A big thanks to the 2 guys who stopped to help me try to get my Black Beetle started in the Visitors Car Park. After checking everything I suddenly noticed a wire had come off the back of the steering lock / ignition, put the wire back on, started straight up and drove home no problem.
Will clean the engine bay, clean the fuses & sort out the wires in the engine bay tomorrow.
:roll:

Thanks again.
Ken
(Robs Brother)

I heard that there was someone in the visitors car park using a big hammer, I knew it was going to be you... :wink:

When did you last clean this engine? Ouch... :rofl:

Rob
(Kens Brother)

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Rob did yours behave ok over the weekend ??????????????????????????





Andy W

Rob did yours behave ok over the weekend ??????????????????????????

Andy W

It's OK if you know you have to leave it a while before starting. It drove nicely over there and I parked up - I showed Malc what the symptoms where, by trying to start it while it was hot, it barely turns over as though the battery is flat. Leave it an hour or so and it spins over OK and starts up fine again. He suggested it might be the starter bush. It started fine each time I needed it to anyway...

Interestingly when I got home, the same thing happened - felt like a flat battery again, but after about half an hour I tried starting it again and it would turn over and splutter, but not start - or run for a second and die, accelerator didn't help at all - it would just die. So I left it a while longer and it started up perfectly again.

Before I headed out to Lavenham I took the earth strap from the gearbox to the chassis off and cleaned that up - I think it was OK, but I thought I may as well since I had it jacked up etc.

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As you know, this Beetle was rescued from almost certain death as it was rusty from the door handles down. On a budget I opted for replacement floor pans from GSF, the quality is obviously not that of VW and as i pulled into the visitors carpark the seat came off the runners and I slid forward and hit the dash.
Upon returning to the Beetle, I gently massaged the seat runners back to hold the seat ( the hammering noise) so as I could at least drive home. What I didnt know was that as id slid forward I had accidently knocked off a wire from the bottom of the steering column.
Luckly I kept the old rusty floor pans and the old seat runners, so will now cut them off and replace the Tin Foil ones from GSF.
The engine was about the only thing good about the car, and I was worried if I cleaned it It might dislodge something and not run, so I left the engine with character.
Ken
(Robs Brother)

It's OK if you know you have to leave it a while before starting. It drove nicely over there and I parked up - I showed Malc what the symptoms where, by trying to start it while it was hot, it barely turns over as though the battery is flat. Leave it an hour or so and it spins over OK and starts up fine again. He suggested it might be the starter bush. It started fine each time I needed it to anyway...

Interestingly when I got home, the same thing happened - felt like a flat battery again, but after about half an hour I tried starting it again and it would turn over and splutter, but not start - or run for a second and die, accelerator didn't help at all - it would just die. So I left it a while longer and it started up perfectly again.

Before I headed out to Lavenham I took the earth strap from the gearbox to the chassis off and cleaned that up - I think it was OK, but I thought I may as well since I had it jacked up etc.

Disconect the battery and remove the leads off the solanoid of the starter cleen and put back it sounds like you are getting a high resistance some where.


Andy W

I was worried if I cleaned it It might dislodge something and not run, so I left the engine with character.
Ken
(Robs Brother)

I thought you just preferred to work on 'real' cars with 8 cylinders... :wink:

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Disconect the battery and remove the leads off the solanoid of the starter cleen and put back it sounds like you are getting a high resistance some where.


Andy W

It does seem like a high resistance problem, but tracking down where it could be is difficult. I will do the solenoid next, because I'll try anything - but wouldn't it be somewhere that has constant power? The solenoid would only get power while the starter is turning?

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I dont mind playing with these cute little Beetles with their tiny frugal engines as they do more to the gallon than my 8.2ltr V8 !!
:shock:

Hi rob if the charging system is sent to the starter and uses the heavy lead to charge the battery then while you are running the joint is getting hot and causing the high resistance.
Also on some of the starters thay have a cable that gose from the solanoid to the starter and thay can play up.



Andy w

Rob, while I'm not disagreeing with Andy's suggestions about electrical problems, I wanted to chime in and say that replacing the starter bush cured exactly what you're describing here.

We found it really sluggish to crank when hot, so much so that we'd have to trickle charge the 6v battery from a 12v battery via a bulb for an hour if we so much as stopped for petrol! Doing that would give it enough gusto to fire up while warm - the cooling down during the hour's wait no doubt contributed too. I'd love to know what the fault mechanism was behind it all.

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Rob,

I don't know why, but something in the back of my mind is agreeing that it sounds like the starter bush. Maybe something from the past, but it's definitely telling me that could be the problem.

Sorry I can't back it up with any logic, it's just a niggle in the back of my memory.

Dave

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Starter motor bush ordered...

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it's just a niggle in the back of my memory.

Dave

It was probably the day we had the engine in and out of your old ozzy Oval 6 or 7 times Dave:(

That'll be it, George. It was in & out more times than the hokey cokey if I recall. It wouldn't turn over but it'd bump start & run no problem. It wasn't the starter or solenoid or anything else we checked, so I think we decided it must have been the starter bush.

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Dont forget if its a cinterd bronze bush to soak it in oil for at least 24 hours.




Andy W