1971 Engine blowing oil into breather... causing car to miss and backfire after about 20 minutes. Anyone know if there is a temp fix for this until I am able to buy a new engine?? PLEASE HELP

65

Asked by Jamie Jul 09, 2011 at 10:22 AM about the 1971 Volkswagen Beetle

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Car starts fine. Car runs fine, sounds great. After about 20 minutes of running driving begins to miss, backfire and then thats it.. stall. Any help in even a temp fix on this older redone engine until I am able to afford a new one to put in, this is for my soon to be 16 year old soon and he really wants to drive to school this year which is only about 15 minutes away. After the oil smoothers the breather (which is what I assume from what I see is happening) you have to let it sit a day or 2 before it will run again. THANKS ALL and any input is appreciated!!

3 Answers

3,225

let me see if i understand this correctly. when you say "breather" are you talking about the air cleaner? if so, i take it you have the stock hose running from the generator stand (oil fill stand) up to the air cleaner. have you had any work done on this motor recently? there is a deflector plate that sits under the generator stand with fins in it. these fins are supposed to keep oil from being slung up the hose and into the air cleaner. this may be installed backward or even NOT installed!! this may help. another thing you could try is to buy an oil breather kit. this is a small box that usually mounts to the firewall. it has hoses that run from box to each valve cover, and to the stock oil fill tower. this keeps any oily mess from going to the carb since it's not connected to it anymore. you can run this box without connecting it to the valve covers.

5 people found this helpful.
30

My 1971 bug was doing this and I found low compression on 2 of the cylinders. The cause of the low compression was broken rings and ring lands. This caused excessive crankcase pressure and oil being blown up into the oil filler neck and out the breather hose. After the cylinder repairs it was OK.

3 people found this helpful.
10

My 73 has 2010cc has breather hose from fuel pump cover into a CB vertical box,runs good at 3000 rpm no oil problem,but take it to 3500 and above makes a big ole mess of oil ,thinking I need to do compression test,see if there's excessive blow by.

1 people found this helpful.

Your Answer:

Beetle

Looking for a Used Beetle in your area?

CarGurus has 1,494 nationwide Beetle listings starting at $1,399.

ZIP:

Own this car?

Share your experience with others.

1971 Volkswagen Beetle

Review another car

CarGurus Experts

  • #1
    tenspeed
    Reputation
    3,240
  • #2
    Chris Billings
    Reputation
    3,000
  • #3
    Deathjam4
    Reputation
    2,160
View All

Know more, shop wisely

Search

Related Models For Sale

Used Ford Mustang
1,052 Great Deals out of 23,159 listings starting at $1,100
Used Toyota Corolla
1,686 Great Deals out of 27,782 listings starting at $1,150
Used FIAT 500
42 Great Deals out of 721 listings starting at $1,998
Used Chevrolet Corvette
643 Great Deals out of 9,938 listings starting at $4,995
Used Chevrolet Camaro
577 Great Deals out of 7,254 listings starting at $4,995
Used Ford Bronco
476 Great Deals out of 31,050 listings starting at $29,400

Used Cars for Sale

2019 Volkswagen Beetle For Sale
12 Great Deals out of 142 listings starting at $13,999
2018 Volkswagen Beetle For Sale
10 Great Deals out of 91 listings starting at $10,898
2017 Volkswagen Beetle For Sale
12 Great Deals out of 97 listings starting at $9,995
2016 Volkswagen Beetle For Sale
14 Great Deals out of 114 listings starting at $5,250
2015 Volkswagen Beetle For Sale
14 Great Deals out of 113 listings starting at $4,994

Content submitted by Users is not endorsed by CarGurus, does not express the opinions of CarGurus, and should not be considered reviewed, screened, or approved by CarGurus. Please refer to CarGurus Terms of Use. Content will be removed if CarGurus becomes aware that it violates our policies.