Poor acceleration

[Gary]

Hello,
i purchased a DEC /1999 Mexican Beetle.
Problems so far have been
- poor acceleration
- noisey front wheel bearings
- heavy thumping noise when pulling away
- some annoying corrosion spots, bent front bumper, heatexchangers corroded through
Things done so far
- replaced rear lights with smoked lenses
- replaced air filter, this was very dirty
- replaced spark plugs with vw reccomended NGK BPR5ES and correct gap setting
- replaced oil and filter, oil was very thin and black
- cleaned engine bay
- replaced air duct's
- replaced front wheel bearings, discovered it needs new pads,
empi gear shift, will replace front G'box mount hopefully will get rid of banging noise.
After the filter /plug change it now goes a little better, returns 33 MPG, top speed 84MPH, but it still feels slugish and you want to change into another gear very early, my 68 1300 is faster in 1st 2nd & 3rd and does 79 MPH? I might have to purchase the diagnostic kit from you. Apart from that it is a nice little car and we both enjoy driving her, (Vera), I have also changed the horn to an aroogah which makes people smile.
Regards Gary

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Registrynr. 317

[Manfred]

Did you ever changed the relais N°30. If not, do this first.
I think nearly 50% of the 1600i's are driving with a defunct relais. The effect is wasted gas, poor accelartion and so on. I wrote something about this theme in German at my homepage.
http://members.aol.com/grafklausmm/homepage-1600i/1600i-elektronik/relais-steuergeraet/relais-defekt.html
There are some pictures wich might tell you something, but i didn't get the time to translate it at the moment.
You should get this relais in nearly every car-shop. The VW number is 165 906 381. Price in Germany about 12,- Euro.

regards
Manfred

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1600i Register N° 001

[Gary]

Guten tag Manfred,
thankyou for the information, I have now replaced the relay, I bought it from the VW main dealer £11.06. This has improved the acceleration although the fuel consumption is about the same. I compare the Mexican to my 1968 1300, I think the only other possibility is the Gearbox. I have 25mph in 1st gear, 38mph in 2nd, 65mph in 3rd, and a top speed of 79mph. The mexican is not so good 20mph in 1st, 32mph in 2nd, 56mph in 3rd, with a top speed of 83mph. I must say it is quicker to 40mph aber the gearchanges are also very quick. Maybe a GT gearbox would be better, are these available? I think also the exhaust restricts the engine a little, has anyone investigated an alternate design?. The next job for me is the front Gearbox mount, heat exchangers, front brake pads and rear brake shoes, Oh the joy of Beetle ownership,

Viele Grüße, Gary

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Registrynr. 317

[Manfred]

Hello Gary,
next thing you should do is to check the ECU's faultmemory. Find a workshop who is able to read the faultcodememory. Ther are for shure some codes in it. Write them down and let erease the faults.
If now everything is ok, good.
If not, let them make "Basic setting" of the ECU. This makes a new adaption from the ECU to the engine.
And for the moment the last thing would be to check/set the ignition timing. You send me a picture of your engine. There you can see, that the yellow mark in the red circle above is not there. Normaly the engines get also at this screw a yellow mark. In your case, someone might have tried to set the ingition. In most cases this is getting worth.
If you like to do it wrigth, use 1600.de => Electronic => "Easy way to setup of igniton timing"
cheers
Manfred

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1600i Register N° 001

[phade]

Hiya Gary,

The vibration and banging that you described when your car's pulling away sounds to me like gearbox. I would get that completely rebuilt (by someone who knows what they're doing) and have a different crown wheel and pinion set (with a higher gear ratio) fitted to it.

In my case I got Clive (I cannot remember his surname) in Newdigate, near Dorking in Surrey to fix mine 2 years ago and what a difference it made !! The top speed of my car is about 97 MPH but I may have been able to go slightly faster than that if there wasn't a police car in the hard shoulder 1/2 mile up ahead !!

If you cannot find anywhere near you that can rebuild your gearbox, would you like me to post his phone number as a private message or on here?

Also as Manfred says above, the best way to sort out the acceleration is to remove relays 30 (the ECU relay) and check all of it's solder joints inside the relay. The relay its self can be carefully prised apart with a flat bladed jeweler's screwdriver. Also check relay 80 (the fuel pump relay) for dried solder joints as well.

After you have done that you should invest in a fault code reader (eg. VAG 1551/1552) and make up an adaptor lead (see my documentation on the 1600i website on how to do this) or to get Manfred's diagnostics kit which has the correct plug on it.

Another thing to check as well is the condition of the HT leads, distributor cap and rotor arm (these do eventually go like it did to mine). Have a look at my parts cross reference list on the 1600i website for replacement parts. The only part numbers I cannot locate on the VW Classicparts (www.vw-classicparts.de) website are the HT leads (and it's adaptors) since those part numbers cannot be found. However the HT leads are also available from VW Heritage.

Good luck with your gearbox and mexican beetle,

Phil.

[BigBadWolf]

Hi Gary,

just read about the problems you’ve got with your Mex. Fuel consumption of 33 MPG is not too bad after all. I presume a number of those problems you are experiencing at the moment may be related to the corroded heat exchangers you mentioned.

My own 95 Mex does have much the same problems (sluggish acceleration, high fuel consumption)
since quite a while. Manfred tried to correct them by advancing the ignition timing and setting the throttle gap correctly and it got somewhat better but so far it is still not absolutely satisfying. Therefore I think as long as I haven’t changed the heat exchangers and the exhaust gas collector pipe (for a stainless version once I’ll get it...) it will not get any better. The problem is that the exhaust gas is monitored by the O2 sensor / Lambda probe. At the spots where the heat exchangers enter the exhaust gas collector pipe there may be (due to corrosion) some exhaust air leaks. When outside air is drawn into the exhaust path the O2 sensor will register a leaner air fuel mixture than really is and try to enrich the mixture – without any effect except for higher fuel consumption... So change these troublemakers and check anything else Manfred and Phil mentioned and in the end your Mex should be running fine...

Good luck & keep on Beetling!
Peter

[Gary]

Ok now I can reply to the comments, The loud banging has been cured with a new gearbox front mount, I have replaced the front pads, rear shoes, 4 tie rod ends, gearbox oil, heat exchangers and the exhaust/cat for a stainless system. Now I have another problem, after the exhaust is fitted, there is even less power/acceleration. The only thing I can think is the lambda probe was damaged, when it was removed/replaced. I have ordered new cap, rotor, leads and coil anti roll bar and nylon bushes. The suspension components are very corroded and the rubber bushes are all perished, I know they will last a fairly long time, but I know its there so will change out slowly. Phil i would appreciate that guys number, i can then get the job priced up, and in the budget. Thanks again to Manfred, phil and Pete I will keep regular contact frfrom now on, I suppose you all know this but the south american Beetle was marketed as the TIPO, not sure if Brazil, Mexico or both! Happy beetling Gary

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Registrynr. 317

[phade]

Hiya Gary,

Clive's number is 01306 - 631 221.

I'm not sure wether he's retired from fixing gearboxes or not yet and if he still fixes them then you will have to bring your car to him (he lives in Newdigate, near Dorking).

The work I had done on mine 2 years ago was to replace 4th gear's layshaft and cogwheel as well as having a new crown wheel and pinion set to get taller gears (most of the cost in my case was the new crown wheel and pinion set). It cost me £740 ex. VAT in cash (do not pay by cheque otherwise you will have to pay VAT !!!) in the end.

Let me know how you get on and best of luck,

Phil

[Gary]

Cheers Phil, I'll give him a bell, I just got the number from the Lambda probe, and VW U.K. don't recognise it as a stocked item, where can I get a 043 906 265B from? The car runs like a 2cv with one of the plugs missing at the moment, I'm pretty reluctant to drive to far in her as it feels like it will conk out at any minute. The latest bits fitted are the 4 tie rod ends, anti roll bar and urethane bushes, it was tracked after, but it pulls quite badly to the left! I have now to fit the fuel filter, I'm sure this has never been changed. I would also like to fit a woodrim steering wheel and boss, what boss kit will fit? once again my local parts shop don't list mexican beetles. happy Beetling, Gary

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Registrynr. 317

[phade]

Have a look at my parts cross reference list on the 1600i website, there are quite a few different lambda probes which will fit the mexican beetle.

However you will need to join up the wires to the mexican beetle's lambda probe plug.

I just had a look at www.vw-classicparts.de (VW Classic Parts, Wolfsburg) for 043 906 265B and it came up with in stock elsewhere (it had a yellow box next to it).

Alternatively you could also ask Manfred to see where he can get one from (I cannot see any listed out of the shops I know around Europe at the moment).

I hope this helps,

Phil

[phade]

Just forgot to mention I also managed to order new HT leads from VW Classic Parts which are quite a bit cheaper than VW Heritage (and they are genuine Beru ones).

The part number for the entire set (and I will update this in my parts cross rerference list at some point) is 043 035 255 (Beru stock number 0 300 032 105).

[Gary]

Hi Phil, hope you don't mind me asking but where abouts in Kent? I was born at the Cray valley hospital, Orpington, and was dragged up in New Eltham! Any way, back to the Mex business, In my last posting I told of really poor performance, 10MPH down, indicated, and the pulling of the steering to the left, Still no change there then! I dont think I mentioned the exhaust change. I had a system built in stainless, looks great, but, they didnt use the clamps to attach it to the heat exchangers, it blows quite badly, also the exchangers are not connected to the fan pipes, needless to say the cooling is completely lost to atmosphere, with very limited interior heating and the leaking exhaust gas is pushed down the open heat exchanger, NICE! I am taking the car back this Mitwoch for a re-think. I have some good news for the parts front though, I got a lambda probe from a company called "Walker". This is a direct replacement for the 043 906 265B the plug does not need rewiring, it plugs straight in! The part number is a bit vague as it could be any one of 4 printed on the box, unfortunately the receipt just gives the description. The numbers are; 710 44 0240, 250-24547, 030 906 265BH, 222913. Hope this is of help to anyone out there. I fitted this on Saturday but unfortunately it made little difference to the performance. The steering is quite strange, after new tie rod ends and a re track it still pulls to the left! When turning right it is quite stiff, turning to the right is a lot easier, has anyone got any ideas? I have also looked at the easy timing set up, is there a dynamic set up using a strobe? this would be a quicker operation. I will also ask manfred for the Diagnostic kit, as I feel there are some fault codes lurking in the ecu and it needs re-setting. I tried the classic site Phil, but I couldnt find leads, I will need some as I am replacing, cap, coil and module, and rotor. Glad to see your problem is sorted, it's nice to know It's not just me with problems happy beetling Gary

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Registrynr. 317