Your best/most memorable breakdown in your Bay/VW...

[Darth VeeDub]

ok, so I am sure everyone here has quite a few "stuck on the side o' the road in the middle of nowhere" stories.

I wanna hear about your most memorable 'broke down' experience in your VW. With that said, here goes mine...

Summer, 1996, was before my ol 72 bus took a dump on me. NW of Tucson, AZ rolling round the desert roads. We started not too far from Avra Valley, off Pipeline Rd and were just cruising the desert roads. After awhile I was going down a very small inclined dirt road, hit a small pot hole and my RH ball joint popped out. Couldn't steer the bus, she just kinda slid into a Palo Verde tree and snapped it in 2 (was about 8 inches thick too) Put a 10" dent in the front, no biggee. Luckily I had a few friends with as I had crap for a jack. After about 30min of messing with the RH BJ I got it to pop back in.
By then, the sun was gettin kinda low, so we decided to get outta there. Needless to say, we were having a little too much fun and forgot which turns/roads we took to get out there. After 45min of driving, aimlessly, the veil of night began to cover us. We find what looked like a 'main' road and take it. It goes and goes, hill after hill, grrrr. So, I decide, maybe we should turn around? Bad idea, right as I try and crank the wheel to U-Turn, I hit a rock and out pops the RH BJ again, I roll down the hill backwards and come to a stop.
We pile out, knowing what we need to do, though we are more tired than earlier this afternoon. An hour or so later and I got it to pop back in by use of VW bus force, I got super frustrated and decided to rock the bus (ever so slightly) while my buds straightened the wheel with some big branches. Somehow, we succeeded and that stubborn BJ popped back in.
We pissed on our fire (used for light) kicked some sand on it and got the crap outta there. Not 5 min into driving we see a set of headlights, though lone, they were still headlights. After convincing ourselves that it would be a good idea to ask these complete strangers in the middle of nowhere for directions, we drive a lil closer and one of my friends and I get out to ask them for assistance.
Heh, turns out they were 'lost' as well, but they had a map. The ultra-uber funny thing is and still puzzles me to this day is, they were from Canada (with Canadian plates) and they were lost in the southern Arizona desert?
Turns out, we ended up a stones throw away from I-10 (we were west of the hwy) not too far from Eli, just a tad north of Picacho Peak, some 40 miles north of where we started. What a day...

[MaddMatt]

First off, I'm a Tucson native!!! Woot!!!


Anyhoo.

This isn't a breakdown story as much as a got the bus stuck and had no idea how to get out story.

It all began with a spur of the moment camping trip out to Pena Blanca lake, about an hour from tucson, near the mexico border. I used to camp out near Pena Blanca when I was a child and wanted to find the same camping spot. Sadly, my friends really were dragging their asses, and we left 4 hours later then I wanted to. This got us to Pena Blanca right as the sun was starting to dip past the horizon.

Due to the lack of light, I missed the turn off for my childhood camping spot. I continued on the dirt road as it started climbing out of the canyon up near the ridge. I knew something was wrong since I remembered the campsite on the opposite side of the canyon, near the bottom. Suddenly a road popped up on our left and it appeared to head down into the canyon and I figured this must be how to get to the other side.

20 ft into this road I realized my grave mistake.

It was a major incline first off, it was even worse when the front tires dropped about a foot. At this point I realized that I could not throw it in reverse. The tires just spun. I had to commit to traveling down the road to the bottom. After the first bend in the road I really had a grasp of how bad this road actually was. It was no doubt a 4 wheel drive only road. Huge boulders, water washouts, pits and dips. We managed to make it to the bottom, at one point i had to have my friends stand on the back corner of the bumper to counter balance the bus. When we reached the bottom it was sand. I did everything I knew how to keep from getting stuck and I am so grateful we didn't.

We were not about to try and get back out until the sun came up. We set up camp and actually had a good time. Unfortunately I had the burden of getting back out tomorrow on my mind.

The next morning held a couple of surprises. First off that the area we camped in had staches of bottled water and canned food hidden here and there. We had stumbled into a illegal immigrant path. We decided that this most likely wasn't the best place to stay for much longer so we began trying to escape the rocky canyon we had gotten ourselves into.

The first challenge was the giant pit we had to make it over just to get on the road again. We gathered up as many large rocks as we could to fill the pit.

The first attempt failed.

Lost traction and rolled back to the start.

Moved some rocks around and tried again.

I got past the pit. At this point I decided to have my friends walk ahead so they wouldn't be in the car if something bad happened like a roll over or loss of control.

I knew I had to have a fair amount of momentum to get over the ledges and dropoffs we came down. So I gunned it.

The next few minutes were insane. All of our stuff was thrown around the inside of the as if a child was violently shaking a box full of rocks. I really wish I could have seen it from the outside.

I made it past the chaos of the last bend in the road and saw the ledge I needed to clear. Going for broke I went for it. When the front tires hit the dropoff they bounced over the ledge. Then suddenly the back tires hit it, grabbed tight and popped the back of the bus on top of the ledge.

I had made it.

The next morning I went over the bus with a fine tooth comb to find any damage. The casualty list consisted of...

Muffler, torn open
Header, bent beyond repair
One leaky wheel cylinder
missing hubcap
two pretty big dent/scrapes in the frame
and various loose nuts in need of tightening.

It was an experience I will never forget.
_________________
It will make it. Trust me.

Owned: 71 Superbeetle, 72 Superbeetle, 63 Baja (on 69 pan) 74 baja, 74 Karmann Ghia

Own: 71 Deluxe Bus

[Sidbus]

Broke down on a road trip this spring. Fuel injection issues. Contacted AIRS. The breakdown and susequent repair work were pretty run of the mill. What makes it memorable was camping out in the guy's driveway and the breakfast they made for us:


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57 Panel http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=453943
62 so34 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=533160
76 Westy http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=520076

[Robbo112233]

I dont have any exciting stories to tell, but just wanted to say that this is a great idea for a thread and i look forward to hearing more
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1973 Bug

Beetle Bums VW Club member

Archie's Photo Gallery

[1964volksman]

my bug blew a piston. THAT was memorable

[dakdak]

Blew #3 spark plug and insert out of the head on my '66 Beetle (1600SP) last August. This was done about 100km (60 miles) from the nearest town in Queensland.

After removing the #3 lead, I drove the car 100km to the town that happened to have a VW guy in town. Once a good second hand head was sourced, we were on our way again.
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The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie - deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth - persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.

JFK

[PatterBon]

Had a tire shred itself @ 75mph on I-5 coming home from Sea-Tac Int.
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PNW Dub Folk & Kitsap dub Folk (KdF)
1973 Standard VW Beetle
1969 Cessna 172K Airplane

[derekbaehr]

i was meeting my parents for pizza while driving down a relatively unpopulated road. turns out my jtube sheared off. pulled over, it was a desert area with random houses sprinkled around. knocked on first door to ask for a phone. no answer, it was dark out, and some kid is knocking on the door with a STUSSY sweatshirt and baggy jeans.

next door, a lady answered. i explained the situation and just needed a phone so i can call the pizza joint to let me parents know i wasn't going to make it (and to give me a ride). the lady said, "my husband isn't home, do you mind waiting till he is back to come in?" i said sure. he came, offered to give me a ride to the pizza joint. i was a bit nervous about leaving my sweet ride on the side of the road (already had headlights stolen off them a month before) so i asked if i could just leave it in front of his house. he said, even better, just push it in the garage! so we pushed it in, he locked it up safe and sound, i got my pizza.

next day my best friend came to help me rescue the car. we were just going to tow it out. the guy offered his garage, tools, and tasty refreshments to help us on our way. sometimes there are nice people, and i think having a vw helps people feel safe.

[16CV's]

We used to go to Pomona and intershows and SOTO meets from the Bay Area ,generally we would take my buddy Shaun's lowered 70 VW Crewcab . We would pile 4 guys plus our crap and go there and back in a weekend ,leave Sat morning ,return Sunday afternoon . His car were always sketchy ,popping carbs ,loose linkage bumpers rattling Etc .
We got as far as about 20 miles north of Bakersfield when this thing dropped A valve ,right through the muffler . We tried to get my brother to come down with a tow bar with his van and my single cab and take this back .NO WAY.
Cell phones were just new and my buddy had an installed phone so we were lucky there . We found a Rental company and limped the van there and rented a Chevrolet 4 dr Blazer ,crammed our crap in as best we could and went off . There was one guy ,Jim who didn't think he should have to pay his share of the rental . We offered to pick him up on the way back and thanked him for the extra spot in the car he would be leaving for more of our crap. HE finally got our point .
We made it to the swaps and back without issue . We then had to get back home .So we picked up the Crew and disconnected the spark plug and drove it home on 3 cylinders . The problem was it was frickin cold outside and we were using the heater which was pumping raw fumes into the cab as we went along .
A truly great trip and I'd do it again in a heartbeat .
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89 Syncro Tristar "Swedish"
www.vanagonsplus.com

[Snort]

Back in the olden days for me, the 70's, I was taking a trip with a friend in my Oval Bug from Western to Eastern Washington to see the solar eclipse. We had the car loaded down with our camping baggage and cameras, and you might say we were also fully-loaded.

The cruise over the Cascade mountain pass went smoothly, and the marine overcast of the west side gave way to the sunny skies of the east; adventure ahead! Pulling out of Smallville USA, eight track pumping Edgar Winters, onto a two lane highway towards our destination, the shift into third gear felt soft, and as I hit fourth the shifter went wobbly and there were no more gears to be found. I coasted to the side of the road, and discovered that my hockey stick had broken.

Remember pay phones? I walked back to town and made a call, most likely collect. A reluctant and disapproving brother was phoned who was able to dig into my transaxle stockpile at home to pull out a hockey stick, (we're talking split case stuff here) drive it over to me in another disapproving brother's Honda Civic CVCC, the burnt orange one.

Meanwhile I was able to find enough wooden blocks and a plank along the side of the road to use for my poor man fulcrum and lever method for pulling motors. It takes two stacks, one under the motor and one just behind the motor stack to lower the engine to the ground, then jack up the car to pull it out. America, thanks for tossing a few things out the window, and leaving the tail gate down on your pickup trucks, you never know when we might need stuff for something important along our wandering journeys. PCB's and strontium-90 we can do without, but leave a few strands of wire and wood blocks out there for us, OK?

We set up camp just off the highway a bit, endured only one disapproving county sheriff in the middle of the night, and the next day, the hockey stick and solar eclipse arrived. There was a really nice hill nearby which we hiked up in time to see the solar event. After it was over, I finished the hockey stick install and headed back west, happy once again to be greeted by the gray clouds of Puget Sound.

[abritinthebay]

I have a recent one... and it was the first trip I took in it too.

So I found a '67 Camper (on here!) in Seattle. Lovely thing, knew I had to have it. However - slight flaw - I'm currently working in Aspen, CO and my apartment is in SF. Ok... so fly out to Seattle right? Right. Everything goes peachy, it's now mine, so far so good. However my cunning plan is to drive it from Seattle to SF, then stay for a bit, quick tune up, and drive from SF to Aspen via Vegas and Moab.

Sounds like a plan right? Best laid plans...

Find out pretty quickly that the dash lights have stopped working and that the gas gauge went out with them. Ok... so I'll refuel every 100-120 miles and make sure the engine has plenty of oil and stop regularly to let it cool. Should be fine... can get it fixed when I get to SF...

Yeah...

A short while after taking that photo on the left I managed to get through Oregon to Weed, CA (near Shasta) and the bus finally just won't start after I pull over to fix a sticking pedal (was getting caught on the mat). Hmmm ok. Not good.

Nothing, starter doesn't run. Electrics seem fine, just won't start. Ok, well.. it's getting late - call AAA and get a tow to a few towns down in Redding, CA and grab a hotel at nearly midnight.

Call AAA again in the morning to get another tow to a local VW Specialist (Sparky's, FYI). They won't do it as I have WA collectors plates that don't show registration tags. AAA are dicks about this and I have no way to prove the car is road legal to them aside from citing WA law. They aren't having it. Crap.

Call Sparky - he suggests a push start. I feel dumb for not trying this. It works - and I can make my way to him. Turns out its a faulty ignition, needs more jiggling and wiggling than I was doing. He doesn't have the part but he suggests a few places and says I should be fine to at least get to SF.

Ok... so seems to work to SF. Get to girlfriends place in SF and stall on the hill that is her driveway. Crap. Now it really won't start either. Ok, fine - I pull out the key and part of the ignition comes with it. Well... balls. Guess this isn't going anywhere.

After more of a saga with AAA and then calling a non-crappy tow company I drop it off at the awesome LaVeres in Concord, CA who quickly replace everything (and are very reasonably priced too). They say they'll do a full service to make sure it's golden for my drive to Aspen.


... it's not (surprise!). The engine has lousy compression and two of the valves are shot. Complete rebuild recommended.

I'm in Aspen right now, my bus is not. I hope to see it soon.

It's being taken care of by those awesome people... but damn it is driving me nuts not having it...

[Westy Steve]

Went to the beach with a couple of friends in my '62 bug about 2 hours out of town. We decided to leave at past midnight, banking on getting home around 2 AM. But after I fueled up for the ride back home, I couldn't get the bug back in gear. Turned out to be the coupler...a simple fix, but it was late, I had no tools...nothing. Finally, I managed to twist it around enough to get it in 3rd gear. It was stuck there. So...yes...I drove home in 3rd gear, burning the clutch at street lights and driving painfully slow the rest of the way...like at moped speed. Took almost 3.5 hours. I still had to drop my friends off, so I didn't get home until after 4 AM. Had to work the next day and had to get up early to drive it to work like that.

It sucked then, but looking back on it, it makes me chuckle.
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I love my Bay Westy!
'74 Westy
'62 Beetle Ragtop