What went wrong? 61 dead on freeway.

[Clara]

Unloaded a bunch of items from my April 61 deluxe yesterday. Nice to have the arm chair in the living room. It has been since mid September since I started or drove it, when I drove it south from Washington. The bus has just been parked by the barn. I wanted to get a tall ladder, and the 9 foot hwe rack on the 15 is the ticket. Didn’t unload the garage stereo (with eight track player) and speaker wires.

On the way to Home Depot there was a bit of stuttering or hesitation on the freeway. I thought it odd since that was not usual. And only about 130 miles since filling the tank. Pulled reserve Anyway. Seemed to stop the hesitation.
On the way back, with ladder on rack, I pushed reserve back in anyway. Didn’t seem to affect anything. A few miles later, right before my exit, the hesitation came back. In fact, the engine shut off. I coasted onto the shoulder into the shade of a eucalyptus tree. I smelled something. Smoke? Electrical? Oil temp was 200 F shortly before it stalled. Was cruising about 60-65. 1600sp with big nut tranny. Upper seventies out.
Greg opened the engine lid. No engine smoke. Engine is not hot, looks normal. I looked at the fuses, nothing odd. Looked under the dash. Didn’t see anything odd, except clutter on the tray. And actually the wiring is not pristine.
Honestly, I hadn’t looked at the wiring since the nineties. Some PO did put some hackage under there. But honestly, it worked, and I’d put many miles on the bus without issues. Just not much recently. Felt around. Are there any loose wires? Possibly the headlight switch red wire wAs warm. The white with black stripes wire was cool. one of the ignition switch terminals was warm. I could see which one, it’s a little tight under there.

Starter turned with key, but the engine did not catch. found a test light in my toolbox, the right most fuse was hot, but with key on no other fuse was hot. Hm. Iirc the second fuse should be hot with key on. Asked Greg to check for hot at coil with ignition on. Noticed that the dash lights sometimes did not come on with key on. And smelled some electrical smell with key on, so shut key off.

What did we do to get home?

[Tizian]

Clara,

seems like your ignition switch died...

But that's just a remote guess from across the pond.

Olli

[perello]

is this a riddle?

In my case I found that the contact switch tends to develop an eroded pit at the contact point as can be seen here (this is a ghia switch)

It can be easily repaired with epoxy glue.

however I don't see a clear relation between this and a hesitating engine.
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Aug '58 pressed bumper SO23
1974 German Thing
1978 Bug 1200

[type241]

Clara, Are you moving from Washington?

[Lind]

Fuel, air and spark are the three things an engine needs to run. Spark is the most frequent culprit.

Did you hotwire the bus and drive it home?
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Wanted:
Idaho VW license plate frames or other dealership items.
VWoA literature and early dealership or distributor literature/pictures/information
.

[iamdonquixote]

just a hunch but I'm going to guess you ran a wire from the battery to the coil since power to the coil was no good?

[ToolBox]

[Erik G]

[Braukuche]

By pass the ignition switch.
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Go Reds! Smash state!

Retirement is here!
1956 Ghia
1959 SO-23 Westfalia
1960 double cab
1960 Baja Bug
1963 stretched double cab
1962 Golde sunroof Ghia
1963 356 B coupe
1963 Notchback
1967 21 window less rusty now

[Tizian]

Propably the speaker wires did help...

[Stocknazi]

WTF is a freeway?
_________________
WANTED:
58 Westfalia cabinet knobs (3 needed), roof rack, and (7) privy tent poles (silver painted).

"When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty."
"Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God."

Thomas Jefferson

[Clara]

Yes, moving to California.

And yes it’s a riddle.

It did seem like the ignition switch died, so I ran a speaker wire from the battery to the coil. Using the taillight would have been a good idea, it if I have to do it again I’ll keep that in mind.

[Abscate]

[mandraks]

[BulliBill]

"What went wrong? 61 dead on freeway."

Clara's title to this thread kinda cracks me up! I keep imagining a "Dateline" TV expose on a highway disaster and how a Split Bus could have been involved.

LOL

Bill
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I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton

Thanks for any help!

[crofty]

[Lind]

[crofty]

[campingbox]

[cdennisg]