all 4 spark plug wire boots melted ??? AND more

[john diego]

good day. Don't know where to start, so I will start where it all began.
It all all started as I was cruising doing 55mph enjoying my day in my 74 super, when suddenly I noticed the alternator light coming on. I also noticed I was losing power/ speed at the same time. At the same time I looked
in my rear view mirror an noticed black smoke everywhere, wanting to know where there was a fire. After pulling to the side an doing some observation
of what was going on, I noticed the belt was pop. I also checked the oil
which smell burnt, which was black of course.
After cooling down, I tried to restart which was some what impossible. After getting her started, the engine shook an danced from left to right like never before. Of course after getting her started I crossed my fingers hoping to drive her home with out a tow. I finally made it, doing 35mph thankfully.
A new day is today, with the sun up, decided to pull the plugs. When I noticed all 4 spark plug wire boots were all melted. Can someone out there
please tell me WHAT the hell just happened. Thanks for your ears.

[vamram]

[windfish]

Yep, sure sounds like he drove it home w/o a fan belt (and may have caused damage by not stopping as soon as the light came on).

John, the alternator on these cars are dual purpose - the cooling fan is mounted to the other side.

When you drove off without the belt you not only didn't have a working charging system, you also lacked a cooling system.
Stuff melted because the engine got super hot, you cooked it.

[vamram]

Just hard to believe - he shows as having been a member for 6 years!!!
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[sjbartnik]

When that alternator light comes on you NEED to stop immediately and see what's going on. The alternator is driven by the belt. The fan is on the other end of the alternator shaft, therefore the fan is driven by the belt.

If you drove with the belt off, you massively overheated your engine.

If the belt ever breaks, you must replace it before driving again or you must tow if you don't have a spare belt. If you drove it without a belt, you likely have severely damaged the engine.
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2000 Kawasaki W650

[Saucy Jack]

Sounds like the belt snapped and caused your meltdown of the plug wires, and as stated by others here, you shouldn't have driven without a belt (they sell emergency belts for bugs online and cheap, a very inexpensive save) you've probably bent push rods, and warped the heads and bent valves by now, if the block isn't scored and damaged due to the excessive heat you'll end up probably having to rebuild the whole thing, or get a replacement for about the same price....

sorry to hear about this, its always a sad day to hear when a bug dies.....

Saucy Jack
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78 SB CHAMPAGNE II

[Angus II]

Hello,
Wow, really?.
Some of the questions asked on these forums amaze me... But.
It does sound like you cooked it "real good", though..... to answer the question.
Well, at least you'll know next time... this may be a costly lesson to learn. I hope the others and I are wrong but, I doubt it.
It is very important to have a spare fan belt with you or AAA towing.
Hope it works out for you....

[vamram]

Post pictures of the engine, melted wires, etc.
_________________
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.
Click to view image
Save the Supers!!

[bluebus86]

Belt breaks, engine cooling fan that runs off the generator shaft, inside the fan shroud stops turning. Simular effect to losing the water pump belt on a water cooled car. Motor overheats.

If that warning light illuminates, the engine should be immediately stopped. This warning I believe is in the owners glove box manuals, copies of which can be found under the "technical" tab on samba home page.

Your engine appears from your description to have been damaged. If she still turns over, then do the oil change, examine sump for debris, if ok, proceed to valve adjustment, if a valve is way off, head damage is likely, if valves ok, then run with new properly adjusted fan belt. of course repair any melted wires. then Id try to assess by driving if she survived ok or not. a compression test is in order, along with an oil pressure test, leak down test, before the motor can again be deemed to be reliable.

if debris found in sump, if valve(s) found to be way out of clearance, if compression test is out of specification, if oil pressure is found to be low, or if leak down test fails, then the engine should be taken apart for repair. If good, although excessive wear may have occurred, you dodged the bullet and still have a running reliable motor.

The fact that the engine got so hot as to smoke black, and the appearance from the story that Bug was driven on with no belt on the fan for some good time, makes it likely some real damage was done, sorry

Bug On, and Best of Luck!
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[mark tucker]

so...where did he go???

[Cusser]

[Eric&Barb]

You should access the "Owner's Manuals" here:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/type1.php

Scroll down to the 1974 section and start reading up. Also print out two copies, one for home and other for glove box.

Here is page 12 of one of those showing the info on the gen/alt warning light:

Generally speaking the warning lights in the speedo are not like your GPS telling you that on the left is a McDonalds that if you choose to turn now to get a burger.

Instead the warning lights are more like your GPS telling you that the bridge ahead has collapsed, so you should pull over and park, to skip driving off the remains of the bridge to your screaming death. This is why the OM states "Stop at once.", and "Turn the engine off!.

Instead of just tightening or replacing a $15.00 belt, you now need to spend at least $1,000 to $1,500 to rebuild the engine.

We have all made stupid mistakes, walk it off and take some time to start reading up on your VW to prevent easily avoided situations like this from happening.
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[john diego]

Guys I should have mention it was my 16 year old son who was driving. We reside in TN where he got his license. So as a single father who loves his son,
Blesses his son with the best gift ever.He called me an told me what happened. I had to go to Auto zone to replace the belt, this was late night that I got to him at the side of the road. I should started off by saying My SON was the one driving. he told me I did the ground work.

[Zundfolge1432]

It’s an honest mistake and I wouldn’t give anyone grief over it, rather let it be a teaching moment. I’ve burned up a few myself. 😀

[john diego]

thanks for the quick response guys. I will have my son read all posts. I don't
know what saddens me most, the fact of what my son did or to know I had the bug shipped all the way from California two months after having a new engine put in 7yrs ago.

[Mos6502]

So many people are used to modern cars, where the check engine light comes on for any stupid reason to lure you to the dealer, they don't understand that there was a time when the "idiot light" never came on unless destruction of the engine was imminent.

It's an honest mistake to make when you've been conditioned to modern warning lights not being a big deal.

That said, if you know the belt broke, the overheating of the engine shouldn't be much of a mystery. Do a compression test at least and check valve clearances. Or better, pull the heads and inspect the valves and cylinder bores.

[sjbartnik]

This will likely be an expensive lesson but going forward the instruction to you son should be "if either of those lights ever come on while driving, pull over and shut off the engine immediately"
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[Cusser]

[sjbartnik]

[TX-73]

Sometimes the lasting lessons are the ones that bite us a bit, I'm sure that you'll get it sorted out.

One comment is that for my older eyes I added an led wired in with the speedometer low oil pressure light. May be something to think about, it's a no-miss light compared to the stock light, especially in bright sunlight.

LED installed in dash and covered with clear plastic grommet as a lens.
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