Strangest Breakdown

[FullFender]

Just the other day driving my bug on the way back from school and it suddenly died. Luckily I was right before a gas station so I coasted down into the parking lot. I got out and took the walk of shame to check it out. The coil wire had fallen off on the coil end . Um....what? No idea how it would have gotten loose it has been quite awhile since I've had to do maintenance where I might have bumped it. Has anyone else had a weird breakdown where there was no reason the part should have fallen of or unscrewed etc?

[EverettB]

I've had that same thing happen once but the end of the wire that slipped over the terminal had a crack in it so it slipped off from vibration.
You might want to check the end.

Sort of similar... I've had the coil fall out of its bracket before on a new VW I bought - the bracket clamp wasn't tight so it slipped out after a week or so or driving.
_________________
How to Post Photos
Everett Barnes - [email protected] | My wanted ads
"Water is the only drink for a wise man" | "Communication prevents complaints"
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Cusser]

I've had very few breakdowns on the road.

I'd say strangest for me was driving back to Phoenix alone in 1984 mid-day, mid-summer, on Interstate 10 between Indio and Blythe. 1970 VW with 1835 engine looses power, I can't drive more than 35 mph, pull over to the side, can't figure what is wrong. I limp it at 35mph on the shoulder, practically coast into gas station west of Blythe at the airport. Only then, when I opened the gas cap did I figure out that there had been no venting, so was essentially starving for fuel.

Took me several weeks to figure out that a small metal "T" fitting in the vent system in the trunk had gotten plugged, causing fuel tank vacuum.
_________________
1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297

[KTPhil]

[green71volks]

2 weeks ago my 71 died suddenly while pulling into a parking lot. It would restart and run perfect after sitting for several minutes only to die again. I thought it was a fuel problem at first but that all checked out okay. I checked the spark and it was weak even though points, coil and wiring all checked out Aparently, my condenser shorted out after heating up and killed the spark. Replaced condenser in parking lot and have not had problem since. Strange because i have never seen a condensor fail by shorting and only after it warmed up. Usually, they fail open.