1972 Volkswagen Beetle Lack of power after a service

1972 VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE
8,000 MILES • 4 CYL • 2WD • MANUAL
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TOTALLYAWESOME
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I recently serviced my 1972 1600cc beetle, i changed the ht leads and the plugs. Before i changed all the ht leads and plugs the beetle had no power and struggled to get to 25 mph, now i have replaced the old with the new, i am having just the same problem, a lack of power, can anyone tell me why this could be? i have not changed the points or the rotarry arm!
Thanks
Luke
Jan 15, 2008 at 9:58 PM
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MHPAUTOS
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Hi there,

You should do a compression test, check the valve clearances, replace the ignition points and re set the ignition timing as a starter. then if things don't improve we start looking a little deeper into you problem.

mark (mhpautos)
Jan 15, 2008 at 11:57 PM
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TOTALLYAWESOME
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How would i do a compression test? It just seems to be runing very lump in this cold weather, is this common?
Luke
Jan 16, 2008 at 2:56 AM
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MHPAUTOS
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  • 31,937 POSTS
To do a compression test, you remove the spark plugs, fit a compression tester, open the throttle fully earth out the coil lead and crank the engine to get the cylinder pressure reading, do this on each cylinder. if one or more are a fair margin lower than the others, no amount of tuning will improve the engine performance.

Mark (mhpautos)
Jan 16, 2008 at 8:55 AM
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