will be taking it on the two hour drive home anytime soon. also right now i dont have the money to make it a baja. one that looks decent anyway. (tires, muffler, cage,etc.)

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Sep 11, 2003 9:07 pm

is your motor clean or was it covered in a bunch of oil? i've seen oil coolers get blocked up. i imagine you would have seen that if you took your doghouse to change the gen, but its worth a thought.

kangaboy · Post by **kangaboy** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 8:40 am

i got a little more oil than i used to. after that first night when it over heated really bad, it melted some of the form-a-gasket i had on it. so i have a few more leaks than i used to. but the fan was clean and so was the in side of the doghouse. do you think that the oil cooler could have got cloged up though? i dont really know how but i guess it its possible? still dont have the damn number. every time i come home from work i forget to get it. it is like a ten minute walk to find it to. but ill get it. and what do you think of all the little things i said, do you think that that could be the problem? and where can i get some of those hoses?

Joe

73fback · Post by **73fback** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 9:11 am

You can get the hoses at any auto parts place. Just get the right diameter, otherwise they are generic.

JC-ATL · Post by **JC-ATL** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 10:35 am

The more I read this thread, the more I realize that what you might have here is a combination of several problems that, overall, are contributing to your overheating. From your posts:

and i think the dist itself was a little off.

PS: the dist was messed with after the wreck and before the over heating.

And you mentioned a couple other timing figures as well. So the first thing I'd do is figure out what distributor you actually have, what it's supposed to be timed to, and time it there.

there is a gap in between the left side of the engine compartment and the tin.

also could the cooling be doing bad because the engine compartment was crumpled, and now it has a few gaps inbetween the tin and the body?

Do whatever you must to seal the bottom of the engine from the top. Spray foam and aluminum tape are cheap, and will do an adequate job. Yes, it's a jury-rig, and won't look pretty, but pretty doesn't mean crap if your engine melts.

well i found out that the flaps cant be causing the problem. i didnt even put them one, or the thermostat.

This, while not a cause, can be a contributing factor, as mentioned in one of Max's excellent posts.

my two hoses look like crap. i got electrical tape around one and the other is shot.

Which means you're likely blowing warm air directly from your shroud into the engine compartment, certainly another contributor to your overwarm conditions.

Also, since you mentioned removing your carb, go ahead and check how it's adjusted - you may have moved something and are running lean. Maybe not lean enough to be the main cause, but again, a contributing factor.

If you check and fix all of these things, I'd bet that your overheating problems, if not going away completely, would at least be mitigated.

Max Welton · Post by **Max Welton** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 11:16 am

JC-ATL wrote:If you check and fix all of these things, I'd bet that your overheating problems, if not going away completely, would at least be mitigated.

... leaving whatever damage the repeated and apparently severe overheating episodes have done to your heads and valves.

JC-ATL · Post by **JC-ATL** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 1:58 pm

Hey, he didn't ask what he SHOULD do, just how to fix his overheating problems. I, too, believe that he should tear it down to see what the damage is, but you have to admit, after reading some of these responses, that seems unlikely to happen.

Max Welton · Post by **Max Welton** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 2:42 pm

Yup. Jake nailed it a while back.

MASSIVE TYPE IV wrote:Tear it down.

dr. no · Post by **dr. no** » Sun Sep 14, 2003 3:11 pm

If you gotta drive and don't have the time/place to tear it down (for some of us these are our CARS, not hobbies) you need to at least do a full "tune-up" procedure. With the engine cold check and adjust the valves, set the carb at the starting point (two and a half turns out from seat if it is a 34 pict), set the point gap, check the choke, seal what engine compartment holes you have and see that nothing is in the fan and that it is not loose. While the engine is warming, make sure there is air blowing out the back bottom tin and the belt is not slipping. With the enine warm check the timing and point gap and re-set the carb. These are procedures that should be done every month or two anyway for a daily driver.

As far as "why", I'll put money down that its either timing or carb (or maybe a slipping fan). If you have a vacuum can on your dizzy it's not a 009 (at least not on the inside), but either way you can set the timing "dynamically" with full advance at 29-30 BTDC (engine at 2500-3000RPM). You may have a vaccuum leak at the base of the carb or manifold. Just leaks in the engine compartment should not give you this much overheating.

kangaboy · Post by **kangaboy** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 8:37 am

alright, this topic kind of died, so i hope you remember what we were talking about. but anywhat the number on the dist is,

drum roll please!!!! JFU4
0231170034 043 905 205
also since i have been gone, i hve changed the spark plugs and checked the valves. valve clearance is still good but when i took out those plugs, i have never seen a worse spark plug in my life, it hadn't even been two months before i changed tham.. three of them were coated in sute(sp) and the third was wet and smelled like gas. (not firing?) well it was running like crap before i put those new plugs in but when i got those new ones in it ran like it was brand new. well on my way home from work that night it started to run like crap again. i think the plugs are already fouled! is that possible for them to get fouled in ten minutes of driving to work? anyway how do i fix this? now i m running on three cyls. and i hope i will be able to get this thing back on all fours with some help. thanks so far guys.

joe

dr. no · Post by **dr. no** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 9:36 pm

Fouled like that means too rich--go back to the carb. It can foul in ten minutes.

kangaboy · Post by **kangaboy** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 10:59 am

so how do i fix that? what do i do to adjust it?

Post by **Marc** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 2:13 pm

dr. no wrote:... If you have a vacuum can on your dizzy it's not a 009....

Max Welton wrote:... AFAIK no 009 ever included a vacuum advance. It would be nice to know if I am mistaken. What are the numbers on the distributor?

I don't know where Joe got the idea that a `74 distributor was an 009 (perhaps from some conversation where it was being compared to one - the centrifugal curves are similar) but this points out the folly of referring to distributors by the last 3 digits only. The centrifugal-advance-only distributor everyone means when they say "009" is a 0 231 178 009...the stock vacuum-only unit used in 1966/67 was a 0 231 137 009.

Marc wrote:... I'm guessin' there's a problem with the timing, if it's retarded she'll run hot. If the point gap closes up and increases the dwell, that will also retard the timing...

So, I've read through the thread a couple times now and I still don't see a direct answer - HAVE YOU CHECKED THE DWELL? Your symptoms all match those of insufficient point gap - it'll keep running, worse and worse, until the dwell gets up to 70° or so....