VW Kombi.com

What a week it’s been in the life of our van. Last week I took the van in for a service/tune-up to try to stop her stalling whenever I was approaching a set of lights and putting my foot on the clutch. It was getting to be a real pain, frankly, and I knew that she could run better. After a couple of days’ tinkering, the boys at Vanshack told me she was ready to collect. So, Manda and I made our way from Swindon to Eynsham (very near to Oxford). We had a bit of waiting around as the windscreen had yet to be replaced (I’d asked for a new rubber seal to be put on the bay window while it was in for a bit of work), but eventually we made our way back down the A420 to Swindon. Within 11 miles I was having problems, watching the speed drop from 60 to 45 mph and getting a general sluggish feeling. Changing down to 3rd gear did little to remedy the problem. The van was backfiring and, predictably, when I came to a stop, she stalled. Sounding rough? Oh yes! We did an about turn and struggled back to Vanshack.

The guys there couldn’t quite believe that there was a problem, but once back at the shack, both Kim and Paul had their heads back in the engine bay and realised that the van truly wasn’t playing ball. I decided to leave the van overnight for them to take another look at on the Saturday.

Later on Saturday I called to check on progress. The van was running good again, and it was believed that the problem with the ’starvation’ was down to the fuel pump not keeping up with all the other changes of late (new spark plugs, HT leads, changed air system in the back to replace the Aussie DIY job, cleaned carbstiming/points etc). So, a new fuel pump was added to that list of changed parts. We set off once again for Oxford, and back again to Swindon. She appeared to running better but as I approached the roundabouts near Swindon, I had that familiar feeling of ’she’s gonna stall’ … and she did. By the time I got back outside the house, she was running rough all over again. What is it with my van?

The next day we took her for a run up to Bristol, then back to Swindon and on to Avebury. On the open road, she seemed to run just fine, but after a long journey she just sounded horrible - worn out, spluttery. I knew that I’d have to take the van back aain, and so she found herself back at Vanshack on Monday evening. "Keep her all week," I told the boys. I didn’t want to rush anything, but on the other hand I was starting to wonder how much this would end up costing me.

Thursday came and I thought I’d check on progress. The van had undergone more tweaking - some minor missing parts were replaced, including a dashpot, fuel lines were changed, a fuel filter was added back in because the carburretors that were cleaned just over a week ago were riddled with gunk again. In the last two weeks I’d spent over £500 on the van (nearly £600 including the new rubber seals for the windscreen, rear window and a side one), so I really wanted this to be the last of it for a while!

The drive back from Oxford to Swindon this time felt much better. Slowing down at roundabouts, it didn’t feel like a stall was imminent - she was hanging in there! However, after the long run on the open road, when I did start to hit more traffic lights and roundabouts again, the van did stall once and threatened to stall another time (but I caught it in time). I felt and heard one backfire too. I wanted to pretend it didn’t happen.

So, tomorrow I intend to make my way down to Christchurch for Ethel’s first VW event. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that things will work out just fine and she’ll behave herself, but my experience of running a Type 4 engine in the UK has not been good at all. And just what could cause the carbs to clog up so quickly? Fuel additive? Could be - I’ve cut that out of Ethel’s diet now!

What would you do in my situation? I’ve spent a lot to get the van back here, and have spent what I think is a lot for tweaking with an engine to getting it running ‘just about OK’. I don’t need a supercharged engine, I just want a trouble-free runner … or is that asking too much for an old Volksie?