Died at a stop light , ideas on the cause?

[electronictofu]

Definitely turns over by hand. I dont think it's the starter because I died at stop light, it was already running. Thats not to say a wire could have fell off or something, but it's all clean and connected.

I have a funky feeling its my ignition switch. I havent found any bad grounds or scuzzy connections

[electronictofu]

Small update. I checked what I thought was the Ignition failing. I tried to hot wire and bypass, no go. I ordered new wiring and will be tackling a full rewire sooner than expected.

I really want to find the issue before a full wire just in case I finish, then still have an issue. Very very odd. My only other guess at this point is the condenser, but it would probably still be turning over.

[Busted-bolt]

I might be mistaken ,but I think there is a jumper wire that feeds the ignition switch behind the headlight switch.
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Vw collection 60 combi ,61 panel ,62 deluxe micro,82 diesel Westfalia,88 Vanagon synchro,98 Jetta tdi,11 Jetta tdi mt ,11 Jetta tdi dsg.
I do all my own work,body,engine and transmission.

[electronictofu]

[EverettB]

[EverettB]

[Busted-bolt]

Thats what I thought, my wire female connector broke off there.I just soldered a new end on and was good to go.
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Vw collection 60 combi ,61 panel ,62 deluxe micro,82 diesel Westfalia,88 Vanagon synchro,98 Jetta tdi,11 Jetta tdi mt ,11 Jetta tdi dsg.
I do all my own work,body,engine and transmission.

[Eric&Barb]

Definition of a "jumper wire":

https://www.reference.com/technology/jumper-wire-893b2d7c5b8f447d
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In Stereo, Where Available!

[electronictofu]

[Eric&Barb]

[electronictofu]

Thanks. I have a couple manuals, and years ago I printed up my years specific diagram and laminated it. Its been a huge help!

Ive tested:
Battery ok
Starter - "jumped" and turns over"
Hot wired the IGN switch and no turning over
Coil getting 4.7ohms
Cleaned terminals and battery posts
Checked for loose or fallen out wires
Checked all grounds
Checked the few fuses I have in the system

There is an old looking connector (2-3 of them) are these fuses? Could one of these be an issue?

With all above, still no cigar. Jumping the starter works, and the key and IGN does not, so it feels like its something in between, fuse, ground, I have no idea.

[Eric&Barb]

Those connect two or more wires together.
_________________
In Stereo, Where Available!

[Eric&Barb]

[Clara]

Sounds like two issues, one for the starter, one for the not running.


If you pop the distributor cap off, turn the key to on so the idiot lights are on,

1) does a test light to the black wire to the coil light up?

2) moving the points with a screwdriver, does it have a spark?

[iubhounds]

[Eric&Barb]

[barfsurfer]

Do you have the Muir book on hand? There's a great step-by-step for non starting, it includes how to check out the starter motor and solenoid. If it won't even crank anymore, and there's juice at the starter, that's definitely something to check out.

I have had several episodes in my '66 that were equally confounding and frustrating around the fuel and ignition systems. I'll lay them out here for you in case it gives you some new ideas to try.

Shortly after I got the bus in 2019, it died HARD on me at a light. Just... stopped cold while idling. No sputtering die-off like running out of fuel or anything. It just flat out died and wouldn't crank or anything, like somebody flipped a all switch. Me and a couple of other friendly (and VW-owning) strangers looked for something obvious on the side of the road, but we were all stumped. No obvious electrical issues could be identified. Had to get the bus towed home. At that point, I took one look at the OG wiring and decided to just replace the entire wiring harness as a starting point. That turned out to be a worthwhile effort, zero electrical gremlins really (knock on wood) since that point and the bus started right up! If your bus has original wiring, I'd highly recommend replacing the main harness at some point - maybe even now if you're totally stumped and have original wiring. There are some great tutorials here on the samba on how to do this, it wasn't too bad.

I replaced the Bosch 009 and ancient looking old coil probably 5 or 6 months ago. I replaced those parts not out of any known issue or failure, but with all the varying opinions on the 009 distro, I wanted to try a SVDA and see if it made the bus peppier. Made sense to swap out the coil at the same time. That went fine, and the bus was running OK. A month or two later, I replaced the existing carb for a cheap 34PICT to address my total inablity to get the 30/31 PICT carb dialed in; bus was constantly stalling out on deceleration and coughing/sputtering on acceleration, and I figured it would be smart to just mate up my 1600DP with the stock carb it was intended to run with just to get things as "baseline" as possible before exploring some additional engine upgrades.

Anyhoo, when I got the new carb in... I couldn't get it to start. It would crank just fine, but no signs of ignition whatsoever. Went back to the basics, followed the Muir step by step, and there was no spark. All I had done at this point was change out the carb. Hmm... checked all the wires, got new spark plug wires and bunch of other troubleshooting, and really wasn't sure why no spark. Coil getting juice, whatever tests are laid out in the Muir book passed for the ignition system. I was just about to throw in the towel and get it towed to a mechanic, but as a last ditch effort, I swapped in the OLD, ancient coil and removed the shiny new Pertronix coil. Viola! She started right up. At this point, I assume it was because of a bad or loose connection to the new Pertronix coil. Coils are pretty simple things, right? Why would a brand new one fail? There were some bench tests suggested by the pertronix website for this new coil, and they all passed. But after swapping the coils out a couple of times, it was 100% the new coil that was causing the problem. I've left the old coil in since then and zero issues. Also getting like double the mileage and zero stalls and sputters with the 34PICT at bone stock adjustment to the screws and a 137 main jet.

Hope you get it sorted out soon - hopefully this helps you think through a few additional things to try. Let us know how it turns out!
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'66 Velvet Green Kombi

[iubhounds]