Car stalls out/ No restart...not quickly anyway! HELP

[Zack1978]

Hi everyone,
I need some help with my 72 Karmann Ghia with a stock 1600 and a stock 34 Pict Solex. The car is driven infrequently, but has been usually very reliable.....until now!
The problem started a few months ago.
A few months ago I drove it about 15 miles then shut it off for a few hours. When I went to restart the car it started fine, and I drove down the road a short distance and it just died like it ran out of gas. I tried to restart it to no avail. I assumed that some debris was in the carb and blocked the fuel flow. After about ten minutes of attempting to get it started (cranking), it did start and I drove it home about 15 miles with no issues. That was one of the last times I had the car out until today. Again, I simply assumed that something was lodged in the carb and it worked itself loose and all was good, so I didn't attempt to further diagnose the problem.
Fast forward to today.....
I started it yesterday to prepare for it's outing today, and it started fine and drove fine for about four miles.
So this morning I pulled the car out of the garage, and it started fine. I drove about 20 miles, mostly highway at about 70 mph, all was good until! As I exited the highway I had to stop at a red light. The car stalled out and refused to restart....IN THE MIDDLE OF A VERY BUSY INTERSECTION! A friendly driver got of of his car and helped me push it into a parking lot. Since I had an appointment that I could not miss, I parked the car and ran to my appointment ( I made it by 1 minute).
I returned to the car about an hour later, and it would not start. It cranked perfectly fine, it just would not start. There was only one hint of starting where it sputtered for a second or so, but that was it. There was an Autozone near so I walked there and picked up a can of carb cleaner and starting fluid. I tried both and and neither even helped the car sputter or make any attempt to start. All my car would do is was crank with nothing more.
After one hour of trying to get it started, and almost wearing down my battery, I gave up and called AAA for a tow truck. The AAA rep said they were delayed so I would have a 90 minute wait. I took that opportunity to get some lunch. When I returned to the car, the tow truck had still not arrived so I attempted to get it started again....IT STARTED! To be fair it did crank a few times, but it did start. After a few minutes of running I set out to get home under it's own power ( I cancelled AAA). I drove home without any issues, about 20 miles, all highway.
Any idea as to what may be going on? I think it may be carb related, because it almost seems like the car is out of gas. But if it is carb related, why would the car not even sputter with the shot of starting fluid or carb cleaner? What else can/should be checked? Does it sound carb related? I am totally confused by this issue. I have cancelled a few planned outings, because I can't trust the car at the moment.



Any and all help would be most appreciated!

Thank you,
Zack
_________________
1972 Coupe

[Multi69s]

Since starting fluid did not yield any results, I would tend to believe it is ignition (have you checked the points). The problem is, since it is intermittent, you might have to wait until it dies again to find it. It could be the ignition switch or a poor / broken connection on the coil's hot wire. Do you own a voltage meter or test light? If not get one and keep it in the car (along with a good flashlight).

Then take it for little drives around the block. While you do this, kill the engine and restart it occasionally. Drive it around until it dies or won't start. Leave the key in the run position, and see if you have power to the coil. If you don't, then it is probably one of the situations I mentioned. If you do have power to the coil, use the flashlight and look into the carb as you work the throttle. If you don't see a squirt of fuel, its a fuel issue. If you do see a squirt of fuel, its somewhere in the ignition.
_________________
69 road Bug 2110
73 Squareback - 2L, T4, Automatic W/ AC
Gone, but many fond memories 69 Baja Bug 2010 - 5 Rib Bus Transaxle
Gone but not forgotten 72 Baja Bug 2010
My builds
T4 into Squareback http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=458944&highlight=
Auto Trans Rebuild http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=516066&highlight=
AC in Squareback https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...highlight=

[modok]

You must be new to the game my friend. Old cars have points.
If it's acting up, it's usually the points, so you file them, or at least clean them, and set the gap if it looks way off, and back on the road again.
You must have a very powerful battery! What brand it that!

[Zack1978]

The battery is an Optima, and it has served me well.
Can you give me some guidance on how to deal with points? The points are available on Rockauto, so I can just replace them correct? I know nothing about points or how to deal with them.

Thanks,
Zack
_________________
1972 Coupe

[modok]

I'm not really sure where to begin.

If you don't have a gearhead friend, or family member, that can teach you about the basics of mid 20th century automobile maintenance, pick up a copy of "how to keep your voljkswagen alive" by Muir. It's very entertaining. Not the best source of technical information BUT it will give some perspective about how people maintained their own cars, for someone, I am guessing never had to.

[young55961]

Go to youtube, you will find a lot of help there.


Pull out your spark plug wire to check for spark.

[1badride65]

X2 Modok, I think it is a bridge in the points, grab a points file and clean them up and reset the gap.