TOP 10 causes of break downs in an air cooled VW

[visibleink]

Wow, you'd think ACVWs were unreliable.
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Been on the samba so long I remember petting that dog to see VWs, WYHI, and green bug girl.

<-- Helga, she slammed her dub in '53 and adjusted valves with her teeth

[KTPhil]

...or have an inordinately high number of bonehead owner/mechanics.

[knox]

had so many differnt cars over the years that things always seem to go wrong for the first month or so.
broken clutch cable
broken accelerator cable
shifter busching
hinge broke on throttle pedal
bad points
spilt intake boot= rod knock
stuck oil pressure relief valve
fan belt
burnt clutch
busted pressure plate
broken throw out bearing shaft
siezed caliper
blown wheel cylinder,
burnt exhaust valve
dry wheel bearing
flat tires
emulsion jet in carb fell out
i'm sure there are more but these are some of the memoerable ones
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peace , love and VW grease

Painter at Gulfstream Aerospace

[wcfvw69]

[dr.bones]

hi you forgot fire!!!!!!!

[Yellowbeard]

[Goldar's VW]

[melville]

[vamram]

Fuel pump pushrod bakelite guide swelling up at running temps and locking the fuel pump pushrod.

crank case seal failing and dumping oil all over the clutch.
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Eventually, "we are what we pretend to be.’”
Give peace a chance - Stop Russian-Soviet Aggression!!

'74 Super 9/16 - present, in refurb process.
'73 Super - 6/18 - Present - Daily Driver!
'75 Super Le Grande...waiting it's turn in line behind '74.
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Save the Supers!!

[pondoras box]

Probably the two worst I had were

1. Blown wheel cylinders, two different buses, both single circuit systems.
a) both were relatively new to me buses, I had done nothing to the brakes at this point, both were converted to dual circuit with all new stuff and was the end of braking issues.

2. Dirty fuel system related failures
a) one bus kept refusing to start unless I cleaned the carb
b) another one ran fine when I bought it but would stall at idle before I got it home.

I have had broken cables and had to adjust / clean points on long road trips but its old technology and I really didn't consider them breakdowns.

So yeah most of my breakdowns have been from not thoroughly going through a new to me car and dealing with the consequences. It adds to the excitement of a road trip.
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Looking for anything from Hal Casey Motors out of Hamburg New York, from license plate surrounds to matchbooks.

1961 23 Window (Bobo)
1965 11 Window (Zelda)
1965 13 Window (Lucas)
1957 Oval ragtop
1988 Cabriolet VR6 conversion
Plus a lot of other rusty junk

[Pez]

Piece of slate holding battery in place of newly acquired Baja let loose causing battery to make its own way down the highway.


I've had to call friends for fuel before but this was a first time calling for them to bring a battery.
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Always chasing Squirrel's.

[gt1953]

Has anyone read thru this post and maybe compiled a top ten list of the causes or break downs. Clutch related, ignition to be specific on the electrical, fuel and so on.
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Volkswagen: We tune what we drive.
Numbers Matching VW's are getting harder to find. Source out the most Stock vehicle and keep that way. You will be glad you did.

72 type 1
72 Squareback
({59 Euro bug, 62, 63, 67, 68, 69, 73 type ones 68 & 69 type two, 68 Ghia all sold})

[wcfvw69]

[79SuperVert]

In 15 years with three Beetles:

1. Loose battery cable (stupid me)
2. Loose starter wire (figured out before calling for a tow)
3. Closed points (stupid me)
4. Unknown FI fault (clueless me - I sold the car)
5. Broken accelerator cable (stupid previous owner)
6. Blown engine (stupid previous owner - I sold the car)
7. Broken crankshaft (I can't take the blame for that one - total surprise).
8. Out of gas (idiot me)
9. Broken wire on coil (fixed that one on the road)
10. Dead coil (had a spare)

So in 15 years, only 1 of 10 breakdowns was due to factors beyond the control of regular maintenance, inspection and owner knowledge. I'd say that's pretty decent reliability for a car designed in the 30's.
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Central Jersey VW Society

Wanted: Art Collins VW (Savannah, Georgia) items - license plate surrounds and other items. Also ivory "AM", "FM" and "SW" buttons for a US Blaupunkt Frankfurt.

[Karly]

In my 10+ years of daily driving air cooled cars -

1) Points - I had a spate where the only 36hp points I could find were just bad from new. Switched brands and much better.
2) fuel pump - the original failed, rebuild - failed, replace with another OG pump which is working fine.
3) clutch cable
4) run out of fuel - my bad, daily driving without a fuel gauge this has actually only happened 3-4 times, the best breakdown as I get 5L of fuel as a top up with my roadside assistance membership. Once I did have a clogged fuel line as a result though and that was a pain but able to be fixed on the side of the road.
5) broken carb linkage - once on my square, once on my bug!
6) snapped accelerator pedal linkage!
7) battery

The above is only really break downs where the car hasn't been able to limp to the mechanic, I've had a number of minor issues where it is still drive-able! I reckon I get my moneys worth out of my AAA membership.
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1960 Beetle ''Heidi" daily driver
1964 Karmann Ghia project

[Floating VW]

The front bearing in my alternator (re-manufactured Bosch) has a backing plate with two little screws in it that secure the bearing to the housing. The only time in 30 years that I ever had to call a tow truck to get the car home was when one of those little screws fell out and grounded itself between the stator and the metal housing, which promptly fried the big, heavy wire from the alternator to the battery.

To be fair, that alternator was on the engine for nearly 14 years before this happened, and after locating the missing screw (now slightly blackened), I put it back in, this time with plenty of blue loctite, and the alternator is still working fine. That was four years ago, and I now have a sixty-amp fuse between the battery and the alternator in case it happens again.
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"It's time you started treating people as individuals, rather than mathematically predictable members of an aggregate set, regardless of how well that works."

[TDCTDI]

#1 reason, owning an ACVW.
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Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[anthracitedub]

I've been driving ac VW for 25 years, haven't experienced many of the formentioned problems.... never once broke a clutch cable!

Most issues I've seen are lack of or improper maintenance/repair.

The only real failure I had was a broken hockey stick in the trans... left me stuck in first gear on a 57 split case trans. I still made it home, took forever!

[williamM]

Old guy alert-- Been driving VW s since 1965-

!- dropped the reverse pin from case during re-build- sold car.
2- tossed rod in Oz - Katherine NT (?)- and waited 2 weeks for another Bus to hit a tree n bought its engine-
3-new engine sanded by faulty air cleaner (who could have done that???
4-Back in US- snapped dads ghias crank shaft- "I want to drive that to work on mon."- so robbed the engine from bus and off he went.
5-completely wore out new bus motor going to Or in the winter- (was towing a jeep and had MC on a rack on back bumper- 40MPH cross texas. (head wind)
6--went to work for vw- and learned "Not to do that" 1979 (but I digress)
7-Had a spark plug blow out (took the time sert with it) when Laurane took bus on a 3 state cruise.
8-scuffed #3 piston due to poorly adjusted thermostat wire- or maybe just because it wanted to. Was now living in Mt Shasta- so mountians might of had something to do with it.
9- engines for the next 2 buses- Bought cheap-
10- brain fart- I'll get back to you

SO- not really a list of the most common but rather a running history-
But all that's been covered- had my share of cables,elec,set one on fire,ran out of gas, up on 2 wheels- the common stuff.
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some days I get up and just sit and think. Some days I just sit.

opinion untempered by fact is ignorance.

Don't step in any!

[vwinnovator]

1. broken spider gears
2. broken axle
3. broken Ring / Pinion
4. pulled rocker stud
5. stripped valve adj. screw
6. cylinder head cracks/burn through at cyl mating edge (94's)
7. broken valve spring
8. broken ring
9. massive wheelie
10. red light

Oh....those are top 10 "breakdowns" in my race car....