Air Flow Meter

Hi! Today I'm posting about what is called the Air Flow Meter! Most of you who own air-cooled VWs don't actually have to worry about this and may not even know what it is. I didn't until I bought this particular model. The Air Flow Meter is only on the L-Jetronic fuel-injected Volkswagens. For the air-cooled engines this is from 1975 to 1979. It was only a few short years. My car is a 1975 Super Beetle, the first year this system was installed.

Unfortunately my car in the past wasn't very well cared for. And on top of that it has pretty much just been sitting for the two years I was in Lithuania. So now I have the job of bringing him back to life. I'm going to be working on replacing fuel lines, gas tank, and other parts of the fuel-injection system. I'll be posting on it as I go. Today's job is working on the Air Flow Meter.

On the Fuel Injection system the Air Flow Meter takes the job of the carburetor to regulate the air and fuel mixture. It is attached to the air filter, and it senses the amount of air taken into the intake manifold. It then sends that information to the Electronic Control Unit or E.C.U. which is basically a very simple computer that runs the fuel injection system. It then determines the duration of time the fuel injectors open. Meaning it regulates how much fuel is mixed with the air.

That's how it works, its an important component of the car. It is very rare for these parts to go bad. And it is also very rare that they need adjustment. Unfortunately as I said my car was not that well cared for. Someone had taken the cover off and undertook to "adjust" it themselves. I.E. they mucked around with it until they bent some of the potentiometer contacts out of what and completely messed up the adjustment of it.

The sad thing is the reason he mucked around with it was to try and cure the symptoms of old rubber hoses and seals that needed to be replaced, instead of just fixing the problem. This of course means that I give to fix both his "solution" and the problem. But on the bright side, little by little my car is getting nicer and better.

That fact that they fiddled with it combined with the fact that the Air Flow Meter is old I decided its best to replace it. I've ordered a rebuilt Air Flow Meter. I'll send in my old one to them which they will later rebuild, and he will send me a rebuilt one in a couple weeks.

Today's job was to take the air filter and remove the Air Flow Meter from it so I can prep it for shipping. The Moral of this story is; If you don't know what you are doing, learn first before you muck around and ruin something.

Have there been times where you have had to repair some previous owners' "repair" because they only ended up breaking it worse?

A Warm Welcome

Greetings and a warm welcome to you, Reader. I'm happy to see that you have somehow bumbled on this site. I suppose introductions are in order. First I'll introduce the site, then I'll get to me. You are probably wanting to know what to expect out of this site. I commend your curiosity. My purpose in creating this site is a place I can share my passion for classic Volkswagens. I love these old cars and it's exciting for me to share that. On this site I'll be posting a variety of different articles. I have my own car that I plan on posting about. I'll post about the repairs I'm making on it and the different accessories I've purchased for it. I plan on posting about VW related items I've found, movies and books that have VW references in them, cool fun facts about VW's that I've found, recources that are useful to VW enthusiasts, and other such VW related things.

As I mentioned I want to share my passion for Classic Volkswagens, I want to create and maintain a website that will be interesting to you and to others out there that also appreciate these classic pieces of machinery and craftsmanship.

By this point you probably have a good idea that I love Volkwagens. Its true I'm very passionate about them. You are probably still wondering who this person is that has a passion for VWs. Now is the part where I answer that question.

My name is Todd Norman. I'm the youngest child in a family of four boys. I love my family a lot. I am 20 years old and am now attending Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. I have owned Volkswagens for around 6 years now. I first became interested in Volkwagens about 9 years ago when my older brother purchased one, now I'm hooked. That said it isn't my only interest. I love animals, I love the outdoors. I'm also a bit of a geek, I love technology and creativity. With those interests I'm studying industrial design.

Fun fact about me: I speak Lithuanian! I was a volunteer for my church for two years. I spent those two years in the country of Lithuania, helping and serving people there. I love Lithuania, and miss many of my friends from there. I am a Mormon. I'm grateful for my beliefs. God is a large part of my life, he has helped me to grow in ways that would not be possible without him.

I'm glad that you have found this site. I hope you find it interesting enough that you will return. I've seen as I've worked on this hobby that there are many different people from all over the world that have one thing in common. The love of air-cooled VWs. I'm excited to get to know you. Please feel free to comment at any time on any of these posts.