Warm up

How long should it take my 1915 VS to warm up? I have driven no further than 2 miles (no plates yet) and the temp gauge hasn't moved? Also the trip meter doesn't seem to work although odometer is turning, other than broken, any ideas?

Tim

On my 2005 VS 1915 the temp guage was not hooked-up. I put the wire on the sending unit and motor warmed right up. Also ck your carb linkage jam nuts. Linkage fell off one carb the second day. JKL

Tim; with respect to engine warm-up time it should be close to the same as any VW engine. With air cooled VW engines it's always a good idea to let them warm up for a while when first started before driving off. With respect to gauges, although sad it's true; the 356 repro gauges that are currently available are Chinese crap. Brazilian VDO's can't be found any more. These Chinese units are repros of repros; they are not accurate at all and that goes for the tach (mine didn't work straight from Kirk's shop and Kirk sent me another one which I proceeded to install; it works but very erratically and the needle is all over the place even when idling). The temp gauge is almost useless; mine moved very little and I tried to calibrate it by using a series of resistors, etc. and all I could do was to move the range of needle movement up but totally inaccurate. With respect to the trip odometer; it's been said here many times, don't even think about resetting it while the car is in motion or it will break (I hope you haven't done it unknowingly); it's plastic and very brittle. The gas gauge is so so; sometimes it works fine, sometimes it's erratic. It's a shame; our cars are so beautiful yet we don't have any good quality choices except buying doctored and refurbished original units from a place like Palo Alto Speedometer at over $400 a pop for each gauge...

Tim wrote: "How long should it take my 1915 VS to warm up? I have driven no further than 2 miles (no plates yet) and the temp gauge hasn't moved? Also the trip meter doesn't seem to work although odometer is turning, other than broken, any ideas?"

Tim, you've got an old VW there, after all....did you EVER see anyone wait for their old VW to "warm up" before they took off? Never... Fire it up, connect your seat belt and motor away - you (and the engine) will be fine, so don't worry about it. Generally, it will take about 5 - 10 minutes to come up to temp in the Summer, and it may NEVER come fully up to temp in the Winter, but it'll be just fine.
Even when it's working, the temp gauge has no numbers, just a range. most engines are in the bottom half of the range, but the best way to measure your engine temp is with a long-shaft candy thermometer inserted in place of the engine dip-stick. Just make sure something stops it from going in farther than the original dip-stick (or order one from www.mainelycustombydesign.com) You can check the temp sender connection just for laughs, it is the little can at the bottom left of the alternator tower with a wire connected to it. There may be two cans, one for the temp and one for the oil pressure light - not sure on your car which is which. Check the connections on both to be sure - they may be loose.

VS's speedos are notorious for the trip meter not working and yes, if you EVER try to reset it when it's moving (or probably even when it's NOT moving) something seems to get destroyed inside and the trip odometer will never work right again (if it ever did) although the regular odometer seems to be OK. You can send it back to Kirk and he'll send you another one, just don't use the trip meter.....sorry..

I have a repro tach from VS and it's accurate and rock steady at idle, but it "floats" a little, meaning that goes up and down just a bit slower than actual RPM, if you rev the engine quickly. Not a big deal and I can live with it.

Good luck with your car - should be really neat in Germany!

Gordon

I agree with Ricardo somewhat about the warm-up process, its essential to get it up to operating temp at least before you "nail-it". I don't ever just let it idle to warm up though, I just crank and drive but don't let it go over 3000 or so rpms til it warms up fully. Just ease into the throttle and drive like my granny-at first, once warmed, shoot the juice. Moderate cruising revs generate good cooling airflow and higher oil pressure. I have found that the best indicator of proper operating temp is the oil pressure gauge. At cold idle it'll read 60-70 psi, when warm it will indicate a lower pressure (mine's around 15psi @about 1000 rpm when fully warmed and about 45psi at my usual cruising speed of 3700rpms.)

Wow Justin, that's neat! Never heard or read that; I'll have to buy that book!

According to the "How to Keep Your VW Alive" book, they say the best warm up is to actually start it and drive at a mild pace until engine temp is up. The book says to start you car and let idle from a half to three minutes depending on outside temperature before rolling out.

It also note that small pumps of gas shoot fresh gas in to the system and cleans the lines from any overnight buildup.

A while back I ran across a website that sold a thermostatically controlled switch that would illuminate a light on the dash till the oil temp reached a predetermined threshold - this might be an idea if you're concerned with not running your car hard till it's warmed up.