I am not getting a good grasp of what is actually happening.pearl-the-bus wrote: I'm Keith, Pearl's owner!
Once I finally got to fourth, I took it out of gear and put it back in, and had my power back- complete with normal temp readings! This continued to happen the last 10-15 minutes of our drive, as i kept hitting red lights. Once it was going good, it would continue just fine until I had to stop again.
My thinking is that for whatever reason, #3 was not firing, which explains why I was seeing the temp go down as I was speeding up. As Ian said, we changed the plugs, so i'm thinking the issue is with the wires?
Any suggestions? Thoughts? Observations? Criticisms?
Thanks in advance.
It reads to me that your engine runs on all cylinders once you are at speed in 4th gear, but stops or slowdowns make it run poorly, especially #3 since DD gauge goes down?
The problem with these air-cooled VWs is that the engineers put all of these parts close to the margin of failure. When the balance of full participation is lost, suffering ensues. A loss of power in an air-cooled VW engine can cause a cascade of subsequent failure.
The good news is that air-cooled VWs who like their owners can defy the laws of physics to get you home, been there done that got the t-shirt.
Your obligation to the engine right now is:
fresh oil at the mark
clean engine that can cool itself
drive gingerly around the problem areas . . . i.e. if I am reading this correctly, the engine is not running on all cylinders at lower speeds but cleans up at higher speeds. If this is the case, no full throttle acceleration on three cylinders. Your Dakota Digital may tell you that #3 is cool and happy, but if it is not firing, the other cylinders can be hot and miserable trying to compensate.
You need to properly ascertain the engine's happiness on the highway. ALL sick engines smooth out at higher rpm due to inertial effects (i.e. 5 mph driving down railroad ties is a bumpy hell, but 85 mph on the same railroad ties is just a noisy hum), so don't get complacent. Power output is your best initial clue, if it holds 55 mph at partial throttle on the level and the dipstick is not burning hot, you are probably OK. I am guessing that your #3 low compression cylinder is dumping oil onto the spark plug and shorting it out. There are some temporary on-the-road work-arounds, but this engine is going to need a teardown. 15,000 or 17,000 miles since your rebuild is pathetically hopelessly too few miles for these kinds of problems.
I have a job in Jacksonville on December 12. Where will you be between now and then?
Colin