Long warmup time for 1974 vw beetle
15

Asked by DavidMartin2422 Jun 15, 2018 at 09:03 AM about the 1974 Volkswagen Beetle

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I have a 1974 VW Beetle that will start but takes 5-7 minutes of holding the accelerator down before it will idle.  After that it runs fine.  When I got the car, the tank was fairly empty, it may have had ethynol gas in it before and it wouldn't idle at all hardly.  I put about 4 gallons of non-ethynol 93 in it and it now runs fine after the warm up.
Where can I look for the cause of the problem with not idling?  I am looking for non-ethynol 87.  The engine had been under the care of a mechanic in my area before I bought the car and the main complaint was stalling.

3 Answers
44,010

Hornet_2497 answered 6 years ago

Regardless of the type of fuel, any engine should idle cold or hot. That engine had a carburetor with an automatic choke. With the engine warm, set an acceptable idle speed. Then set a faster idle speed by engaging the cold idle plate...that's the rotating plate controlled by a rod from the choke assembly. Manually move it up to the first step and set the speed up a little. You should notice a faster idle speed while warming up. If it's way too fast, adjust it down a little.

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DavidMartin2422 answered 6 years ago

I have adjusted in once before, but I wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing. I will make another adjustment based on your reply. Thank you. I mentioned the gas only because I have been told that 93 is not preferable for low compression engines (I am assuming that includes this one, since I did not believe 93 was even available in 1974). The ethynol can gum up the carburator, so I may still need to run something through to clean it or just take it apart and clean it. Any advice on that is appreciated.

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44,010

Hornet_2497 answered 6 years ago

I agree with your ideas and they all may make an improvement. Fresh gas will help as well as replacing the fuel filter. Cleaning and lubricating the carburetor linkage is a plus too. Check with these classic car buffs about a fuel lead additive to protect the valves. Leaded gasoline was discontinued in the early '80s. Anyway, I had a 1969 Super Beetle and it was a blast to drive...I was only 18 and crazy.

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