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Tue Dec 10, 2013 12:52 am

I have a 65 Baja that starts fine when the engine is cold but after driving it just down the road to a gas station it won't even turn over. After letting it sit for about 20 minutes it will start right up. It also sputters and tries to die coming to a stop forcing me to use the wonderful heel and toe to get around. Also will occasionally silently die coasting down hill with clutch engaged which is directly related to my stall issue since clutch is engage coming to stops. This last saturday we got about a foot of snow here in California so I decided to see if the 65 would start on such a cold day but it refused to crank over. I don't know if that's related to my problem or just the battery not putting out enough cold crank amps. A little background on the car. Bought it off a friend to fix up and hopefully have as a daily since my 68 can no longer handle the abuse. It sat for about 18 years so I went through and did all the things on the check list such as replace wheel bearings and anything rubber. It has new intake seals, carb, dizzy and points, starter, and coil.
1500cc
34 pict 3
009 dizzy (I know bad combination)
I'm completely stumped with this one.

Tue Dec 10, 2013 12:08 pm

are you setting the choke before you try to start it when its hot? I know for me I was doing it wrong for a while. When the engine is warm you turn the key then floor the gas pedal so air can get in there versus when its cold you floor the pedal first to set the choke.

And for this cold weather I too notice I will die until it's really warmed up.

Tue Dec 10, 2013 7:55 pm

Have the battery checked at your FLAPS. Clean BOTH ends of BOTH battery cables, do same with the transaxle to body ground cable.

If you have those repair clamps that bolt onto the ends of the battery clamps it is time for new battery cable/s.

Thu Dec 12, 2013 8:34 am

It has new battery and battery cables. I also cleaned the transaxle ground strap and made sure it was in good shape. Choke is working fine. Opened when warm and sets perfectly closed when I tap the throttle when cold.

Thu Dec 12, 2013 8:45 am

OK - wont even turn over - meaning it wont crank at all - you getting clicking sound or anything?

Assuming with new cables, everything is good on the starter, particularly the SMALL terminal? If that connection is funky, the car wont crank at all. This is the ignition switch to starter solenoid connection.

If thats all good, have you tried jumping at the starter to see what happens? (jump from battery starter connection to solenoid (small terminal). This bypasses the ignition switch. If cranks, then I would look at ignition switch and related connections.

Thu Dec 12, 2013 8:49 pm

andk5591 wrote:
If thats all good, have you tried jumping at the starter to see what happens? (jump from battery starter connection to solenoid (small terminal).

DO MAKE SURE the shifter is in neutral. No need to run the VW over yourself when doing that!

Fri Dec 13, 2013 1:38 am

It starts and idles perfectly fine. Just didn't like that very cold day we had. My only real issues at this point is the stalling when it warms up while driving but I can let it idle all day long and it won't stall.

Fri Dec 13, 2013 5:13 am

Quote: I have a 65 Baja that starts fine when the engine is cold but after driving it just down the road to a gas station it won't even turn over.

OK - so this ISN'T your problem? Kind of confused.

Fri Dec 13, 2013 4:02 pm

it is but I guess I worded my problem poorly. That's just a brief description of my problem to kick it off. It only does this after driving the car until thoroughly warm such as across town to a gas station but if I go to a gas station about 1 mile away from my house it doesn't have any issues at all. Sorry for my poor wording I'm just very frustrated with this death trap of a vehicle haha

Mon Dec 16, 2013 8:46 pm

Had the exact same trouble and it was the starter. Replaced battery and cables and was going crazy trying to explain everything. New starter and it works great. Only like 30 bucks too!

Wed Apr 16, 2014 12:07 pm

I'm still having these exact issues with my 65. I took a short 4 month break from it but now I'm back at it. Just replaced the battery cable clamps and about to go over the starter related wiring once again. I'm on my 4th starter and have tried 5 known good batteries so it has to be wiring related. It's nice having a yard full of VWs :) Was also thinking the starters could be hanging up on the fly wheel since it seems like it just turns the engine up to the compression stroke but not passed it. Starters do half a rotation then just grunts to a complete stop but the engine is fairly tired and pretty easy to turn over by hand. Hopefully I can get this thing going by summer since it's already starting to really warm up here in California.

Wed Apr 16, 2014 3:57 pm

If I'm reading this correctly, you're just throwing things at it without taking any measurements. You need to know what the voltage reading (at the battery) is when it works and when it doesn't. An good ammeter wouldn't hurt either.

Not that it's wrong to try different parts, it's just much faster to start with measurements...that narrows down your focus.

Is the car 6v or a 12v conversion. Have you checked the starter bushing (in the transmission bell housing...could it be super worn, or even the wrong one?). When you pulled the starter, did you turn the flywheel and check all the teeth.

Don't assume a new battery cable is good, measure it's resistance(ohms). And move the cable around while you're checking the resistance, there could be a bad spot that only shows up when the cable is in a certain position.

I wasn't clear if you said you tried turning the engine by hand when it was in the non start mode. But obviously you need to know that the engine is turning freely at that point.

For the stalling problem, first things to check are to see if the points are closed (and/or the timing way off) and to pull out the idle jet and see if there's a little dirt or piece of fiber blocking it. And make sure the idle mixture screw isn't turned in too much. Also look for a vacuum leak when the engine is warm (loose intake manifold, mysterious hairline crack in intake manifold, bad base intake manifold gasket), a loose carb. A can of Sure-Start or some ether starting fluid can find vac leaks real fast.