Variomatic > Manual

[Captain Mainwaring]

How much you reckon it'd cost to get this sorted?

I know the cheaper option is to just get rid and buy (attempt to find) a manual 340, but this car's got a bit of a hold on me now.

[OwdChina]

Errm.......wassup with it ? Just a conversion or is the vario shagged ?

[Andrew353w]

I've owned Dafs for years & currently am the proud owner of a 33 & also a member of the Daf Owners' Club! If I can offer any assistance on this New Year's Day ( or at any other time!) do PM me and I shall do my best to oblige. A correctly running Variomatic system's great, but a badly adjusted one is a pain!

 

Hope you manage to sort it out & a Happy New Year to you and all fellow Autoshiters!

 

Andrew353w

[purplebargeken]

Heed what Andrew says. Sign up to the Daf Owners Club site for tons of good advice and support. Don't bin it 'cos there aren't that many about and they are worth persevering with.

 

Ken

[dollywobbler]

Another vote to keep the Vario. There's enough knowledge out there to keep them working.

[Captain Mainwaring]

Nothing wrong with the gearbox mechanically, it's just I'd prefer a manual. Everything feels like an effort in the Vario, I don't much like being at 3,000 revs at 30mph.

[Lankytim]

Best to buy a scrap donor and rape the bits needed from it.

[scooters]

Major surgery would be required.

 

It sounds to me that if you are doing 3000rpm at 30 mph you have yet to understand how to drive Variomatic.

 

Ok we know that when you press the throttle the engine speed revs quickly and high whilst the road wheels catch up. the belt at this point is at the low ratio end of the cone. Once you have reached your desired speed the idea is to ease off the throttle this will not slow the car down but will shift the belt down the cone to a higher ratio. This means revs will drop whilst speed is maintained. Continuing to keep pressure on the throttle after accelerating just holds the Variomatic system in a lower ratio and costs you ear drums as well as fuel.

 

So technique is to rapidly accelerate when desired speed is reached ease off the throttle and the car will reach its 'overdrive' setting

 

Try it

 

Suggest you join the DAF club as well.

 

Changing to manual would require a gear box new drive shaft, new diff and new rear axel and would probably require chassis surgery...a huge job and not worth it.

 

There are a number of critical dos and fonts with Variomatic DAF club has more info

[Andrew353w]

As "Scotters" says /\/\/\. The Variomatic belt drive system works, amongst other things, on the engine vacuum, which in turn works on how hard the throttle is pushed; as you ease off the gas, the manifold vacuum increases & the car changes into a higher ratio; ipso facto, a slower running engine means lower fuel consumption and a quieter drive. You need a level quiet road to test if things are playing up, but it's worth having a play with it to have it running correctly. I've a vacuum gauge-really useful for checking how the system's working. Electrical connections to the vacuum valve are worth a look too. If they're playing up the vacuum pressure might not get through to the Variomatic and the car won't find the right ratio.

 

Hope you sort things out!

[scooters]

/\

as Andrew says - Variomatic issues are usually very simple to fix and often as not a vacuum leak and can usually be fixed with a few quids worth of generic fuel pipe - I've used a bicycle puncture repair kit to fix a leak in a Daf before

[Captain Mainwaring]

Cheers guys. Says a lot about me when I have a car for six months and still don't know how to drive it properly.

[dollywobbler]

Cheers guys. Says a lot about me when I have a car for six months and still don't know how to drive it properly.

 

To be fair to yourself, they are bloody odd things to drive! Completely counter-intuitive at first, especially if you've got into the habit of judging your road speed based on engine revs...

[scooters]

Ian

 

You're not suggesting that the Capt is a typical 'no speedo' SHITTER are you?????