72 Volkswagen Super Beetle
Asked by Teresa Dec 05, 2018 at 03:09 PM about the 1972 Volkswagen Super Beetle
Question type: General
I was driving my car in the rain. I will admit the
wires in my car are all messed up. Old ones just
hanging there. New ones getting hot and the
rubber stuff comes off them I guess. We got to our
gate, my man got out to open it and then the car
just died.. the generator light and oil light slowly
went away and now wont turn back on. We dont
even hear the fuel pump turn on.. is there a fuse or
something that controls all 3 of these things? Like I
said it was the first time driving it in the rain. Also,
when we try to turn the car on it attempts to turn
over but doesn't start..
6 Answers
Hornet_2497 answered 5 years ago
These older cars do not have an electric fuel pump that can be heard buzzing on start up. Your fuel pump is a mechanical one that runs off the engine camshaft when it's turning. Okay. When these dash lights slowly faded out, that's the battery slowly going dead, probably from a short, based on all those cobbled wires, and new ones melting. Okay. With all that going on, you surely have to find/fix those shorted wires that probably stalled your car from no electricity to run the ignition system. Check/ replace all your burnt fuses/relays.....and wires. I have to wonder why wires are melting. They must not be on a fused circuit that keeps that and fires from happening.
It does have an electric fuel pump that normally can hear when you turn the key. This green coil looking light just came on.. I've read other people have similar issue. No dashlights and no fuel pump but it said it was the ignition switch? Thank you so much for your feedback. I always look forward to hearing from you
Hornet_2497 answered 5 years ago
Those older VW's with air cooled engines would sometimes have a problem with vapor lock, the boiling of fuel in the gas lines making it hard to restart after they were parked hot. The simple fix was to add an electric fuel pump in the fuel line somewhere. I enjoy hearing your VW adventures because it reminds me of the fun I had with two VW's 50 years ago. (One was 1948 and then I got a 1969.) To get the heater to work in the older one you had to get it up to 60 mph and that took five minutes.
What is the green light on for? It looks like a coil.. Also, we still have not figured out the issue with it just shutting off.. There's no fuel pump or dash lights. We keep checking all the wires but nothing. Do you think it's the ignition switch? And I'm glad i don't bug you with my million questions about this dang car lol your feedback helps tremendously and i greatly appreciate it
Never mind i guess that light was the fog lights but what is your opinion about the ignition switch? What should we do?
Hornet_2497 answered 5 years ago
If it's just shutting down for no apparent reason, it could be a worn out ignition switch. It's simple to test, or just replace it on that car. Another thing that cuts in and out when it's hot is the condenser inside/under the distributor cap. Also, if it cuts out in the rain, that could be distributer cap and ignition wires. A quick test would be take a spray bottle of water, and spray the wires while engine is running and see if it sparks or stalls like in the rain. You sure love this car.
