smell from heaters - paranoid

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MMMC

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Hi - My stock heaters in my bus work really really well but I am getting a bit paranoid about the smell. I guess its cause I'm a dad now and worry about my son breathing fumes!

I know the fan will blow air from around the engine but is there any real danger from dodgy fumes?

Cheers
 
Here is my experience with fumes/heating in my bay.

I bought it back in August this year and there was a really bad smell of fumes/petrol. I disconnected the heat exchangers until I could find the problem. It turns out that there were several reasons why I was getting the fumes/petrol smell.

First problem was that there were rust holes in my heat exchangers (in the exhaust pipe running through the centre of them). This allowed exhaust fumes to get into the heat exchangers and be ducted into the cab!

Second problem was that the rubber seals around my engine bay were almost non-existant, they were so old, they had cracked up and there wasn't much of them left. This allowed lots of dirty "engine-smelling" hot air to come up into the engine bay from underneath the engine and the exhaust. There were also some holes in the tinware which contributed to this effect as well.

Third problem was that the twin Weber carbs on the engine were leaking petrol all over the place...major source of petrol smell!! The petrol had dripped out of the carbs, right onto the heat exchangers...hey presto nice intense petrol smell in the cab!

Fourth problem was that the oil breather pipe beside the oil filler hole was dripping out oil. The oil filler pipe itself was leaking oil from underneath it (turns out there was a gasket missing altogether)

To solve the problems, I got rid of the Webers (they're for sale if anyone wants em!), got a stock inlet manifold and a single stock carb. I got new aftermarket heat exchangers (they'll do til I can find good original ones), new stainless exhaust system. I installed new engine bay rubber seals (took the engine out to do this) and plated up any unwanted holes in the tinware. I thoroughly sprayed the engine with gunk spray to degrease it and generally clean it up. I took off the oil filler tube and put a paper gasket underneath it to stop the leak.

Thats my experiences anyway. Before I fixed the problems, I made sure to have a carbon monoxide alarm sitting on the dashboard. It never went off so I presume that the majority of the smell was from raw petrol and not carbon monoxide from the exhaust.
 
They are 34ICT's, they've just been taken off last week. They come with the hex linkage and brackets and round air filters. Manifolds are single port ones. I don't know how old they are because they came fitted to my bus when I got it in August this year. As I said above, I was having trouble with leaking fuel from the throttle spindle shaft (I suspect it was just never set up right in the first place), so I took em off and went back to stock. So really I'm not sure if there is a fault with the carbs, or just my lack of knowledge about them.
 
I'd be interested too,I'm rebuilding my engine and probably going to put single port heads back on it.Was it both the carbs leaking or just one of them?
So if Justin doesn't want them 2nd dibs please.
 
Haven't a clue! Depends what people are willing to pay! Retails new at £349.95 at VW Heritage.

It was both carbs leaking out the throttle spindle shafts.

Didn't mean to hijack this thread, sorry!
 
VWAIRCOOLED said:
I'd be interested too,I'm rebuilding my engine and probably going to put single port heads back on it.Was it both the carbs leaking or just one of them?
So if Justin doesn't want them 2nd dibs please.

I'm going to bow out as I'd need to find some TP manifolds too :cry:

VWAIRCOOLED... the way ahead is yours...

;)

P.S. Sorry to have hijacked the thread... :oops:
 
MMMC ,I had a problem with fumes in my cab on the way to Brighton Breeze,was the first time I connected up the heat exchangers.I could smell the exhaust gasses,I quickly unhooked the exchangers again.I think if you follow what boatbuilder has done with sealing everything up and checking and curing all leaks etc,you will be fine.
 
Thanks for the tips Boatbuilder...I will have a run through them. Just trying to remember all the dubs I've driven - they all seem to have that smell about them when the heaters are on...I guess thats just because the air is coming from the back.

My first port of call is a carbon monoxide alarm....and I will definetley consider pulling the plug when my lad is in the back Johnny.

Cheers all.
 
MMMC said:
...Just trying to remember all the dubs I've driven - they all seem to have that smell about them when the heaters are on...

Mine doesn't. I got a lot of _smoke_ initially (few kms) when I put on a new Dansk heat exchanger, hehe, driving with my head out the window! Now there's no hot-engine smell, no burning oil smell, no petrol smell, nothing but HOT air. It's actually about time to crawl underneath and switch the heating off again, woohoo, Summer!

Oh, that's in my TypeIV powered '74. I haven't got any smell in my '69 either, but I'm not sure what condition the heating system is in on that one (haven't had it long).

Boatbuilder summed up the potential issues well I think.

Cheers, A.
 
You can't get new heat exchangers....well not like the original ones anyway. You can get reproductions ones which are cheap as chips £50-£60 each, but don't produce as much heat as the original ones.
 
If you know a good fabricator you should be able to use the original exchanger (the massive weighty ali element inside) and get them to knock up a stainless sleeve and down pipes...that way you get a lifetimes service.
 
I'm trying to get hold of a guy who offered me a pair of NOS heat exchangers after reading this thread.
 

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