new member w/ 87 cabby. wont start.

[kamzcab86]

so are you saying that buying this car as a daily driver/ fuel saver was a bad idea? Can these cars be reliable? I own a 2001 Jeep wrangler, so I dont need this car. I was just trying to get a more fuel efficient car for work. VW is usually reliable. Have owned 80's erra rabbits in the past not fuel injected and one deisel. no problems like this one. if its not going to be reliable then i will just get rid of it and get something else.

It's not that these cars are unreliable; the thing is, these cars (up to '87) are 20+ years old. What hasn't already been replaced will need to be replaced at some point down the road. October 10th will mark 18 years with my '86; there's only a few major mechanical components that have not been replaced... yet.

The injectors are not loose; they should be rather snug. They're not difficult to remove if you have the injector removal tool (I'll try to get a link to one).

Edit: Injector puller can be found at http://www.rsjparts.com (under "Tools"), among other places.

[SoCal_Cabby]

on another note.....my 86 was very reliable up untill th massive oil leak, and it was just a matter of replacing a 3.00 part (oil cooler o-ring)......but i had to sell mine due to my home owners association, and it was my daily driver, but since i parked in the street they said it either had to be parked in the driveway or go away.....our driveway was full so i had to sell it

[reycycle]

i didnt mean to upset anyone with the reliability comment, actually it was a legit question. i want it to be reliable and i know how old the car is and that the componants are going to, or might fail. there are older cars on the road! i just want some help trying to get it running. i want the joy of a running cabby. i have big plans for it. i have a paint scheme in mind, but not until its running. i had a few moments to look for some air leaks. didnt find a whole lot. tightened up the clamps on the intake, replaced some more vacuum hoses that were suspect. checked the idle screw thing and it was there and tight. it seems to want to stay running but just dies. its like someting is shutting it down. this is going to sound dumb but, could it be the gas...or lack of. the gage is close to empty. my driveway is on a slight incline. could it be that simple. if the darn thing started and ran i would have filled it up. im going to buy a gas can and put more gas into it and if this works i will slap myself, if anyone thinks this is a possible solution let me know.

[tolusina]

.......does the frequency valve buzz continuously whenever the fuel pumps run? It should, and it should be very obvious. The frequency valve looks very much like an EFI injector, it'll be found on the back side of the fuel distributor......

[reycycle]

yes there is a buzzing sound from thefuel distribtor area when it is trying to start. whether its the freq valve i dont know. its quite a loud buzzing though.

[SoCal_Cabby]

so...you looked at the basics....it has fuel, it has spark and it has air.....only other thing it could be is timing

[Calimus]

Always a good chance that the belt jumped a tooth or it could be the infamous crack keyway shearing issue.

[reycycle]

so i am ashamed of myself as a mechanic. GAS!!! i knew it was low and as i said before the driveway is a slight incline. i stopped yesterday and bought a 5 gal can , filled it with gas. poured it in, and whallah, gas makes car go vroom. it stalled a few times but once it ran for a bit i drove it to a gas station and filled it up. was so excited i left the cap on the roof. got home realized it was missing. drove back to the gas station twice. found it on the side of the road. got back homeand was idling in front of the driveway and it stalled. didnt want to start back up. after a few minutes of sitting, it started up. was that something to do with the whole hot start thing i have heard about? also what do i have to do to get it to shift into 1st gear easier? it is hard and sometimes pops the shift link ( the snap on one ) off. Also I bought a brand new headliner for a penny on ebay 40 bucks shipping but what a deal huh. but yeah GAS...duh

[SoCal_Cabby]

good to hear

[CalAltaDubber]

Damn. Isn't it always the simpelest things that are the hardest to find?

[reycycle]

not so fast. i knew i couldnt be that green , or wet behind the ears. i had let it sit for a day because i had duty. got home after work today and guess what...no start. its not getting spark now, i think. crank and crank and crank but no start. it has to be wiring because thats what i know about least. my bently cam in the mail today. im still a bit confused. i just want to replace all the wires. whats the best way. can i buy a whole harness or can i get wiring of the required colors somewhere. because most places just have black ,red, and some green. i really hoped it was just the gas. even if it made me feel dumb. i even told all the guys at work. this car is upsetting me i was so excited that i went to the dmv and registered it and got plates for it. was going to take my son to baseball practice in it. but no Daddy cant get his car fixed. help. i really dont want to tow it to the shop.

[gull]

If you push down on the shift lever, like you're trying to put it into reverse, does it slip into 1st easier? If so, your side-to-side shifter adjustment is off.

[reycycle]

side to side adjustment??? cant find that in my bently. can you elaborate, what do i have to do?

[gull]

side to side adjustment??? cant find that in my bently. can you elaborate, what do i have to do?

Yup. The shift lever is attached to a rod that moves front-to-back when you move the lever forward and backward, and rotates when you move the lever side to side. Underneath the car, just behind the engine, a collar is clamped around this rod that transfers the motion to the shift linkage. You can adjust the side-to-side alignment of the shifter by loosening this collar and rotating it slightly.

This is a very sensitive adjustment, so scribe an alignment mark first so you know what your starting point was.

You can find out if it's a shifter alignment issue or something in the transaxle by disconnecting the link rods and shifting the transaxle by hand. If you can engage all the gears by moving the lever on the transaxle, you have an adjustment issue or the linkage is binding somewhere. Sometimes it's helpful to have someone inside the car move the lever while you watch so you can visualize how things are supposed to work -- sometimes I think VW outsourced the design for this shift linkage to Rube Goldberg.

My linkage was really sloppy when I got my car, so I replaced the link rods with parts from Missing LinkZ. It really firmed things up, and the link rods are adjustable, so I can adjust the shifter without crawling under the car.

[reycycle]

thanks have to get under and checkit out.