No shit there I was.... stranded!!

[Sk84Jesus3]

My bus was giving me a heck of a time going anywhere. Even around my school parking lot. Being the stupid kid that I am, I have to go to my mom's work to get some laundry money. The bus only stopped once on the way there. I don't know how it got started again, a couple of tries made it run, though. I finally get to my mom's work and get the money. Now it's time to get home. The freakin' bus gets about 2 miles from home and stopped. This time it wouldn't start. I look all through the engine and can't figure it out. The darn thing seemed to be fine. I figured it overheated, so I gave it some time. It still didn't start and, to boot, I had to get ready to be somewhere in an hour. I just give up, push it out of the no parking zone,and walk back home. The next day I found 3 guys hanging around the dorm to help me push it back. Freakin' 100 degree Phoenix afternoons. We finally get the bus home (the push seemed a lot longer than walking the distance the day before). The next day I pop the hood, and find out that it's a stupid vacuum hose that's disconnected itself. I reconnect the hose, and it starts right up. Freakin' A!!! How can I miss something so obvious?
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What's under the hood? A tire. There's a spare engine in the trunk.

[usmc1991]

This past summer I had a job delivering newspapers. I delivered to two little bitty rural towns way out in the country. It was my first day delivering by myself and when I stopped to throw a paper my car shut off suddenly. I turned the key but nothing happened. I waited a couple minutes and tried again. This time it started right up. So i drove of down the road to deliver the next paper and after I had gone about 10 yards the car shut off again. Again, I waited a few minutes and tried and it started right up. After it shut off a third time I decided to call my dad. Since I was way out in the country i was lucky to get a signal but I finally did and my dad showed up about an hour later. We towed my car to town and finished the route in my dads car. The next day we still couldn't figure out what was wrong with my car so I did the route in the family minivan. As I was driving down the exact same road where my car broke down the right rear tire blows on the van. What luck!! I got that replaced and finished the route behind schedule. Again. We got my car checked out a few days later and it turns out it was my alternator which we had replaced only about a week earlier.

[JuggButt]

Broke down in morning rush hour traffic driving into the Naval Base in Norfolk. Hit a bump at 55 mph, got a loud backfire, and the engine wouldn't restart. After I towed it home, it took me five minutes to diagnose it as the distributor moved up enough that it was no longer rotating.

Ran out of gas one night on I-264. A young lady bumper-pushed me into a gas station. I had to crank it about ten times to get fuel through the line.

Once stalled in my driveway while going out for groceries. I could start it and run it at high RPM. I immediately figured it was a clogged idle jet, which turned out to be the case.

Stalled another time in the same driveway and didn't even get a click. While trying to push start it, smoke came out of the hood. The wire going from my coil to the brake light was fried. So I replaced it. Drove it a few times and it happened again a mile from home on the way to work. All because I didn't install an inline fuse!
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(o\_!_/o)

[philermonic]

I have a few days off work and thought I would treat myself to a "which way the wind blows" sort of cruise in my '62 Ghia coupe....has a 1385, and runs like a top. I recently had the rear axle seals replaced and to my knowledge - out side of an annoying "buzzing" that was louder or quieter at different RPM's, was in good mechanical shape for my adventure. I set out from San Diego this morning heading up the 5 freeway to LA and then to Santa Barbara and perhaps the central coast for a few photo ops. So get going this morning about 9 AM heading north on the 5 freeway, everything being nominal and cruising at 60 - 65 with the usual "buzzing" I've been dealing with for a few months.....other than it goes away when the clutch is depressed, and it interferes with my enjoyment of listening to the motor, I was not able to put a problem waiting to happen association with it. Well that notion changed this morning about 98 miles into my trip on the 405 freeway going about 60 mph I noticed a sudden difference in the "buzzing" and got off the freeway when I found it was much harder to shift, and the clutch would engage about 1/8" off the floor. I found a gas station in Costa Mesa and did my cursory once over and quickly decided a clutch adjustment was not the problem. On my phone I did a quick Samba search of Orange County vintage VW repair places near where I was and found Oc Bug Works and called the number...I got voice mail and left a message & call back number. While searching other places, I got a call back from Tim at OC Bug works and determined I was about 10 miles away. The car still drove, and I am pretty good at getting something from point A to point B in less than desirable circumstances or operating condition (and knowing the difference between them), and I was able to limp over to his shop. I found the owner Tim there on a slow day - he later related he'd told his assistant he didn't need to come in because it was slow, and Tim was there working on a 2000cc bus engine for a customer. I rolled my Ghia in the service bay and it was quickly determined part of the clutch cable tube was broken and was the source of the annoying buzzing. So Tim said the solution was to make an incision into the tunnel opposite the pedal cluster to weld the clutch cable tube back into place. Upon completing that and starting the motor it was clear the issue was deeper than that, and probably a clutch. An aside here - I always thought a clutch issue would reveal itself by "slipping" and this one never did. So - repairing the broken tube didn't fix the problem and further inspection said it must be the clutch itself. So a short while later the motor is out and ..........viola.....pressure plate, throw out bearing and clutch disc were falling apart (pics below).....anyway, Tim sourced the parts and a quick while later it was done. He was a great guy and saved my ass 100 miles from home, did the work like he could do it with his eyes closed, and later related he DID do an engine swap on the shoulder of a highway at night in the dark....so I get the car back....runs & drives great....drove back to SD tonight....ran & shifted perfect.....maybe I'll try to see which way the wind blows tomorrow........moral of the story is, Tim came through, knew his stuff forward & backward and bailed me out. Recommend him to anyone.

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"A camel is a horse designed by a Committee"

[lucille66]

^that was a great story! Thanks for sharing that one. The story I have is me and my brother cruising in my first old Volkswagen bug, 66 sunroof.....headed south on the 5 freeway and right before you hit the irvine area, there is this series of extreme "bumps" if you will......anyways, my car was slammed on a 5.5" narrowed beam with drops, and I hit one of these "bumps" so fuckin hard that my coil flew off the shroud, tumbled around the engine bay, and finally flew out into the middle of the freeway. The bug instantly shut down and I pulled over immediately, not knowing what had happened yet. I instantly pop the decklid and go "where's my coil?" And my brother looks up and goes "dude! It's in the middle of the freeway !!!" So there we are looking out into traffic whizzing by, trying to find an opening......nothing. I felt like we were in that game "frogger". There was no chance. It was useless. A car ended up running over the coil and smashing it into a million pieces. My heart crumbled. So I called AAA, and decided to tow her home until I could pick up another coil. As we were waiting, a CHP officer rolled up behind me (I was rolling dirty at the time, expired tags, suspended license etc the whole 9) and he ended up just shooting the shit with us for like two hours til the tow truck showed up, telling us about his 65 bug he's building yadda yadda yadda......
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my first bug 66' build:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=438348&highlight=lucille66

[philermonic]

[Manfred58sc]

Northern New Mexico road trip in my very,very worn 68 Bug (documented 600,000 plus miles when I got it). 3 people/camping gear and I come to a 2 lane into one section at the top of a big ass hill. This was due to a washout and was controlled by an automated light tree..wait for the green then go. So down the hill I go and by the bottom it dies, but I'm not through the chute yet! We push it into a "field access" driveway and I take a look. The plastic cam on the new points broke off..and I did not bring a spare (new points!!!). Now the direction I am (was) going is at the bottom of the hill and everyone is buzzing by at 70mph, impatient from the wait. The way I came is 50 miles to a town, highway patrol speeds by ignoring my plight. Its 1999 and cell phones are spotty at best. After like 3 hours 2 guys in a phone company 4by4 turbo diesel monster utility truck give a ride to an outlaw Mexican junkyard where they remember seeing a "funny vw". Luckily they speak Spanish and the yard owner shows me a 73 squareback that had been wrecked 20 years prior. Still had its distributor and some 1/2 worn out points. $5 and I'm back on the road without any further issues. Drove that Bug till both heater channels were rusted through/rod knock/popping out of 4th/doors no longer closing..I miss it.
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Fat chick owner/operator