its got me beat

[mahogany101]

hi, me again. i did post recently regarding my battery having no power, then loads of power. well as usual i went for a spin on sunday, sat there turning and turning, very slugish, clutch in as i believe thats the correct way, then for some reason i tried starting with the clutch out and hey loads of power everytime, clutch in again seems like the batterys nearly dead. whats going on there chaps H.

[aubrey]

Hi, I'm sorry to be the bringer of bad news but the problem you describe indicates that the crankshaft thrust bearings are worn out, what
is happening is as you put your foot on the clutch the whole of the crankshaft is being thrown forward,this causes immense friction at the front pulley end. I wrote a similar reply recently to a member of the PVHCC, further evidence of this in his case was a heavy oil leak from the chain case and a lot of noise from where the pulley wheels and chain were coming into contact with the casing. The only remedy is strip the engine and if the thrust washers are this bad you will be looking at rebuilding the short block at least.

[aubrey]

Hello again. In reply to you questions, firstly once the engine is warmed up the oil is circulating around the thrust washers and the bottom crankshaft bearings, hence when the engine has run for a little while you can switch off and it will start more easily. Yes you can still run the car for a considerable while longer provided you are prepared to put up with the difficult starting. You could improve this by getting something like a 60ah battery, I got one for my Mk1 for about £40 delivered, on ebay recently. As time goes on the oil leak will get worse as will starting and you will have no choice but to have the short block rebuilt. The 3 bearing engine fitted to the MK1 is now a rare beast so it would be unadvisable to run it until it will run no more and be damaged beyond repair. I hope this is of help to you, I have been here at least twice in the past but have been fortunate enough to rebuild the engines myself. Aubrey

[thowman]

Easy answer - don't start with the clutch depressed.