Is it an ignition issue?

[IronBandit]

My motor was running perfect for months, and it just up and died on me for the first time last week. It is a 1600 single Port, with a professionally rebuilt German 30-pict-3 carburetor, a professionally rebuilt German fuel pump. I was running a rebuilt 205t vacuum advance distributor with a points replacement device, timed with a timing light. I had just filled up with gas and was driving home from the station when it lost power, bucked, and then nothing. I checked everything I could. I was getting fuel, I was getting power, tried restarting it over and over again with no success, so I figured the points replacement device had failed. Got it pulled back home, put points and a condenser in it, and it fired right up. Idled it for a few minutes, took it around the block, and then the same thing happened again. I tried a freshly rebuilt 019 distributor, and it ran great...for a few minutes. It just died again. I’m at the end of my rope. Am I missing something? I’ve checked all the usual suspects that I know to check. Am I right in thinking this is an ignition problem, or could it be something else? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Glenn]

What coil?

Something is not right.
_________________
Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"

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[Cusser]

Use aerosol starting fluid when it dies, to isolate whether fuel issue or ignition issue.

I suspect fuel issue because it restarted. But could be something that was getting hot. That's why try to start with aerosol starting fluid when it dies
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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

[IronBandit]

Glenn, it has a Bosch dark blue coil on it right now, one I bought from JBugs. When it failed it had a lighter blue Bosch coil that I’ve had for over a decade. But those were my thoughts exactly, something is not right. This is stupid, out of four VWs, I’ve never had this problem.

I’ll try some starting fluid, Cusser.

[65 Sunroof]

Are you sure you didn’t get some water in that gas? The new fuel seems to be the starting point of your problem...

[viiking]

I've had something similar happen to me but not on a VW. I'm not sure of the exact way your fuel system is configured, but a non-vented fuel tank can give the same sort of symptoms.

Motor will start, run for a while and when the vacuum in the fuel tank or fuel lines becomes too great, the fuel pump will be unable to deliver fuel and the engine dies. After a while, the vacuum dissipates and the fuel can fill the suction line to the pump again and the cycle repeats itself. That is, starts up OK, then dies.

I would check for partially blocked fuel line and or some manner for the tank not to be vented. Doing what Cusser suggests, may help pinpoint the problem and eliminate or not eliminate my suggestion. If you spray starting fluid or neat petrol into the carby and she fires, then clearly it is a fuel delivery problem.

The other issue is the possibility of the bakelite fuel pump part (edit: I think it is called the fuel pump stand) that sometimes is oversized and jambs up the fuel pump. Shaving it down is supposed to overcome that. It usually only is a problem when the motor is reasonably hot.

Just a couple of thoughts.

[herbie1200]

A good check: when does not start, remove air filter, act on the accelerator leverage and look at fuel jetted by the accelerating jet.

If nothing is sprayed probably fuel level in the bowl room is low, so remove upper carburetor part and look if there is fuel under the bowl.

[65 Sunroof]

I really wouldn’t discount bad fuel. I don’t think it was a coincidence it happened soon after you filled the tank. I had something similar happen to me in my boat a few years ago. Very frustrating. Try the starting fluid spray. If that works, and you are getting fuel, you have a fuel contamination issue.

I isolated my issue with my boat by running on a portable tank instead of built-in tank. Once I cleaned out built-in tank, everything was back to normal..

[65 Sunroof]

Did you figure out what was wrong??