Doodle Cruise!

Well Constant Reader, How are ya? Although, I admit that I honestly dont really think there are many "constant readers", but since I do this mostly for my own enjoyment anyway, I digress. Now, Doodles issues are often lamented in my Blogging, and honestly, I forget sometimes to mention how much I really do enjoy owning and driving him. This is one of those posts. This last Saturday was a wonderfully bright sunshiney day, and my VW Gang was having a cruise to a burger place on Rockwall Lake. What better day to strech Doodles legs and for for a drive. After about three attempts, Doods decided that yes, he did want to cruise and away we went. The meet up place is in Garland, Texas, about an hour or so on a good day away from me. The trip there was fairly uneventful, if not underpowered, until what appeared to be a bed sheet hit my front windshield momentarily then flew away. Hmm.

So I arrived at Robbs house in Garland, and parked out front....

I just really like his beetle. Something about it. Lots of character. Anywhoo. We hung around awhile, when he comes out of the garage in......

Hmm.. More on this later. I just noticed I lost my spare tire cover somewhere. Damn. Guess thats what that bedsheet that hit my window was. Lets pause for a moment out of respect for the loss of Mr. Smiley off the front of Doodle. ........................

So away we go to the meeting place. Me, following a Rambler. What an odd couple. Once there we meet up with some freinds, for good times and great photos...

Look at that sexy pair of bus butts. Clearly a difference from 59 to 77, eh? Another gratuitious Rambler vert pic, just because I think its super cool, and for no other reason...

Looks naked without that spare tire cover though. Gotta do something about that. Might even consider having that mount surgically removed, and putting the spare into the inside cabinet. Thoughts for later. Well, we are off and gone. Cruise time. Doods fired right up (because hes warm. Cold start valve maybe giving me issues? A quick google shows that costs a whopping $183.45. Damn.) and away we went. Ah. Thanks for listening to my randomness, but its nice to be back on the road with Doods, at least a little bit. Until next time constant reader, life is short. Drive a VW.

Trouble continues...

So the fuel pump is in! Worked on the bus on Saturday, got it installed, and after a battery charge, and some lengthy turning over, Doodle started! Still doesnt run well, or feel powerful, but running! Drove him a little on Saturday, and shut it down to work on him Sunday. Setting the valves, and trying to get a little more power out of him. Making sure the points are set. You know, basic stuff I've done 100 times over in my life.

Hmm.

After a valve adjustment, Doodle did fire right up. Idled great for ten minutes, and I backed out of the garage. All of a sudden, Doodle went on revolt, started backfiring roaring and refusing to move under his own power, then died. Wont restart. At all. Ever. Ever pushed a fully loaded tempermental Deluxe Westy into the garage? Uphill? No? Dont try. That back pain aint nothin Tylenol will touch. Seriously. BUT, Doodle is back in the garage warm and dry. So, today, I go back out and check each and every valve again. Perfect! I even consulted the manual to make sure Im doing it right. Yep. The only thing I can think is that perhaps someone (Traci?) had hydrolic valves put in (even  tho those didnt start until 1978) and I just messed up big big. Hmm... might be time to bite the bullet and take Doods to a shop. Im man enough to admit defeat. Seriously. I mean, I do want to drive him more than just once a month. Like him to be more than (insert my wifes voice here...) a multi thousand dollar paperweight.

On the upside, I did score some freshly powder coated wheels CHEAP! I think these will look much better once Doods is back on the prowl. More on these later.

Oh Doodle. Why do you hate me?

The fight continues...

Constant Reader, how ya been?

Good! And your mother? Glad to hear it.

Been awhile for me and Doods here, and, I gotta tell you, it aint been great. I'm gonna try to recap my last four months in one blog.

So, as you know I've been having intermittent fuel issues with Doodle. Can't trace them, that type thing. So I finally sat down with my tools and tester to figure it out.

What I found is that the number three injector is dead. The wires from three will fire injector four, but injector fours wires do nothing on three. Hmm. Okay, so pricing them shows me I can have all four rebuilt for the cost of one. And this place that rebuilds them, is pretty highly regarded. So I pull all four injectors, and awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay they go.

Okay. Fast forward to a month later, on my birthday (June 30) I go to the mailbox and BLAMMO!

Four newly rebuilt injectors courtesy of Witchunter Performance, who specialize in rebuilding injectors. These things are PURTY! All new parts, flow tested, ready to go. So I head out to the garage with a newly reknown sense of purpose, intending fully to put Doodle on the road today. Yes!


Pulled and charged the battery, installed the new injectors with all new rubber and clamps, and Doodle lives! I adjusted the timing, and all systems go. Next stop was the monthly SHAC meeting the next day! YEAH BOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.

So the next day at work FLYS by. I cant wait to get home and drive. Finally Im done, go home, change, and I'm out! Hamburgers, other VWs and good times! Me and Doodle roll up on the scene, clearly the best looking thing in the group, and take our spot.

Nice. I mean really. Look at him. Awesome in everyway. Tell you what, lets air it out a bit. That garage is STALE!

THATS what Im talking about. So many people stopped by to complement Doodle and me. One guy even offered to buy him. Yeah. Thats happening. Anywhoo, Doodle was further awarded his second sticker...

Doodle is now a formal Sherman Air Cooler Member. Nice. Im proud, hes proud, everyone loves us, alls well in my world....

Well, time to go home!

*click*

Wait. What?

*rrr rrr rrr rrr click*

Click? Really?

*rrr rr rr rrr click*

Well damn. Ole Doods decided he liked Watsonburger so much, he didnt want to go home. I checked everything. Coil, distributor, everything. NOTHIN. Luckily, we got a tow back to the house. Well, at least we got a sticker.

About two weeks go by and I finally get some time to work on Doodle again. Ive done lots of reasearch, turns out I probably need to clean my grounds and electrical system. I replace the battery cables, clean every single ground, and most of the contacts for the relays. Charge the battery, and.... DOODS LIVES!!

Awesome! Everything is again as it should be. Runs great all afternoon. That night, I drive him to Walmart for groceries. I get no less than ten compliments and one offer to buy him. Seriously. Get my groceries and come back out. Life isnt good, its freakin great.


 *click*


Wait. What?

*rrr rrr rrr rrr click*

Click? Really?

*rrr rr rr rrr click*

Insert deep sigh here reader. Im stranded. Again. I think Doods hates me. I scan the parking lot for the guy who wanted to buy him, but alas, I think he took his Ramen noodles and left. :(  An hour later of fiddling, calling family and fiddling more, I finally get someone to come get me. I get the truck, and haul Doods home in shame. Ever tried hooking up to your bus with a big ole tow bar in a dark Walmart parking lot?

Yeah, its about that easy.

This time, Doods sits a month. Mostly out of my own personal frustration. I focus on my beetle and other bus, getting them both in running condition. Fast forward to a week ago, just before Halloween. I rent a fuel pressure tester, and it shows me Doodle isnt putting out any fuel.

Ever priced a FI fuel pump, constant reader? You haven't? Would you believe its $210.95? You wouldn't? Me freaking neither, but it is. So that is where my tale brings us. Doodle waiting on organ transplant, and me still having faith in him. Ive got to get him on the road. I have had him forever and havent camped in him once! I dont care if I have to sleep in him in a blizzard. I'm doing it. Oh yes, I am.

So, stay tuned. Fuel pump should be here this week. I have a renewed sense of purpose, and plan to throw as much money at this bus as I have to. And to all you naysayers, telling me to pull his big heart and put a beetle motor in, or pull his fuel injection and put carbs on him, I say NO!

I will do this.

Trouble in Paradise

Welcome back Constant Reader.Okay, with a day of good weather, I worked on Doodle some. A couple weeks ago as you remember, I had driven it on a cruise with my VW Gang and noticed he had no power. I attributed that to Doodle possibly being out of time, so vowed to give him a full tune up on the next nicest day. That was today. I replaced the points, cap, rotor, and plugs. Didnt have a set of wires, but thought I did, so I didnt get them changed. Okay, after all that, I got my strobe and set the timing at 5 deg after TDC which is what my Bentley said I'm pretty sure. Then my issues started. I took Doodle for a spin and noticed not much difference, if any at all. Foot to the floor in third gear still didnt get me much over 60mph on flat ground. Just didnt feel right if that made sense. Back to the house, while idling, I pulled the wires one at a time and found no change on #3. Shit. I did have spark on each side of the wire, but weakish. Replaced that wire with one that was new off my other bay. Shut it down, and pulled out the dreaded compression tester. This is where the rubber meets the road. Bad or low numbers means my summer camping schedule has just been grounded at the terminal, and a high dollar rebuild is in my near future.

Fearing the worst, I tried it out and got 125. YES! Much better than I thought, but still doesnt answer my question. Thinking I wanted to check the injectors, I fired it up again, and when I unplug the injector for #4, I felt the motor kick down. Nothing happens when you unplug number three. So, that makes me think the injector isnt working. Now I have to figure out how I test it to know if the injector isnt working, or how to check the ECU to see if it isnt sending the signal for it to fire. I've never worked on a FI bus before, so Im not sure where to go from here. Other questions floating around in my head, if the injector has to be replaced, do injectors need to be replaced in pairs? If I have to send it off to be rebuilt or cleaned or whatever, do I need to do all four at the same time?

Thoughts? Comments?

So thinking I would at the very least run some high powered injector cleaner through it, I drove down to the gas station, put in a bottle and proceeded to fill it up. Well, that didnt work either. Stopped reading a half a tank. Dont know why. 10 gallons and no more. I know I was out at home, because I was parked on the driveway, and he wouldnt start until I put another gallon in him. Hmm. So I drive home pondering that one, pull into the garage, and do my yard work. While putting my tools away, I notice a large puddle under the drivers side rear of him. Bending down, my sniffer confirms that its definately gas. What the heck? I open the engine bay, and yep, the drivers side battery is definately sitting in gas, and it appears to be leaking from somewhere in the upper right hand vents. So I call my buddy Mike. Mike is pretty sharp about all things VW Bus, and I ask him. I sez to him, Mike, I sez, where the hell is this gas coming from? Mike, in his infinate wisdom, tells me there is an overflow hose in the upper area of that side vent, and when you put too much gas in, it drains there, and my hose must be busted. Great. Apparently, its a pain in the ass to replace. 'Preciate that good buddy. So I stick a gas can under Doodle to catch his droppings, bid him good night, and shut the garage door.

Off to research this on the majikal interwebz.

Good Night Constant Reader.

Ah Doodle. I love you so.

Cruise time!

So Doodle is a formal member of the SHAC (Sherman Air Coolers VW Gang) and as such, was formally invited by yours truely to partake in the 1st Annual SHAC cruise. So away we go. Now, I invite my brother along, for company, and we head on over to the meeting spot. Great weather, good friends, VWs and a 160 mile cruise with catfish at the end. Whats better?

So all together, we line up for a quick photo op...

And away we go. Im telling you, I was pretty happy. Fun times. I love VW cruises and I loves my camper.

Well, we start off strong, and immediately pull into a gas station. Dammit, cruise stopped.

No problem, I take this time to load up on Funyuns and Monster Energy Drinks, the American Staple of road trips. (That and beef jerky) Finally back on the road, we make a few more miles, before....

Car Trouble! Cory, in his high dollar orange buggy, has charging issues and a horrible oil leak. We pull over and start working on it. Doodle the Triumphant, has no problems, and waits patiently to be back in the wind.

Okay, issues fixed, Cory's buggy is running once again, and away we go.

Now this is fun! 55 mph, classic rock, my bus and VW cars. Not bad not bad. We make pretty good time until....

Bo's buggy broke down. Dammit! He was having major major problems here. We were on the side of the road for quite some time. I checked on Doodle, and ...

..chillin. No problems. In fact, our chase vehicle was down, so I ended up carrying all the tools and parts in Doodle the whole time. Score! I think the trouble was finally behind us, and we started putting miles on the car. Over the river and through the woods to Wendys Catfish we go!

Made it! Time to get out and eat!

Well after a delicious catfish lunch, I headed the 40 miles (freeway) back home. I did find that something is wrong with Doodle. He isnt making any power. I couldnt make over 50 mph on the freeway, and at times much slower. Concerning, actually. I noticed it getting worse and worse over the cruise, but buy the time I headed home, it was pretty bad. Hmm, I need to take a look. I did swing by and show Doodle to my little nephew Austin. I think he liked it. Until next time Constant Reader, put your hat on the dash, and drive your VW somewhere. It deserves it.