Aircooled VW South Africa

Hi all

What will cause a Beetle to not start when it is hot? As long as the engine is running, it is fine, but as soon as you shut it down for about 5 minutes or more, she really hesitates to start, even with me slowly stepping on the accelerator pedal. It has now become so bad, that I have to keep my foot flat on the accelerator pedal while starting the engine, and even then it takes quite a few seconds. Now I know my car, and this is definitely strange.

Any ideas where this gremlin lives? I have not had any time to inspect fuel supply and ignition yet, but I will do so this weekend.

Whrn you say batling to start ?

Is the starter not draging (starterbush in Gearbox worn and when hot "Bites" on to the starter shaft and makes the starter drag
Giv a bit more info and we can try help

No starter sounds fine. Engine turns over perfectly, but it doesn't want to start.

However, now that you mention it, when cold it does sound like the starter might be struggling, almost as if the battery is going flat (but it isn't). I will have a look at the starter bush as well this weekend. It is about a year old, but who knows. Might be worn already.

If & when it eventually starts is there a big puff of smoke? if so you could have a leaky carb and you flooding, it's a verry common problem.

I would have a look at servicing the carb, when the needle & seat wears out it might get stuck in the open position letting too much fuel into the bowl when the engine is shut off, especially when everything is warm. this causes the fuel to perculate into the inlet manifold and essentially floods the intake making it difficult to restart when hot.

Thanks. I will also have a look at the carb. Will go for a short drive, and then immediately check the carb to see if the float bowl is overflowing with the engine off.

A question... does one need to grease the starter bush in the gearbox? I want to check that this weekend.

This happened again today, but much worse. Couldn't get the car started at all. But then I took a shot in the dark, and wrapped the coil in a wet cloth for a few minutes, which solved the problem. I now have a new coil in, which I will test for a few days to see if the coil was the culprit.

But I am thinking... where does one buy the famous "Blue Bosch" coil? I want to invest in one.

Was also gonna say look at your coil. Check for cracks and general old age.

Pretty sure Rui, Or VS can get you a blue Bosch.

Cyberbeast wrote:A question... does one need to grease the starter bush in the gearbox? I want to check that this weekend.

Yes, one might as well if one has the starter motor out...

Take off your shirt and down a cool beer. Cools me down great.
Mainly when my "Get up and go" - "Got up and went"

Bushpig wrote:Take off your shirt and down a cool beer. Cools me down great.
Mainly when my "Get up and go" - "Got up and went"

Where's the "like" button?

Well with the "new" coil the car still died in traffic yesterday, with the same "do not want to start" issue. I am definitely going to try the new coil and see if it helps, but was thinking if the condenser could also be involved in this problem maybe? I don't really know what a condenser does, but I do know that it can cause ignition problems when it goes bad...

Double check the back for fuel leaks?

My old beetle had an issue where as soon as it heats up, the petrol started flowing from the sides of the carb and it would not start and sometimes caught on fire. In other words, what bratjie said.

I couldn't spot any fuel leaks. However... I deliberately recreated this issue on Saterday, leaving the car to idle for about 10 minutes. I then shut it of, and guess what... it would not start! So I immediately hooked up another coil, and the car started. It seems like the coil heats up a lot. The coils that I use have about 3.5 ohm resistance between the + and - terminals. Points and timing is all good...
What causes a coil to heat up? Will a blue Bosch coil solve this problem?

Right, yes get the right coil for the Job. I had this same problem. Went through 3 cheap coils, remarkably the cheapest of the lot, (A Motopart) worked the longest, its still running in the back but I have a Bosch Blue boxed in my baggage space for when that one packs up.