Newbie - I think I screwed up
 

Hi All-

I've been reading this group for a while and decided to join to get
some advice and hopefully offer some advice once I know what I'm doing.
I am a newbie to the aircooled VW world with a '73 Super.

I tried doing a little maintenace yesterday and now she won't start.
The engine turns, but now she won't catch. Here's what I did:

1) I pulled the radio in an attempt to rewire the speaker, but the
radio had no power once I pulled it out (it did have it before I pulled
it). I gave up and put the radio back in. The car started fine after
this.

2) I cleaned some of the fuse connections with steel wool. I did
connect 2 fuses as the wool started to burn, but the car started OK
after this incident. However, my left low beam has gone out.

3) Here's where I think my problem is; I checked the gap on the points,
which was fine. I put a little bearing grease on the rider ala Muir
book. I cleaned the rotor and checked the resistance. I poked around
the distributor a little to orient myself.

4) I changed the fan belt.

The car started and ran fine the day before and right now I'm beside
myself. I've gone over everything I touched, but have no idea where to
go from there. Sorry for the long posting, but I want to be thorough as
possible. Thanks for your help!

Sounds like a grounding problem. Speedy Jim's site has good info on
this.

href="http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4025706&a=30209382&vt=vp">Den's
1977 Puma</a>

Houdsie wrote:
> Hi All-
>
> I've been reading this group for a while and decided to join to get
> some advice and hopefully offer some advice once I know what I'm
doing.
> I am a newbie to the aircooled VW world with a '73 Super.
>
> I tried doing a little maintenace yesterday and now she won't start.
> The engine turns, but now she won't catch. Here's what I did:
>
> 1) I pulled the radio in an attempt to rewire the speaker, but the
> radio had no power once I pulled it out (it did have it before I
pulled
> it). I gave up and put the radio back in. The car started fine
after
> this.
>
> 2) I cleaned some of the fuse connections with steel wool. I did
> connect 2 fuses as the wool started to burn, but the car started OK
> after this incident. However, my left low beam has gone out.
>
> 3) Here's where I think my problem is; I checked the gap on the
points,
> which was fine. I put a little bearing grease on the rider ala Muir
> book. I cleaned the rotor and checked the resistance. I poked
around
> the distributor a little to orient myself.
>
> 4) I changed the fan belt.
>
> The car started and ran fine the day before and right now I'm beside
> myself. I've gone over everything I touched, but have no idea where
to
> go from there. Sorry for the long posting, but I want to be thorough
as
> possible. Thanks for your help!

I am a VW newbie myself, but not new to cars. I doubt it is anything
very serious so don't panic :)

Are you getting spark?

If not, is your distributor cap seated correctly?

Did you have to make a large adjustments to your gap? If so, I'd triple
check it.

Maybe the contact in the middle of the inside of the cap fell out when
you regapped the points.

It could be that your rotor has worn too far down - it might have been
on the hairy edge before but cleaning and reseating it pushed to over
that edge.

Are you handy with a voltmeter, because you will probably need one of
those?

Remco

Check the wires that connect to the fuse box. Make sure one of them didn't
slip off. Pay close attention to any red or green ones.


"Houdsie" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hi All-
>
> I've been reading this group for a while and decided to join to get
> some advice and hopefully offer some advice once I know what I'm doing.
> I am a newbie to the aircooled VW world with a '73 Super.
>
> I tried doing a little maintenace yesterday and now she won't start.
> The engine turns, but now she won't catch. Here's what I did:
>
> 1) I pulled the radio in an attempt to rewire the speaker, but the
> radio had no power once I pulled it out (it did have it before I pulled
> it). I gave up and put the radio back in. The car started fine after
> this.
>
> 2) I cleaned some of the fuse connections with steel wool. I did
> connect 2 fuses as the wool started to burn, but the car started OK
> after this incident. However, my left low beam has gone out.
>
> 3) Here's where I think my problem is; I checked the gap on the points,
> which was fine. I put a little bearing grease on the rider ala Muir
> book. I cleaned the rotor and checked the resistance. I poked around
> the distributor a little to orient myself.
>
> 4) I changed the fan belt.
>
> The car started and ran fine the day before and right now I'm beside
> myself. I've gone over everything I touched, but have no idea where to
> go from there. Sorry for the long posting, but I want to be thorough as
> possible. Thanks for your help!
>

Well, I feel sheepish. I took the advice Speedy Jim sent me to clean
the points in case some grease got on them. Turn the key and she
started right up. 24 hours of frustration taken care of in 1 minute.
I wish all things in life were that easy. Thanks to everyone for your
input.

I did notice a white spot on the points at the contact point. Is that
normal? Or should I plan on replacing the points in the near future?
Thanks again. Now on to the radio problem...

Houdsie wrote:
>
> Well, I feel sheepish. I took the advice Speedy Jim sent me to clean
> the points in case some grease got on them. Turn the key and she
> started right up. 24 hours of frustration taken care of in 1 minute.
> I wish all things in life were that easy. Thanks to everyone for your
> input.
>
> I did notice a white spot on the points at the contact point. Is that
> normal? Or should I plan on replacing the points in the near future?
> Thanks again. Now on to the radio problem...

It's normal. You will need to go back there sometime in the future to
file or sand them clean. They'll develop a "spike" and a crater, and
much more white (and black) buildup that you see now. After you file
them flat and shiny again for the first time, they will get nasty again
MUCH sooner than before. (The protective surface treatment will be
gone). THEN get ready to replace them.

Jan

In article >,
Jan Andersson > wrote:

> It's normal. You will need to go back there sometime in the future to
> file or sand them clean. They'll develop a "spike" and a crater, and
> much more white (and black) buildup that you see now. After you file
> them flat and shiny again for the first time, they will get nasty again
> MUCH sooner than before. (The protective surface treatment will be
> gone). THEN get ready to replace them.

Of course the CONDENSER is your friend here, and should always be
changed when changing the points to help prolong the new set of points...

You'll still get your spark at the plugs, and the points will last
longer.

--
___
|___| '61 - VW
(o\_|_/o) Bug! ALEA -- 35.9 BHP and not a bit more!
_U___U_

Red Bug wrote:
>
> In article >,
> Jan Andersson > wrote:
>
> > It's normal. You will need to go back there sometime in the future to
> > file or sand them clean. They'll develop a "spike" and a crater, and
> > much more white (and black) buildup that you see now. After you file
> > them flat and shiny again for the first time, they will get nasty again
> > MUCH sooner than before. (The protective surface treatment will be
> > gone). THEN get ready to replace them.
>
> Of course the CONDENSER is your friend here, and should always be
> changed when changing the points to help prolong the new set of points...
>
> You'll still get your spark at the plugs, and the points will last
> longer.



Good catch. Thanks.

Jan