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Do VW Beetles break down a lot?
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DeutchKraght
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 10:45 am    Post subject: Do VW Beetles break down a lot? Reply with quote

Hey all.
I've been doing lots of reading the past couple of months and it always seems that Beetle breakdowns is just another day in the lives of Beetle owners (''daily drivers'' more specifically).
Now, I own a '68 , but haven't driven it yet. I bought it December 21st 2013 and it's been in the process of being ''restored'' ever since.

The ''restoration'' is coming to a close now and I am starting to worry that I will be having more breakdowns than an unserviced, overloaded, long distance freight truck driven by a drunk 17 year old VW GOLF GTI fan*.(*note: In South Africa, VW Golf enthusiasts are generally bad-mannered drivers)
Do Beetles really break all the time?
Please keep in mind that I stay in SA on the coast, so weather is always mild to hot (yes, even in winter).
Also, I might buy a pre-66 6volt Beetle soon. Do they break even more than 12v Beetles?
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Northof49
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 10:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. If you are talking about a VW with parts reaching the end of their serviceable life, then yes, breakdowns will be on the horizon. If you are talking about a restored drivetrain that is properly assembled and maintained, it should be very reliable.

There is nothing inherently wrong with the air cooled vw design, and in fact you benefit from decades of development in even driving a 60's bug. Yes, there is more maintenance involved in a vehicle with solid lifters, carburetor and points, but they shouldn't leave you stranded unless they are really left to deteriorate. I've never had a vehicle with any of those features leave me stranded because they failed catastrophically. It is more a matter of declining performance when they get out of spec.
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Brian
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 11:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes and no.

Looks at this guys' story:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=538476

Also his videos: www.kombilife.com
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79SuperVert
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 1:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A Beetle is really a simple car. Think of it. No water pump. No radiator. No power brakes or power steering or power windows. No computer if it's an earlier model. There's very little you have to do to it to keep it running. But those few things are critical: adjust timing / brakes; change the oil; keep the gas tank clean.

The problem is that it's an old car from the days when cars were maintained more frequently. If it's a DD count on doing some kind of service to it once a month. If you know the car's history and you keep on top of the maintenance I think it will be as reliable as any other car.
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gt1953
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 1:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well yes they break down. Now I drove 2000 miles round trip not a problem. Last week had a brake light switch go bad. So yes and no.
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edmond
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 3:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The only time my Baja broke down was when the distributor got went, unfortunately she's off the road for now due to a stripped rear side shaft thread and damaged rear brake drum but otherwise she just kept on going got 160 000km(or nearly 100 000miles for our US friends) on her engine now
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VWporscheGT3
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 3:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just look at it this way, every oil change, do the valves, grease what needs greased , inspect the car like you SHOULD do with your Toyota/Honda/Unimaginative Japanese car.... I personally dont believe the VW takes more maintenance than any other car... its just they are older and things wear out, if you stay on top of it, it can be very very very reliable. all problems I've ever had can be directly linked to poor or lack of maintenance .
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60ragtop
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 3:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

VWporscheGT3 wrote:
.. I personally dont believe the VW takes more maintenance than any other car... .

But they do require more maintenance Wink
But if you stay on top of regular oil changes, valve adjustments, brake adjustments ETC. They can be a reliable driver. But things break, so be prepared.
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tasb wrote:
I've restored a large number too, but I don't toot my horn quite as loud.


sb001 wrote:
maybe he just snapped cause his car sucked Wink
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andk5591
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 4:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you build the car right and maintain it, then they are very dependable. I have put between 20 and 25,000 miles on my 65 since I built it. Only breakdown was a new fuel pump failure.

But as mentioned earlier - these are 40+ year old cars. Unless you go through EVERYTHING, then whatever you miss will bite you in the ass at some point.

On a side not - I just dragged 3 bugs home this week - one was a 66 with a 1300 in it. Have no clue how long it had been sitting. All 4 plugs were loose, the distributor cap "key" was cracked off, so the cap moved around. Throttle shaft on the carb leaks badly......I fired it up - and went for a ride - Ran surprisingly well....
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johnnypan
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 6:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

^^what he said ^^ build the car correctly and you'll miss working on it,they are that dependable..hack,half ass and shortcut and you'll be standing by the side of the road..or scattered all over your garage..its up to you.
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KTPhil Premium Member
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 8:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lots of little things can break or get out of adjustment. Few of these will stop you from getting to your destination.

My '71 Fastback, bought new by my dad, has stranded us only once in its nearly 44 years of use. The rubbing block on the points brook a hundred miles after being replaced by a dealer-- failed part replaced after a tow, cost about 3 bucks.

Lots of little things (handles, seals, wires, cables) can break or come loose, but roadside repairs are usually easy with simple tools, and you are again on your way.

So they can be very reliable. But they require a lot of maintenance and regular checks and adjustments to be that way.

One of the biggest contributors to failures are poor repairs by prior owners or shops. Once you set those things right, the original designs are pretty reliable.

If you want "gas it up and drive it" car, get a Toyota. But if you devote time to proper maintenance, your VW will get you there.
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Tony Z
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 10:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If a beetle regularly broke down as was unreliable, do you think they would have lasted 40 plus years? How many other types of cars do you regularly see driving that are 40 to 60 years old? Pretty much none. This by itself has to say something about the reliability of the aircooled VW.

Service them properly and use the correct parts and they will be reliable.
Treat them like a cheap driver, dont spend money on them and they will break. The same applies to any car.
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67jason
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 10:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've been daily driving air-cooled VW's for close to 20 years now. There have been exactly 3 times in that time that I have been broke down on the side of the road in a daily driver. Once was a burnt pistion in a 68 fastback - that required a tow truck and engine rebuild. Another was a dropped valve seat in a 67 bus - pulled the rocker arm and pushrod and limped home - about 20 miles - on 3 cylinders - top end rebuild followed that weekend. the third time was more of me just being lazy - I blew a spark plug out of the head on my 67 bug on Thanksgiving a few years back - left the car in a shopping center parking lot and had my buddy, who's house i was going to for dinner, pick me up. had dinner, afterward got a spark plug socket and new plug and fixed the bug....no biggie.


earlier this year i was rear ended in my 67 bug which caused the crank to move inside the case - the play was excessive and some not so lovely noises were coming from the engine - this technically isnt the car breaking down per se, it was damaged and not good to drive afterwards - as I was about 90 miles from home i got it towed back.

Also recently, i was being overly ambitious in my attempt to drive a completely unknown, new to me 64 bus to a VW event a few hours away...needless to say even after around 20-30 hours of prep work, the bus didnt make it...but technically the bus isnt in daily driver condition...i figured i had a 50/50 shot of making it.

needless to say, if you stick to a normal maintenance routine, these cars will provide many many miles of trouble free traveling. the key is to stick to the routine - oil changes and valve adjustments and tune-up's. Address issues before they become failures. in my experience i pretty much always know if parts are heading for failure - things like oil/fluid drips or leaks, old cracked fuel lines, wore out ignition components , clogged fuel filters, gummed up/mis-adjusted carbs, noisy wheel bearings, axles or transmission noises, sloppy steering, misfiring or otherwise ill-running engines etc always have a way of "telling" you in one way or another that they are getting to the point of failure before they fail. learn the ins and outs of your car, understand when something isn't sounding, looking or feeling right and address it before it becomes a catastrophic failure and leaves you stranded in the middle of no-where.
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coad Premium Member
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 10:39 pm    Post subject: Re: Do VW Beetles break down alot? Reply with quote

DeutchKraght wrote:
Hey all.
I've been doing lots of reading the past couple of months and it always seems that Beetle breakdowns is just another day in the lives of Beetle owners


Remember, most people don't go on the internet and post about how their car worked perfectly all day. If you're getting information off the internet it's certain to be heavily slanted towards the negative.
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babysnakes
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 4:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Even if you rebuild per the book and do everything correctly, consider if you went cheap on the parts. You may have problems. This is not to say "buy the expensive stuff", that can be a crap shoot also. If you do what you did with this thread, ask questions about parts and the parts reliability, who uses what and who are the good vendors and follow the advice, you should have a reliable car. You should also treat the car like yourself. Turn down the radio every so often and listen to the motor purr down the road, learn it's song and if it ever starts to sing a different tune you may have a maintenance opportunity ( that can be fun for some of us, I said maintenance not repair ).
Drive the car, have fun in the car, respect the car and you will put many happy miles on it.
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andk5591
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 5:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Baby snakes made a good point - install or use crappy parts and you may have problems. As mentioned our only failure in my 65 was a new fuel pump failure. Was a Brosol and had the pin that the pump foot rides on slip out. Have since learned how to prevent that. And installing things like $39 distributors is asking for trouble...
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 6:32 am    Post subject: Re: Do VW Beetles break down alot? Reply with quote

coad wrote:
DeutchKraght wrote:
Hey all.
I've been doing lots of reading the past couple of months and it always seems that Beetle breakdowns is just another day in the lives of Beetle owners


Remember, most people don't go on the internet and post about how their car worked perfectly all day. If you're getting information off the internet it's certain to be heavily slanted towards the negative.


This. I can say with 100% certainty that my Dad, who dove ACVWs for decades and hundreds of thousands of miles, never once posted to the Samba or anywhere else. it was just assumed that the car would go where he wanted it to, and they always did. Only time I remember the tow truck pulling up in front of the house is when the bug caught fire in the 80's.
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babysnakes
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 9:14 am    Post subject: Re: Do VW Beetles break down alot? Reply with quote

pb_foots wrote:

This. I can say with 100% certainty that my Dad, who dove ACVWs for decades and hundreds of thousands of miles, never once posted to the Samba or anywhere else. it was just assumed that the car would go where he wanted it to, and they always did.


This is a true statement. I started driving them in '79. But there were more of them back then and they were not that old for the most part. We got advice from the local mechanics or local club members. There were also a lot of "seat of the pants" type repairs while on the road. But now with the internet the knowledge is easier to get. So a newbie with an oldie can have a better time.
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 2:16 pm    Post subject: Re: Do VW Beetles break down alot? Reply with quote

babysnakes wrote:
pb_foots wrote:

This. I can say with 100% certainty that my Dad, who dove ACVWs for decades and hundreds of thousands of miles, never once posted to the Samba or anywhere else. it was just assumed that the car would go where he wanted it to, and they always did.


This is a true statement. I started driving them in '79. But there were more of them back then and they were not that old for the most part. We got advice from the local mechanics or local club members. There were also a lot of "seat of the pants" type repairs while on the road. But now with the internet the knowledge is easier to get. So a newbie with an oldie can have a better time.

And we must not forget that so many of the Internet questions and "problems" are coming from people that have absolutely zero mechanical knowledge or experience. They would never dream of changing the oil in their Hyundai themselves, let alone trying to do a "tune up" or replace a fan belt on a Toyota. In fact, they might take their bicycle into a shop to have the handlebars adjusted. Yet they post in here with the most basic "problems" that, when added all up, make these old, worn out, simple cars look like total pieces of crap.

Oh, and-----GET OFFA MY LAWN. Mad
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 3:33 pm    Post subject: Re: Do VW Beetles break down alot? Reply with quote

iowegian wrote:
babysnakes wrote:
pb_foots wrote:

This. I can say with 100% certainty that my Dad, who dove ACVWs for decades and hundreds of thousands of miles, never once posted to the Samba or anywhere else. it was just assumed that the car would go where he wanted it to, and they always did.


This is a true statement. I started driving them in '79. But there were more of them back then and they were not that old for the most part. We got advice from the local mechanics or local club members. There were also a lot of "seat of the pants" type repairs while on the road. But now with the internet the knowledge is easier to get. So a newbie with an oldie can have a better time.

And we must not forget that so many of the Internet questions and "problems" are coming from people that have absolutely zero mechanical knowledge or experience. They would never dream of changing the oil in their Hyundai themselves, let alone trying to do a "tune up" or replace a fan belt on a Toyota. In fact, they might take their bicycle into a shop to have the handlebars adjusted. Yet they post in here with the most basic "problems" that, when added all up, make these old, worn out, simple cars look like total pieces of crap.

Oh, and-----GET OFFA MY LAWN. Mad


Pipe down, you short little curmudgeon! Rolling Eyes
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