My belt broke & I replaced it but 69 VW will not turn over HELP

[1FineOLD69]

Hi there I've been lurking on the samba for years, but first time posting. my 1969 VW bay window is my baby,I have owned her for close to 25 years. she was a daily driver for the first 20 years Ive had the pleasure of caring for her. I don't take her out much these days (Life happened) but this year I've decided to start taking her to my local meet ups and get active in the community. any way its been sitting for about 4 years. I start her up every month or two and let her idol for a half hour or so. About two years ago I took her to my local VW guy had a tune up and then parked her again.

I noticed today after starting and running for 20 minuets or so that it was off, thought I ran her out of gas but after putting 2 gallons of gas in realized the belt had broke. Now i'm not very mechanically inclined but I watched a few videos and changed the belt. but it still will not turn over. the tension on the belt looks ok however it did notice during removal there were no extra shims on the outside there were several shims on the inside. so I just replaced belt and put everything back the way I found it. I used a impact wrench for this job.

I can hand turn the larger lower pulley however it does seem stiff and takes a lot of effort to make it turn. I took note of the position it is in and when I tried to start and then go back and note position and it appears to be in the same position as if its not spinning during my attempt to start. I do hear the motor trying to fire up but it just doesn't turn over.

The battery is fully charged as its kept on a battery maintainer.

I'm just a guy who loves his VW and drives it. I have no idea how to fix them not even oil changes just so you get an idea of my knowledge. but I can take direction and am willing to learn.

I hope I have included everything you might need to understand what happened , what condition my VW is in (not a daily driver for last 4 years) and what I have done to remedy.

Thank you for taking the time to read my rambles

[SGKent]

did the engine get really hot when the belt broke - meaning did you keep driving it when the alternator/generator light came on until the engine died?

Also - how old is the battery?
_________________
“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[1FineOLD69]

I wasn’t driving it I just turned it on and was letting it idle in the driveway to keep everything running because I haven’t taken on the road in four years.Sometimes I will press the gas down and rev it up high rpm’s for 10 minutes. The battery is old but I’ve taken it to the mechanic shop and have them test it and re-charge it and then I keep it on a battery maintainer. Since I’ve been doing work to it lately I have been turning it on and letting it idle several days in a row so I don’t believe it’s the battery

[SGKent]

can you spin the upper pulley with your hand?

Also check the oil level and see if it is too high from gasoline spilling into the oil from a bad carb or fuel pump.
_________________
“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[Wildthings]

If you threw a belt it might have knocked a wire loose on the distributor or something, if so consider yourself lucking. Losing a belt and letting the engine run till the engine dies is no very good at all, whereas knocking a wire off so it dies immediately is a best case scenario.

You need to properly shim the pulley for the belt, you are going to damage the pulley and belt if you do not. Using an impact here keeps you from having a good feel as to what is happening as you tighten the belt.

[Abscate]

Ugh. It stalled out from overheat.

Get some oil into each cylinders , if you are lucky you can get some life out of the engine. Stop running this until you come to understand your Ass which bears you.

-John Muir
_________________
.ssS!

[TomWesty]

Just a little background on how your engine works: It is air cooled. The air it depends on for cooling comes from a fan that is driven by the belt that broke. Running it for any length of time without that belt can be VERY bad for it. Do not even try to start it until you have gotten a book on how to properly install the belt or watched a good tutorial on YouTube or best of all, had an experienced VW guy show you how to install the belt. I would never use an impact wrench to tighten anything on my engine. To remove something maybe, but that is even doubtful. If you are real lucky, you haven’t damaged your engine. If you have enough cash, maybe get asiab3 to help you (Robbie). Give him a pm. The money you save in the long run will be worth it.
_________________
If you haven't bled on them, you haven't worked on them.
Visit: www.tomcoryell.com and check out my music!

[Wildthings]

I think we need to work on our automotive definitions a bit here. For most of us "turn over" means that the crankshaft will spin when you turn the key to the start position. The engine will "try to start" when it sputters a bit while being turned over by the starter, and of course the engine "starts" when it runs on its own.

[Clatter]

If I’m not mistaken,
Isn’t Old Volks Home the only shop left in town?

They were really good at this kind of thing back in the day.

When vehicles get this old,
And are left to sit for a long time,
It’s really pretty hard to diagnose problems without being there.
_________________
Bus Motor Build

What’s That Noise?!?

[1FineOLD69]

[1FineOLD69]

[1FineOLD69]

[1FineOLD69]

pic of belt broken when i realized it

[1FineOLD69]

pics of new belt replaced. looks loose because i backed off the tension after folks said not to use a impact gun. I only used impact because i watched at least four youtube videos on belt change and another guy on youtube used one. also I couldn't remove the nut without i tried with ratchet but it wouldn't budge. so when replacing i used it to fasten originally

[1FineOLD69]

Pics of broken belt. notice the deep gouges in belt

[TomWesty]

That could be an alternator length belt and you have a generator. What size is it?
_________________
If you haven't bled on them, you haven't worked on them.
Visit: www.tomcoryell.com and check out my music!

[1FineOLD69]

this is the belt i used recommended to me by Napa Auto parts

When I tighten down nut more it has what i think is plenty of tension,

however as mentioned above there are quite a few shims in there but can anyone recommend the correct amount of shims that I should have for a new belt?

I'm thinking about finding some more just to have all my bases covered

[Wildthings]

The shims hold the pulley halves apart so more shims would be required for a newer wider belt. Put all the shims between the halves and then once you have tighten the nut with a wrench while giving the pulley a frequent spin, see how loose the belt seems once the two pulley halves are touching each other. Make a judgement call into how many shims need to be removed to get the tension correct. This can take several tries.

At present the two pulley halves are probably not touching and thus will wobbly and wear very quickly.

[TomWesty]

X2 on What wild things says. It’s all in the Muir and Bentley books. Hint, hint.
_________________
If you haven't bled on them, you haven't worked on them.
Visit: www.tomcoryell.com and check out my music!

[1FineOLD69]