vw beetle 1969 randomly died on me (1900c)

[Tony1210]

I have a problem, i am a first-time college student who just daily drives a 1969 vw bug. I have a strong feeling that the problem is fuel isn't going up to the carburetor that well, but I'm not exactly sure how to solve it I love this car a lot. And it's been my daily driver ever since May 6th 2017. I really hope it's something minor. It died on me twice while leaving a friend's house PLEASE HELP and today it didnt die on me while leaving college... but on the morning it wanted to turn off on me so im not sure whats going on EXACTLY

[pbenn]

I'll try.

Disconnect battery, remove air cleaner.

With a long med fine flat screwdriver running over the alternator/generator to the carb (battery disconnected) unscrew your idle (pilot) jet and hold the little holes up to the light. Soak it in carb cleaner in a bottle for a few minutes, blow it out, reinstall it just a hair over finger tight. Reconnect battery.

Did that work? Reinstall air cleaner.

Didn't work? Check valves and timing. Check idle cut-off valve clicks properly. What do the plugs look like?

Didn't work? Remove carb and take it to be cleaned. Remove gas tank for cleaning, blow through/change lines.

Just a few thoughts. Buy a 13m obstruction wrench for the back carb nut, among others.

[KTPhil]

What skills/tools/manuals do you have access to?

Can you check ignition timing?

Do you have a test light or VOM?

Do you have any local friends or VW clubs who can eyeball this for you?

[wcfvw69]

You should check this website airschooled.com

Robbie lives in the San Diego area and is a good person to hire and teach you to work on your bug.

If you don't have this book, buy it. The book can teach you to work on it and save your lots of money as well.
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[Cusser]

When it "died", did the warning lights for generator and oil pressure in the speedometer light? Just a quick & dirty check of the electrical part of the ignition system.

I'd get a can of aerosol starting fluid, and spray this into the air cleaner/carb next time it dies; if it then runs a few seconds, you have a fuel delivery problem.

Fuel pump output to the carburetor can be checked with a helper and a jar, if you're careful of flammability of the gasoline. Caution.

Spark can be checked using an under $10 inline spark tester, or to remove a spark plug wire, insert a screw, then hold the screw 1/8 inch away from engine bare metal as someone cranks the engine. If no spark, then suspect the points, or more often: an electronic no-points accessory that's dead.
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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

[Tony1210]

Thanks guys the problem isnt there any more i just changed the engine oil and it didnt have problems ever since (dirty check)

[Pruneman99]

Interesting. A self repairing VW. If they all did that, they'd still be in production I bet.

But I think the problem might just be resting, and will wake up and cause you grief at a most at a very inconvenient time. Mechanical Gremlins tend to behave that way.

[bluebus86]