New speedster owner/broke down towed home tonight seeking guidance

Engines need 3 things to run -- compression, fuel, and spark.

Unless you heard something hammering before it died, it's not mechanical. That leaves spark and fuel.

I've often said here that "95% of all 'fuel problems' are ignition", because lots and lots of times, the "mysterious" carburetors get blamed because they seem exotic and are prone to issues.

... but not this kind of issue. If the car just died, it's almost assuredly ignition. If it had sputtered and bucked and farted, I'd be less sure -- but if something feels like a switch was shut off, something akin to a switch shutting off is what happened.

Do you have 12v at the positive terminal of the coil? Do you have a points replacement module or points and condenser? We need more information, but from 5 time-zones away -- this should point you in the right direction.

x2 what Stan said.  My Speedster once did that to me in rush hour going up a tall bridge, in the left lane, surrounded by container trucks.  Oh joy.

I was able to maneuver to the right lane where I was only half blocking the truck climbing lane.  When one of the helpful highway support trucks came up behind me, put his blue lights on, and stopped traffic I was able to safely open the hood and see what happened.  It turns out a wire had simply vibrated off of the coil.  I probably knocked it loose when I was cleaning the car the day before.  The moral of the story is to check all connections thoroughly before going into the carbs.

One thing that's easy to check goes with "the gas pedal seemed to do nothing."

Have someone watch the throttle linkage attached to the carburetors and see if it is moving when the gas pedal is pushed.  If it is not, then there is an issue with the throttle cable from the pedal to the carbs.

I also believe it is probably a loose ignition wire (or fuse), but it's worth checking the linkage, too.

mine stopped once...it was the wire from the dizzy to the coil, came loose at coil..looked like it was on but wasnt. A pinch from pliers fixed it.

Like said above , check the big coil wire and electrical connections that they have not  been disconnected , if you have a Volt meter check if you have 12v at the coil with the key switched on.

if no 12v to the coil , look at the back for the ignition switch that a wire did not fall off ,

If still not starting , remove the distributor cap and check that the points have not closed ( assuming you have points )

Hope that helps

+1 to the suggestions above. It's probably fuel or fire. I'd go through the electrical connections with a volt meter and check the points. It could also be a clogged fuel filter.

By the way, guys, not only is Jack a new owner and fellow Hawaiian, I got a chance to meet him and give him a ride in my speedster before his was delivered. Nice guy!

Got it running!

Thanks so much for all the amazing replys!

It turned out to be one of the wires going to the coil, it's been jimmy rigged. The wire broke out of the connector and had been stuck up and over the connecter, then pinched on the coil.

Started right up when I disconnected it and reconnected it with the wire pinched, going to replace connector and I should be good to go!

So thankful it's not mechanical!!

On a side note, where should I buy VW parts (oil strainer gaskets, tune up kit)

Good job, Jack. Sounds like you have wiring work in your future. For VW info on the big island, get in touch with Donn Hakoda. He lives in Hilo. I don't think he's on this forum but his FB info is

https://www.facebook.com/profi...rectNavUserDecorator

Here are some pictures

Fabulous! Nice sleuthing, Jack. Beautiful car!

There you go. You're one of the gang now.

"90% of all carburetor issues are ignition..."  Unless of course you happen to have dual Webers. [DannyP, take it easy . .. .]  These devilish contrivances are really very good when used as designed: full on racing.  At all other civilized times (which will be where you spend most of your time) they work off of a curious system of afterthoughts, the details of which I'll leave to others.  My point is you can get really stuck down the 10% rabbit hole with these guys.  And then you might get lucky and bump into fellows who really know how these things work, and they set it all right for you.  That said, and as this thread underscores, ALWAYS check all aspects of the ignition first.  Did anybody give Jack here a "Welcome to the Maddness" yet?

@Stan Galat posted:

I've often said here that "95% of all 'fuel problems' are ignition", because lots and lots of times, the "mysterious" carburetors get blamed because they seem exotic and are prone to issues.

As I said early this morning, and as if on cue:

@El Frazoo posted:

These devilish contrivances are really very good when used as designed: full on racing.  At all other civilized times (which will be where you spend most of your time) they work off of a curious system of afterthoughts, the details of which I'll leave to others.

Webers are not magic, and they're not usually the problem.

They're like a lot of households were back in the day: the misunderstood kid gets blamed for everybody's issues and takes the beating.

IDFs have a beautiful transition circuit and were designed as street (not racing) carburetors. They're amazingly adjustable and adaptable to many different applications. Weber carburetors were fitted to standard production cars (and factory race cars) from Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, BMW, Chrysler, Ferrari, Fiat, Ford, IKA, Lamborghini, Lancia, Lotus, Maserati, Morgan, Porsche, Renault, Triumph and Volkswagen among others.

But yeah, they seem exotic with all those little passageways and jets that nobody seems to understand.

They're not the problem 95 times in a hundred.

And they are a heckuva lot easier to “tune” than a ‘Murican “Quadrajet”!

@Gordon Nichols posted:

And they are a heckuva lot easier to “tune” than a ‘Murican “Quadrajet”!

Amen to that.

"a beautiful transition circuit and were designed as street (not racing)"

Hmmm, you could be right, but I can only offer thoughts generated after my thorough dive into the intricacies of these delightful appliances (down to the very last piece) that the first thing the designers thought of was how to get the main jet system to work when the right foot says "give me all ya got, Scotty!!"  Once that was settled, figuring out how to get all the appropriate transition points to work in concert and smoothly at other than full-open throttle (including full-closed throttle, and everything in between) created some compromises and as previously noted, curious engineering adaptations.  I'm not trying to be contrary at all, as I fully understand that when set up to mate with the appropriately sized engine, and tweaked just so, and equipped with the right sized jets, a properly balance linkage, and given gas without little tiny particles inside, all is glorious fun.  Seems to me just out of the box, these things have none of this to start with. So, one learns by doing.

'nuff, said.

Stan absolutely IS right. Not "could be".

The problem with Webers is people don't understand them, about 99% of the time.

I guess I'm a 1 percenter in this instance only LOL!

I agree. My Weber IDF clone throttle bodies have been extremely tunable and low maintenance...  I'll see myself out.

I once had a neighbor who thought her ex was watching her through the console TV: there were people in the box, you know? She had a slip cover for it so he couldn’t spy on her.

I don’t understand how a microchip can do what it does, but that doesn’t mean they cause male pattern baldness (although I had plenty of hair before they were in everything).

Not understanding how something works does not make it suspect. Correlation does not equal causation.

@El Frazoo posted:

So, one learns by doing.

There are no shortcuts. I wish there were, but there are not.

And we don’t want everyone thinking that maybe Dellorto carbs are any better.  They’re neither better nor worse.  Different, maybe, especially to where the jets are mounted (on top versus on the side), but that is just a serviceability aspect, not operational.  

Other than that, neither is ready to go “right out of the box”, either, and should be checked and set up just like any other carburetor.  Having “Dr. Zook” looking over your shoulder while working on them never hurts, either.

@Stan Galat posted:

I once had a neighbor who thought her ex was watching her through the console TV

These days, he could be ....

@Michael Pickett posted:

I agree. My Weber IDF clone throttle bodies have been extremely tunable and low maintenance...  I'll see myself out.

On what car that you own currently is that?

He he he....

@WNGD posted:

These days, he could be ....

Two thoughts:

A guy is suing Cadillac because they sold his driver data to some place that insurance companies source like a credit bureau.  Couldn’t get insurance. Or maybe insurance he could afford.

“Subscription features” are now the cool new thing  it started with XM Radio and Mobile phones. Now carmakers have figured out how to shut down your radio, heated seats, GPS, etc unless you pay a monthly fee.  

Yep. TV used to be free too. Albeit there was less of it. Still seemed like a vast amount tho.

@DannyP posted:

On what car that you own currently is that?

He he he....

The check won't be in the mail until Thursday, I think. If everything goes right they will sell their mainland house and have proceeds to buy my fabulous condiment carrier.

So, still mine. I did cancel the BAT process, so keeping my fingers crossed.

@edsnova posted:

Yep. TV used to be free too. Albeit there was less of it. Still seemed like a vast amount tho.

I still have an antenna and get about 13 free channels out here in the middle of the big puddle. Compared to the 3 we got as I was growing up it is mathematically more, but about the same in terms of things I want to watch. I do subscribe to a bunch of streaming services via the interwebs.

@Michael Pickett posted:

I still have an antenna and get about 13 free channels out here in the middle of the big puddle. Compared to the 3 we got as I was growing up it is mathematically more, but about the same in terms of things I want to watch. I do subscribe to a bunch of streaming services via the interwebs.

Same. We (personally) subscribe to two -- Amazon Prime and Netflix. My eldest daughter (who's never been able to rub two quarters together) subscribes to every known streaming service (except ESPN, alas), and insists on buying the most inclusive packages so we can all share her passwords.

Considering the only time we watch her services is when the grandkids are here (like... every day), it's probably fair.