The air-cooled Volkswagen Kombi is an legendary automobile that just oozes character. Kombis are realistic as well. You can travel them to function, carry the relatives all around and go camping in them, and you continue to see them being utilized on a day-to-day basis as very well as becoming restored for occasional use. There are even now lots of younger guys and ladies who would like to individual just one as their every day driver.
Volkswagen kombis do have a single disturbing fault although. They capture hearth, and then it is really goodbye Kombi.
So just why do they catch hearth, and what can you do to quit yours burning?
I haven’t uncovered a definitive short article in a VW magazine yet, but I have been driving my 1976 2 liter bay window as my daily driver for more than 14 decades, so I have taken an desire in the issue and learnt as a lot as I could. I am going to remedy the dilemma as nicely as I can.
There are in fact a several different points that can trigger the Kombi to melt away, but they all occur again to fuel receiving free in the motor bay. Kombis have a gasoline tank in front of and earlier mentioned the engine, a hose going down from that to the gasoline pump, and yet another hose going up by way of the tinware to the carbies.
Kombis are aged now, and they have a large amount of age associated problems except they have been rebuilt. Even then, it can be most probably not every thing has been introduced back to as new ailment.
Just one of those people aged-age challenges is perished and cracked gas strains. Chances are yours have been changed, but examine them in any case. When they crack they can leak gasoline all over the place. 1 spark and your Kombi is history. Also, correct down below the motor are two very hot heat exchangers that have the exhaust working via them. I really don’t know what triggers the biggest issue, heat exchangers or sparks, but it is mainly irrelevant when your van goes up in smoke.
So verify those people gas traces, and if you purchase a kombi don’t drive it anyplace with previous and cracked fuel strains. Replace them! And will not overlook to look at the hose from the fuel tank to the pump. It really is out of the way and very easily forgotten.
If you have undone the gas hoses a several times, make guaranteed you have not lower as a result of the hose with the edge of the hose clamp. It can take place, and then you have gasoline dripping down on to the motor.
The gas hose runs through the tinware surrounding the motor. The tinware performs a very important position, it can be essential for keeping your engine amazing. It’s almost as significant as the radiator on water cooled autos, so you should not discard it. But do verify in which the gas line runs through the tinware. There should be a rubber grommet safeguarding the gas line from the tin. Mine at some point perished, and it was one of the handful of elements I could not buy new, so I wrapped the gasoline line in a bigger diameter piece of hose to halt the rubbing,
Another old-age problem is wherever the fuel strains go into the carbies. There is a brass inlet pipe that is part of the carburetor, and they arrive loose. You can visualize what takes place. All of a sudden the fuel that was likely into the carby is spraying all above the engine. Goodbye Kombi!
I was pretty blessed. I was obtaining areas from a lengthy-time VW mechanic, and he explained to me about that certain difficulty. I checked the inlet pipes not lengthy after, and a single of them in fact pulled proper out of the carby really simply. I place it back again in with loctite and check both inlet pipes routinely. If yours are free, check out with your mechanic and get them fastened ahead of you drive your van again.
My Kombi also experienced loose inlet and outlet pipes in the fuel pump. They acquired put back in with loctite, and they also get checked any time I’m executing servicing on the engine.
I have appear throughout a different trouble way too. There is a rubber elbow around the gasoline filler. Mine perished, and I could smell fuel, but could not locate the leak. Finally I found gas dripping of the base of the Kombi beneath the filler. Needles to say that obtained changed in advance of I drove it once more.
I am not declaring that I have detailed almost everything that can make a Kombi burn, so if a vee-dubber tells you other leads to, pay attention to them. And keep a very good eye on your kombis gasoline traces. If you smell gas uncover out exactly where it is coming from and deal with it. It must be quite depressing sitting down on the aspect of the highway watching your beloved Kombi going up in smoke.
And it does come about. You will read through about burning Kombis in VW journals and on boards, and I have listened to of a pair of incidents personally. My spouse was driving to function a person day and up forward was a column of smoke and the nearby fire crew. As she drove previous she saw a kombi burning. The burnt out shell finished up in a keeping lawn in the vicinity of where by I lived for a handful of months.
A pair of months later on the attendant where I got gas instructed me about his Kombi. His wife was driving it, smelt fuel and went into a fuel station to get it checked. The mechanic couldn’t see any leaks so she held driving. The Kombi burst into flames and that was the stop of it.
Don’t permit it materialize to you.
