[Vwdiesel] 82 diesel vanagon smokes more uphill - normal?

[ovalwindow]

hi jon,

welcome to the wonderful world of the diesel camper! 
ya gotta love them!!!  (i've got an '82 westfalia.)

fwiw, your diesel is more likely to smoke going up a
hill than not.  i wouldn't worry too much about it.
mine was doing it pretty badly when i first got it
last year (@63K miles - but after i got the timing set
correctly the problem went away.  if i recall - you've
got quite a few more miles than this so i'd expect
some smoke if i were you....)  one other thing - at
some point giving the vanagon more throttle is
overkill - you won't go any faster, and you'll just
burn more fuel (and smoke more).  so watch how you
drive, this isn't like any vehicle you've owned before
(more than likely).

as a side - you may want to subscribe to the vanagon
list - there are several diesel vanagon owners on
there that don't appear to be on this list.  for
subscription info. - go to www.vanagon.com

good luck, enjoy that ride!

oh yea - regarding another of your posts.  (not sure
if anyone mentioned this or not....)  the knob
advances the timing by being out - it's for cold
starts and cold starts only.  (it has nothing to do w/
the glow plugs).  if it runs better pulled out - you
may want to have the timing set on it.  (may help out
your smoke problem too, ya never know.)

one last thing - your vanagon is a heavy vehicle - two
to three times the weight of a rabbit for instance
(but same engine).  that engine is working really 
hard - be nice to it and don't rev. the heck out of
it.  it will reward you w/ more miles before rebuild
time.  yea, it's life in the slow lane, oh well. 
you'll catch 'em at the next stop light anyway.

regards, john

--- jon.sykes at ps.ge.com wrote:
> vwdiesel at vwfans.comMy particular patch of suburbia
> has several hills - not
> that steep, but long - the kind that really slows a
> diesel vanagon down.  I
> can do them in 3rd gear, but notice an increase in
> smoke from the exhaust
> when I do so.  I'm wondering if this is 'normal' and
> whether it would be
> better to change to 2nd gear, even though the engine
> would be rev-ing more,
> perhaps it would not be working so hard?
> 
> Thanks again!
> 
> Jon
> 
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