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Fri Nov 07, 2003 8:45 am

As a teenager I had a really nice Baja bug (Bought it that way). I was too lazy to do any work on the thing, even the easy stuff.

I had severely worn out fan/generator belt that I just refused to replace.
One day on the way to work I was driving down the freeway. This guy pulls up next to me and is waving and yelling something. I couldn't figure out what he wanted but as I was looking out my window at him I noticed that the road was nicely lit up in an array of bright colors (at 5am).

I pulled over in a hurry found my engine ablaze. I pulled out a shirt from the back of the car and beat out the fire. My belt snapped off, tore the fuel line off, pumped gas all over my engine and exhaust pipe. The blaze only lasted maybe 45 seconds but it fried my fuel line & filter, plug wires and heater tubes. I had to walk to work from there.

I had the Bug towed to an import shop and never had the money to go back for it. (Sigh of regret)

Fri Nov 07, 2003 9:14 am

Dumping my heart and soul and alot of $$ into my 70 Sportsmobile. Then selling it to an idiot that blew the engine and let it got to the scrap yard to get parted and crushed.

Fri Nov 07, 2003 9:59 am

This thread will probably go on forever. Several years ago I was driving a bus that just lost power and died. I ranted and raved thinking the engine was blown and walked about a mile to a service station to call a tow truck. Paid $50 to have it towed back home where I removed the engine and asked a friend to come over and look at it. He promptly pointed out that the engine wasn't siezed so it probably wasn't blown. After pondering all the possibilities and ruling out other problems I decided I had run out of gas. I replaced the engine, poured in some gas, and it started right up. Felt like a fool for years, but I am finally able to laugh about it. :D

Fri Nov 07, 2003 11:58 am

In 1990 I had 6 friends in my 71 Westfakia. Pulled into a gas station after losing power on the freeway- popped the lid- and there was gas everywhere! On the ground- everywhere. I couldnt see where it was coming from- so I yelled at a buddy to crank the engine so I could find the leak- This of course instantly caught fire giving me second degree burns on my hands and signaling the demise of my first bus, which was a 70 thousand mile original... I figured out later on the casting plug on teh carb had popped out... Stoopid.

Fri Nov 07, 2003 12:46 pm

Just thought of another stupid thing that happened only a few months ago. I found a 76 Westfalia on the net so I drove 3 hours to look at it. Owner tossed me the keys for a test drive. I fired it up and promptly backed up and went careening down an inbankment and into a guard rail at the end of the guy's driveway. This caused some moderate damage to the rear of the bus including a dented rear quarter, bumper, and busted tail light. The stupid thing was assuming the brakes worked or assuming the owner would inform me of this little problem. Never assume anything as the bus had no brakes whatsoever.

Fri Nov 07, 2003 12:55 pm

NeverHadaBeetle wrote: Just thought of another stupid thing that happened only a few months ago. I found a 76 Westfalia on the net so I drove 3 hours to look at it. Owner tossed me the keys for a test drive. I fired it up and promptly backed up and went careening down an inbankment and into a guard rail at the end of the guy's driveway. This caused some moderate damage to the rear of the bus including a dented rear quarter, bumper, and busted tail light. The stupid thing was assuming the brakes worked or assuming the owner would inform me of this little problem. Never assume anything as the bus had no brakes whatsoever.

What happened after that? Did he go off or did he know they didn't work?

Fri Nov 07, 2003 1:16 pm

I was going to include my story about losing the oil drain plug for my 71 Super Beetle for 2 days when it was just in the drain pan, but that story is far too lame to even make the cut.

I just can't compete with you guys! I can't even make something up that good!

Fri Nov 07, 2003 2:45 pm

The guy was asking $1200 so I offered $900 and drove it home. Before I left his house I added about a pint of brake fluid and got the front brakes to work somewhat. The rear brakes appeared to have been siezed for years and one of the rear brake lines was ruptured. Since I needed to repaint the bus anyway the dent didn't bother me too bad, but it could have been much worse. The owner claimed the brakes must have "lost their pressure" while parked in his driveway. Never assume anything when you go to test drive a 27 year old vehicle.

Fri Nov 07, 2003 3:27 pm

My story is not as good, but I feel guilty, and I must get it off my chest.

In 1990 a friend said, give me $300 and you can come have my bus. It had been sitting out in the desert for it's entire life. Completely original 1970 deluxe no rust and just a few minor blemishes. All I had to do was get it running. No probelm - gave it a tune up, new battery, and drove off.

Now the stupid part - let that bus sit again for 13 years and let cancer take hold under the windshield. I did absolutely nothing to keep it up. I let it down. I feel remorseful though and I am going to restore it.

I feel good getting this off my chest - kinda like therapy...

Fri Nov 07, 2003 4:15 pm

Dirving to work one day and the bus just up and quit. I had left my toolbox in the garage, stupid thing #1, so I assumed something serious had gone wrong. Call into work thinking its gonna be a long walk home, lucky my wife was stilll at home to come get me. I leave the buss on the side of the road all day waiting for my mother-in-law to come over with her truck to tow the bus back to the house. I had let the tabs expire so in a vain atempt not to get pulled over I put old plates from my Subaru, sold three weeks earlier, on the bus. Little do I know I parked the bus next to a known speed trap area. I get a call from the police later that day asking me if it was my buss and why the plates were from a Subaru, not the VW. Finally get the bus home, pop the back to look in and see that the 15 wire had fallen off the coil! All this and all I had to do was put the wire back on.

Fri Nov 07, 2003 4:27 pm

Telling that cop "be my guest... search my car. I have nothing to hide.". He did and found nothing but "F"ed up my interior.

Fri Nov 07, 2003 5:15 pm

Oh, where to start...........

Here's a sample: When I went to pick up my current '78 Westy we were pushing it up onto the tow dolly and I had the door open to steer- Duh! bus doors open in front of the tire.

On my '79 Transporter I drove around for a month with no turn signals before realizing the hazard switch was broken.

Having to rebuild the carb on a bug on the side of the highway late one night because I had kept blowing the fuel filter out instead of replacing it (I was broke at the time- but I learned you're never too broke to buy a spare $2 fuel filter). I also forgot to disconnect the ground wire in the same poor bug before pulling the instument cluster- it looked like the van in Fast Times at Ridgemont High as the wiring harness got smoked when I grounded one of the dash wires.

Fri Nov 07, 2003 7:34 pm

Mine's pretty tame compared to some of the previous stories but got me worked up at the time.
My bug suddenly ( should have given me a clue ) wouldn't idle.
Checked everything...timing, valves, carbie idle settings, sparkplugs, distributor........nothing helped. Spent days trying to work out what was wrong. Gave up temporarily. It was hell driving in heavy traffic with lots of traffic lights as I had to keep the revs up to stop it dying...other drivers were giving me strange ( stranger than normal! ) looks & thought I was wanting to drag race them. 8)
Looked under the lid for some other reason a few days later & just happened to notice the wire to the fuel cut off valve was broken, though at a casual glance it looked alright.
Fixed that little wire & EUREKA!, no more problem.
A valuable lesson learnt.
:D

Fri Nov 07, 2003 8:44 pm

How about this one, driving from Colorado To Connecticut, my 63 crewcab just stopped on the Indiana Toll road, I farked with that thing for a while, finally a state cop called a tow truck, they show up, and as were looking it over I see the + coil wire has come out of the back of the connector, by a 1/8th inch, farkin cheesey connectors !!! still had to pay the tow truck guy for the service call....... ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) :fist: :fist:

Fri Nov 07, 2003 10:05 pm

Visited my uncle at Lake Mead, was braggin' and braggin' about how my old Bus has never ever ever ever let me down in 24 years, ever, never more than maybe ten minutes to fix a wire off the choke or maybe the fuel pump, but it has always started in any weather and always gotten me to where I had to go. Well, gotta go, nice visiting. . . . . . . . .
damn thing wouldn't start. Had to pull the steering wheel and ignition assembly apart to repair the ignition switch, 2 hours! then the fuel pump wire pulled out at the end of the driveway. That repair was ten minutes, but my braggin' days were over at that point.
Colin
. . . . anyways my bus has its original ball joints, never been lubed, these ball joints are amazing, almost a half a million miles on 'em, why they'll probably last FOREVER. . . . . whoo boy

Sat Nov 08, 2003 3:55 pm

:lol: :lol:

NeverHadaBeetle, both your stories had me laughing out loud here at the keyboard. Thanks, I needed that!

The running out of gas story is a classic, a definite case of too much knowledge doing you in. If you were of more limited mechanical aptitude like me, your first thought would have been something like no fuel. See, I knew there was some advantage to not knowing all this stuff! ;-)

And crunching the Westy--I can only imagine what was going through your head as you careened towards the guard rail. I once test drove a 914 that with longitudinals that were so badly rusted that I *could not open the door to let myself out after I sat inside it.* The longs flexed just enough under my 140 lbs. that the door was squeezed against the jamb! I had to climb out the targa top. Now I know why the 200 lb owner insisted I drive it solo! As you say, assume nothing.

OK, now my story. I used to have an older BMW that I autocrossed a few times. One of the last times I autocrossed, I went to an event early in the morning with a buddy who wanted to learn the ropes about auto-x.

We talked on the drive to the event about the importance of good preparation and concentration, then stopped for gas at a station right near the auto-x site. I added gas to get exactly 1/4 tank, carefully checked oil level, air pressure, blah blah blah, checking off items on my little checklist the whole time, again emphasizing the importance of concentration and readiness. I then got back in the car, carefully adjusted my seatbelt, and drove off with the gas pump nozzle still in the tank! I was later told that it made quite a site as it bounced off the pavement sprinkling gas. :oops:

Sun Nov 09, 2003 11:06 pm

I just had my whole bus apart for paint and was putting it back together after being painted and I had just the battery left. It was looking pretty dirty and stuff so I cleaned it up real nice with the boiling water and baking soda, then hosed it off. Well when I hosed it off, some of the water went on the side of the bus. No big deal I thought, until it dried and I noticed it ate into the paint a bit leaving a little acid etch. Oh well, I don't even notice it now!

Mon Nov 10, 2003 9:47 am

Last week I averaged 45 mph in a heavy crosswind for about 20 miles with the top up. Tore it up pretty good, small tears are now large rips. I'm thinking "Man. I don't remember cross winds being this tough!" I am talking steering with both hands, both forearms and both feet. You know the feeling, but double or triple it.

Interestingly, no one beeped or otherwise brought it to my attention, and I probably hit 3 or 4 red lights. In fact, one of my neighbors said something like "I didn't know the top went up." Guess it looks natural.

Rich
72 Westy

Wed Nov 12, 2003 4:23 pm

Driving up a freeway on ramp I punch the gas but I'm getting minimal power. I pull over and check the throttle cable, for some reason the throttle won't open all the way, I crawl under the car to see if the cable is frayed or hung up on something. I get totally greasy/dirty, go back to engine fark around some more, after an hour on the side of the road I decide to call it quits and call for a tow. I go into the cab to get my cell phone flip on the dome light and happen to look down at the gas pedal, apparently a coke bottle had rolled under the pedal, preventing it from going down all the way- DOH!

Wed Nov 12, 2003 7:19 pm

Be happy 68 deluxe, last month a guy I work with had a Gator-aide bottle roll under his brake pedal coming down a off ramp, he Smacked ! the back of a dump truck !!! :shock: