Franz, Chapter 2

[winifredevw]

Just pour an ounce or three of gas into the carb and crank it over, if it fires, all is well. You might have to repeat this process a few times to fill the float bowl. If it doesn't fire-up, it's time to check your spark.

You DO have a copy of John Muir's "How to keep your volkswagon alive, The Idiot's guide", right? If not, go buy the book before you purchase another part, you'll thank yourself later.

Oh, try to shy away from starting fluid, you shouldn't ever need it if everything else is even close to being right.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

"Oh, try to shy away from starting fluid; you shouldn't ever need it if everything else is even close to being right."

winifredevw is right on this, a friend and I built a medium chopper out of the '36 Harley 74 and this other guy wanted it before it was done. He tried to start it with either (starting fluid) and burnt the bike to the ground. Nasty stuff... avoid it at all costs.

Lee

[BBoudy1215]

Tried cranking it for awhile. nothing. put a little gas in the carb and it sounded like it started to catch but nothing got going. I bypassed the gas tank and just feed a tube into a gas can. nothing there either. when i took the tube off there was gas in it tho. thats a good sign. anyone think its worth taking the card apart and seeing if theres any blockage? it was exposed all winter without any lines hocked up to it. im gonna try it again tomorrow with a full battery kill it between trying it today and yesterday.

[BBoudy1215]

slight glimmer of hope and failure this morning. on the bright side of things, I forgot how to drive standard. oh the dark side of things, I think that without a tow, Franz is stuck up here.
When I woke up today, I went right out to Franz with his battery fully charged, used a gas can as for gas (wasn't sure how long it would take using gas tank or if the gas tank was the problem), turned the key and.... NOTHING! next i went round the car and reached over to the starter, got it turning and almost instantly he roared to life.
While I let him warm up i went inside to put on some shoes. Ran back out side and cleared out all the odds and ends around the car, put him in reverse and away we went. well until i didnt give it enough gas going up a slight incline and he stalled. But! no worries. threw the e-brake on, went round to start him, he lurched forward, I put him in neutral, went round, started him (its like this dance we play), hopped back in, tried going forward, he stalled, I forgot to remove the e-brake, started him again, well tried but he didnt start again. he seemed pretty hot already so i checked the oil and went this part im not so sure of.
when i checked the oil, I had lost nearly 3/4 of his capacity in only 10 minutes. and when i looked at the oil it was white looking. not sure if i had bubbles in it or what. but i figured that wasnt a good sign. so i pushed him back into place and turned him off.
I am currently out of oil and fuel (by the looks of it. the gas gauge might be working. it was on empty, I added some petrol, and it went up a tiny bit. imagine that?) so can't really do anything else with him. the way he is using oil tells me that driving him doesnt seem like a good idea. even if i out oil in every ten minutes. plus it would cost me a fortune. better off renting a u-haul.
This also make me wonder where all my gas went. If sneaks siphoned it im fine with that but im not sure he did. Did i leak a whole tank of gas or did it evaporate over the coarse of a couple of months? who know
In conclusion: Franz started. Drove for a bit. Oil looked white, almost foaming, using up a lot of oil. But STARTED!

[Lotrat]

The white stuff is just water that got into the motor. It'll bake off if you can get the motor good and hot as in a few hours on the road. A stock motor only holds 2.5 qts of oil and losing 3/4 of it is very bad. I'm not sure you can burn that much oil in 10 minutes. It would run like a smoke stack.

[fusername]

Yeah, last time Franz had missing oil it was cause he spewed it from somewhere around 34! Cylinders. In my experience he generally spews on start up, but not all the time. Top off and give it another shot. If it all vanishes again, tow time

[BBoudy1215]

well that all makes sense. I feel better with that said. I dont think it was completely full of oil so 3/4 is most likely an over estimation. I feel like it used up oil a look quicker than im used to ill get some more oil and see whats up. and based on what latrot said, a part of that oil level may have been water. Im gonna head over to that gas station after lunch and fill up the gas can with petrol. they probably wont have rotella like i normally get for oil. any other suggestion fuser? does it matter? 15-40 sound good?

[Lotrat]

...they probably wont have rotella like i normally get for oil. any other suggestion fuser? does it matter? 15-40 sound good?

Go heavy or go home. 20W-50 and run it hard. Plus it's summer. Valvoline VR1 dino oil can be picked up almost anywhere oil is sold. Any oil is better than no oil.

[fusername]

Actually I disagree. Stick to to15-40 for now. The engine is pretty new (headstud or cracked case is source of woes, it an H block) so oil pressure is fine, also heavy stuff will make it puke faster if it goes that way

[BBoudy1215]

He He! I forgot how much fun that guy is to drive. hahahaha. I am all smile. Once you get it going the leaking aint too bad. I got 10-40 for now cuz thats all they got but i can hit an auto parts store of the way home and pick up a gallon. i new i should have grabbed some when i was at autozone last. im a bit scared going home considering i got a 100+ miles to go but ill probably take route 1 home once i get to Wells. Its a nice scenic route. I hope that as long as i dont run out of gas and oil ill be good. i got a headlight out atm but im sure i can fix it in place for the ride home. (for those who dont remember, I had a bit of an incident where i was passed by my tire on the highway.... well my tire manage to punch its headlight out before passing me). i think ill let him sit for the night and take him out tomorrow morning. let yall know how it goes. The next step is to take the driver's side of the engine apart and see if i can ID the problem. gotta find some space to do that tho....
and to fuser, not sure if i answered this or not but i think i got ur injection parts. i got two bins of stuff but idk what injection stuff looks like so youll have to wait until i get home. ill park in the street next time so coachie dont get mad

[Lotrat]

Actually I disagree. Stick to to15-40 for now. The engine is pretty new (headstud or cracked case is source of woes, it an H block) so oil pressure is fine, also heavy stuff will make it puke faster if it goes that way

Here's the "official" chart. I go for the VR1 stuff based on ZDDP and price... it's only available in 20W-50.

[fusername]

In real life I agree with you on oil, but with the condition of his oil leaks I worry the right heavy weight will exasperate the oil expectoration problem.

Is the vr1 a motorcycle oil? Super expensive if it is, but that is the right stuff for our flat tappet motoers

[winifredevw]

Actually I disagree. Stick to to15-40 for now. The engine is pretty new (headstud or cracked case is source of woes, it an H block) so oil pressure is fine, also heavy stuff will make it puke faster if it goes that way

I would drain the milky-oil and re-fill with whatever engine oil you have to make the 100 mile journey, and keep tabs on your oil level during the trip. Either one of those problems fuser described above will mean a complete tear-down and maybe a new block. Just nurse it home, be gentle, and give Franzy a few rest breaks.

[fusername]

We already got him a new block courtesy of sneaks, its a big matter of finding a place to swap over parts, I am out of workspace for now

[BBoudy1215]

I currently only have another quart of oil so i am going to run what i have in it until i get new oil. should be only about a half hour drive. then ill do an oil change. probably check and add oil every 20-30 mins based on how bad it gets. i am leaving tomorrow morning. hoping to leave by 10. got quite a lot to do in the morning tho. the weather is working against me now. I have to put a nut on one of the engine studs, put on the exhaust clamps. put together the engine cage, if im lucky fix the stater problem. just a bunch of odds and ends to make sure i dont get pulled over or anything. still dont know how im gonna tackle the starter issue. dont know where that issue lies... I got the tow bar packed away just in case.
I might be able to tare the engine apart up here in Maine but I wont have any help if i do it up here... I could maybe do it outside at my home but i dont feel like doing it outside is a good idea. I dont have any place i can clear out in my garage or basement. seem like im kinda screwed on the front... Ill probably take part of the engine apart in the car but cant do any rebuilding