74 vw bu

15

Asked by fugate Jan 19, 2011 at 06:10 PM about the 1974 Volkswagen Beetle

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

we replaced the entire distributor,coil,wires and plugs yet the car will not fire

7 Answers

305

See if it is getting gas. Try spraying starting fluid or gas in the carb and see if it does anything different. You can also take the spark plugs out and watch/smell if gas comes out the spark plug holes. If that doesnt work check compression. You could also check and make sure the choke is working.

5,345

Id be worried about the helical gear on the camshaft

2 people found this helpful.
3,195

Get your meter out and check the coil. Turn the ignition key on, then make sure your getting 12 volts to the positive side of coil. If not, the car will not start because the coil will not fire. The coil gets its power from the ignition switch. Actually power comes from ignition switch to fuse box (does not go thru a fuse) breaks off before fuse and goes straight too coil.

3,195

make sure the battery is fully charged. check battery voltage across the terminals on the battery. while checking here, try to start car. if the voltage drops to 10 or below, the battery is weak and needs to be charged or replaced. with only 10 volts getting to coil, if you get spark, it will be weak. if battery checks good (10.5 volts or higher while cranking), you need to start checking connections. first thing after battery i would do is look up your wiring diagram and check the wire coming off the ignition switch going to coil. it usually runs from ignition switch to the second fuse from the right (looking at fuse block from under the hood). it comes in the top and when it does it will break off from there to a black wire going straight to the coil. if voltage there is lower than battery voltage you probably have a bad ignition switch. you could use a jumper wire from the battery straight to the positive side of the coil to see if it will fire. this is assuming that your battery is good on voltage. jump from battery to positive side of coil, and try to start car. just don't leave jumper wire plugged up to long or you take a chance of burning up the coil.

1 people found this helpful.

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