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What problems have you had in VWs
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bljones
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 20, 2004 8:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have never had a problem with any of my vw's... just educational opportunities.
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NovocaineKarma
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 17, 2004 4:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

worst problem ive ever had was in a 68 vert.. it had been lowered front and rear.. looked alright.. but was a total nightmare amateur job..

drove it from britain down to italy for a holiday.. in france the front wheels started scraping on the wheel arches.. by the time id got to italia the front suspension had collapsed completely at the front over the wheels..

got it to a mechanic who took one look and did a.. "how didnt you die".. which was nice..

turns out as well that the master cylinder was fractured.. the brake drums were missing all of their plugs so flooded with water.. and in general it was a royal fuck up..

cost me 1.5k to get it fixed..

i sold the bastard as soon as i got back home..!
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Jamie
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 17, 2004 8:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In 1974 My wife, 2 year old son and I were on a trip in our 1966 VW bus to visit our friend who lived near Clitheral, MN. We made it from California to Minnesota no problem. On the way home our engine blew in near Odessa Minnesota. A nice family towed us to there home and put us up for the night. We had almost no money and were faced with an expensive repair. After contacting our friend, he towed us back to his place and loaned us a 1960 VW bug engine. We drove home, nearly 2100 miles at a top speed of 45 mph. The engine was leaking oil badly. We stopped every hundred miles or so to let the motor rest and add oil. The generator light was on the whole way. A new battery in Jackson, WY and 17 qts of oil and 4 pints of STP and a week later we made it back to Fresno.
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vwjosh6070
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 17, 2004 9:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

too add to my other list of problems, but this is from my new 64.

1.) bus is rusty as hell

2.) bus leaks water into the back cargo area, so my camper equipment is somewhat rotted.

3.) the engine will not come out of the bus.

4.) the engine is the origional 40 horsepower engine, so the heads will not work on my 1600.

5.) the engine is seized because of a broken valve which did its damage.... the valve broke off in the cylinder, put a dime sized hole streight through the number 3 piston, cracked the cylinder, and got literally molded to the head.

6.) got my left pointing finger infected because of the 40 year old grease and crap. and my back went out and im only 16!
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Meyer
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 21, 2004 12:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

..

Last edited by Meyer on Tue May 02, 2006 1:35 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Viggy
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2004 10:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

okay let's see if i can recall all of them....

-fuel tank rusting and causing my engine to stop running every now and then.
-fuel pump going bad
-coil going bad
-a nut got into my #3 P&C while I was driving (luckily I stopped before I had extreme damage)
-#3 Piston totally disintegrated on me on my way to Dallas (I had done a tune up that day so I popped off the head cover to see what was up... had oil spill all over me)
-lost traction and have spun out about 5 or 6 times (and never hit anything amazingly... did a 520 once
-was trying to reconnect my starter and I jumped the points, car was in gear and started to run over my arm.
-Starter went out on my way to Austin (getting help push stating is fun)
-Alternator/ idiot light wires melted together creating huge power drain
-accelrator cable snapped (I wired it to the pedal using metal wire and a barrel bolt from my heater, stuck at 3000 rpms to get to parts store)
-and the same day I fixed my starter (again) I pulled into SMoothie King, and my parking brake broke... If it's not one thing it's another
And Keifernet knows just about every oneof these LOL he's my hero.
I've only been doing this for a year!!!
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Viggy
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2004 11:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

oh yes and once I thought I had shifted into fourth.. but I hadn't. I was going about 70 and was thinking that geez ny engine is runnign hard, so I notice it was in third, I shifted and when it wnet into 4th it snapped the belt.

I let my car off the jacks and backed it ou for a test drive, the door was open and snagged on something and bent my door almost off!
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NorCalLowLife209
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 28, 2004 11:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

so far one month of ownage lets see
1. drain plate bolts broke off
2. engine doesnt start(before drain plate incedent)
3. found holes in my pan
4. running lights stopped
5. battery died
6. window crank broke
thats it FOR NOW.
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siigna
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 4:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Heheh, first post here, so howdy y'all. Very Happy
Thankfully only a few things have happened to my beloved bug ('72 Super, gotta love them fat chicks) while I've been driving it...

1. Bought it, owner said it needed a new coil and points... put those in, started it up and it wouldn't idle... Revved that sucker up pretty high, but sounded horrible and finally it just quit... So with help from my dad (who chopped the rear apron off to get the engine out, ugh), pulled it out and found out that the flywheel was barely tightened on, yeah that wasn't too cool... Luckily the car came with acouple boxes of parts, and an extra crankshaft and flywheel was part of it... My first engine rebuild before I even got to drive it, heh...

2. The electrical system was fried, lots of fun tracking down shorts and other lovely things... Took me and my dad ages to get all the lights working (only ones that don't are my reverse lights, future project)...

3. After that, I liked to take my bug out around in the desert mountains... Backed into a rock and totally bent up my Empi GT exhaust Sad

4. Luckily a regular header style exhaust came in the boxes of parts too...
Went for alittle playing some more... Hit a bump, tore that exhaust off...
I really gotta quit playin in the dirt, lol...

5. Fixed it up with an oxy-acet torch (it was quite bent up, heh)... Went playing again and tried to tear it off... again... Needless to say, that exhaust is all bent up, which is a shame 'cause now the rear apron I bought won't fit, lol, so I'm on the lookout for another exhaust...

6. Was driving around with people in the car... Okay, so I had like 4 women in it, and me driving (lol, I'm a chick magnet, what can I say Razz ). So 3 people in the back seat, all the sudden the back starts smoking, I pulled over real quick and told them all to get out real quick, I figured all the weight was causing the springs to short out the battery terminals... Nope, after my bug started running like total crap about a week later, figured out that the last owner routed the cable coming from the alternator right underneath the back seat. It got pinched from all the weight and fried itself, and my bug was running on a battery, without charging.

7. I drove on the freeway (stock 1600 and that thing scoots, I max out around 85...), doing 70mph... Yeah, I forgot to take my parking brake off, lol, when I came to a stop on the offramp my rear brakes were smokin' and I figured it was something wrong with my engine. Looked down and saw the parking brake on, I felt pretty dumb, and didn't have much stopping power for a while (luckily they cooled off and now works just fine).

8. Got a flat rear tire, had a big hole in it, bah... Filled it up with some sealant and drove it to the tire shop... Put some new tires on it (they didn't have the stockers, had to go alittle shorter and wider), and my super's riding worse than it did (it's got a case of the shimmies already)... Finally figured out that one of my tires was rubbing on the spring, the one rim that had a different offset (i think that's what it's called, correct me if I'm wrong, heh)... Grabbed a different rim (yeah, bug came with a wealth of those too, lol), now it rides fine, no rubbing...

9. And the most recent thing that happened, tore the splines out of one of my rear brake drums, luckily I had a parts '73 super sitting out back, grabbed the drum off of it and put it on my bug, *phew* I missed going out to the movies that day though Sad

All this and I've only owned it since February (I got my license in January)... I'm pretty sure I'm still due for a fan belt coming off, along with a clutch cable breaking and many other things... I've cussed at it quite a few times (my dad more, through all this I've learned he hates VW's, oh well)... I love it, and I've learned more about cars from driving around my VW than I would driving around a little rice rocket like everyone else does.
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jeremyrockjock
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 12:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

siigna wrote:
I love it, and I've learned more about cars from driving around my VW than I would driving around a little rice rocket like everyone else does.

Props to you for not giving up. Stick with it. Everything you deal with is a learning experience.
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timp
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 1:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

in the first year of having the ghia on the road:

1) rear drivers side brake drum unbolted (snapping the cotterpin) and the wheel fell off while i was doing like, 45 mph. (twice)
2) engine sucked water in through the fan and blew it all over the inside of the car.
3) small engine fire due to shorted wire.
4) hit a deer
5) neighbor backed into the car and punched the nose in
6) engine overheated and melted plastic push rod tubes... oil everywhere...
7) hole in the fuel line kept it stalling... dad rolled it backwards down a hill and into his fox, busting out a tail light... thanks dad.
Cool door latch was out of alignment and the door would fly open on left hand turns, scaring the crap out of my passengers.

eh, that's all i can think of right this second.
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auslander
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 1:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had a new one, I went to the grocery store and turned the kill switch on. I came back and turned it off and it wasn't working. I had to use use gum foil to make a current and get it to turn on so i could get home.
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Billet_Bus
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 1:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

my 65 bug

*lost a wheel on the first test drive, smashed an og fender
*ran into some bushes on the second test drive, no brakes of course
*sucked a rag into the fan only to find it when the tow truck came rolling up, ran fine but still had it towed.
*melted two brakes pressure switches on the freeway, they would squirt fluid when they got hot but were fine around town.
*then it was stolen Evil or Very Mad
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sunroofghia
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 15, 2004 11:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

First Ghia....New york state rust bucket.

Borrowed 600 bucks to buy this thing. The owner said "It smokes a little" lol, should have stopped there. I started driving home and about 10 miles into a 50 mile drive a blue cloud the size of texas appears behind my car. I pull over and grab 2 bottles of oil and continue on, smoke'n like cheech and chong. I get home and check the engine....running a little rough but no external leaks. I drove the car for a week like this until at an intersection I roll up next to this chick, proud of my cool ass car and we make eye contact. I smile , she smiles back than I lose her in this plume of blue smoke which has been following me for a week. She was 2 feet away and I could hear her bust up.
On tear down found a wrist pin clip gone and a 1/8 inch deep gouge in the cylinder Very Happy
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Juanito84
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 10:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

1. Paid $3,000 for my Bug ('72 Super) down in the big city of Denver. (Most money I've ever paid for a vehicle.) The PO told me he had rebuilt the engine.
2. Heading home smoke starts pouring out the back. I pull over and the crank case is completely full of oil!
3. The whole time the rear end was fish tailing back and forth. Turned out the axle nuts were less than hand tight!
4. Going over the top of Monarch pass my brakes go out. I pull the emergency brake and it pops and stops working. I manage to ride out the 3,000ft decent (12,000ft to 9,000ft, about 8% grade for 20miles) relying solely on engine braking. Turned out all the drums were shot and two leaky wheel cylinders.
5. After fixing that, I take off to the big city of Grand Junction and the engine loses power. It's over heated and cylinder compression is around 12 to 14psi.
6. First I notice that the firewall tar board is flopped in front of fan.
7. I didn't know anything about the Bug at the time, but most the tin was missing, including all lower tins, the oil cooler tins and the heater hoses were missing.
8. I open the engine and the distributor gear is chewed up and everything is scratched up terrible.
9. The cheap 009 distributor had a broken spring.
10. All the pistons were pointing to the pulley instead of the flywheel.
11. Found a hole in the aircleaner.

This all happened to me on the two first days of driving the Bug!
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VWporscheGT3
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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2014 10:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Embarassed

really embarassed about this one...

bout a year ago I was having idle problems and progressively drivability problems, at first i thought timing.... nope.... carbs out of sync... nope...went back to single carb ....nope.... and after dicking with it for a month (mind you my job at this time had me mentally tapped out...) I decided to hell with it, drop the registration and insurance and park the bastard in the back yard.
well after a year my jeep is acting up ... replaced just about everything on it... still wont idle , or run worth a sh*t after it comes off the warm up cycle... so I look over at the bug and yank it out of the backyard with the trailblazer...poured a little gas in the carb..and in the tank... and get it to fire off again...ok... still running like poo... then I think to myself....wait, did I ever check the G-D valves?!?!?! pop the covers off and sure as sh*t three of the four cylinders valves were too damn tight... to the point of not having much compression if any.. loosen the valves to .007 with the feeler guage and VROOOOM! fires right off and has all the power she was missing... now back to the dual carbs.....
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oldspeed497
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 09, 2014 7:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My VW problems/experiences
1. the battery under the backseat caught fire. I was able to handle it though.
2. blown motor, one of the valve bent. reason for rebuilding engine
3. loose thread axle nut
4. malfunctioned distributor rotor.

So far this are the major problems i encountered when i started with my bug way back 1998. It was a learning experience and I am loving it!
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noah2burchell
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 11:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

1.) awful gas smell in the cabin. We replaced all the hoses under the hood except the one that runs under the tank and past the cabin Rolling Eyes that finally fixed it.

2.) burnt up two generators right before a show and right after one. Smoke came in the cabin and wax melted out of the generator all over the newly painted engine tin. We had recently replaced the radio with an original one and pushed some wires up into the wiper motor after replacing the air box causing it to short out.

3.) i let my dad drive it to a show and cover it up with a car cover with it locked up tight. He left the lights on and people just gazed at it because they wanted to help but they couldn't. We got there the next day and the lights were just flickering. Luckily after letting it sit for a few hours it started. We all mess up some times Not talking

4.) i wish my brakes would work better.

5.) my car decided to dump almost all of its oil in the sonic parking lot right before a show. Needless to say i made it to the show.... In a nissan cube Embarassed the car made it home with a little leak after we filled it with oil at an auto parts store.

6.) starter quit right before a show.

7.) broke a clutch cable at the gate of a show.

8.) i have a very bashful car. When it knows its going to a show it decides to pout and break. Today ( there is a show this weekend ) i painted the coil and put it back on and decided to start it. After minutes of cranking and thinking i decided to have a look. As me and my dad have done this before i moved the choke wire to the other side of the coil and vrooom it started right up.

I'm sure there will be more to come as I drive a Volkswagen and there is a show tomorrow. Oh no!
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daisy71
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 9:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

noah2burchell wrote:
1.) awful gas smell in the cabin. We replaced all the hoses under the hood except the one that runs under the tank and past the cabin Rolling Eyes that finally fixed it.

2.) burnt up two generators right before a show and right after one. Smoke came in the cabin and wax melted out of the generator all over the newly painted engine tin. We had recently replaced the radio with an original one and pushed some wires up into the wiper motor after replacing the air box causing it to short out.

3.) i let my dad drive it to a show and cover it up with a car cover with it locked up tight. He left the lights on and people just gazed at it because they wanted to help but they couldn't. We got there the next day and the lights were just flickering. Luckily after letting it sit for a few hours it started. We all mess up some times Not talking

4.) i wish my brakes would work better.

5.) my car decided to dump almost all of its oil in the sonic parking lot right before a show. Needless to say i made it to the show.... In a nissan cube Embarassed the car made it home with a little leak after we filled it with oil at an auto parts store.

6.) starter quit right before a show.

7.) broke a clutch cable at the gate of a show.

8.) i have a very bashful car. When it knows its going to a show it decides to pout and break. Today ( there is a show this weekend ) i painted the coil and put it back on and decided to start it. After minutes of cranking and thinking i decided to have a look. As me and my dad have done this before i moved the choke wire to the other side of the coil and vrooom it started right up.

I'm sure there will be more to come as I drive a Volkswagen and there is a show tomorrow. Oh no!


I think your bug has a phobia of shows Wink
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e&m_ghia
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 22, 2014 6:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

noah2burchell wrote:
1.) awful gas smell in the cabin. We replaced all the hoses under the hood except the one that runs under the tank and past the cabin Rolling Eyes that finally fixed it.

2.) burnt up two generators right before a show and right after one. Smoke came in the cabin and wax melted out of the generator all over the newly painted engine tin. We had recently replaced the radio with an original one and pushed some wires up into the wiper motor after replacing the air box causing it to short out.

3.) i let my dad drive it to a show and cover it up with a car cover with it locked up tight. He left the lights on and people just gazed at it because they wanted to help but they couldn't. We got there the next day and the lights were just flickering. Luckily after letting it sit for a few hours it started. We all mess up some times Not talking

4.) i wish my brakes would work better.

5.) my car decided to dump almost all of its oil in the sonic parking lot right before a show. Needless to say i made it to the show.... In a nissan cube Embarassed the car made it home with a little leak after we filled it with oil at an auto parts store.

6.) starter quit right before a show.

7.) broke a clutch cable at the gate of a show.

8.) i have a very bashful car. When it knows its going to a show it decides to pout and break. Today ( there is a show this weekend ) i painted the coil and put it back on and decided to start it. After minutes of cranking and thinking i decided to have a look. As me and my dad have done this before i moved the choke wire to the other side of the coil and vrooom it started right up.

I'm sure there will be more to come as I drive a Volkswagen and there is a show tomorrow. Oh no!


Hmmm... We have the opposite problem with our Ghia... She likes shows - maybe because she gets pampered: paint & metal polished, etc... Like a car-spa.

She purrs like a kitten on the way to a show... Or, at least as close to a kitten as she can sound, with her racing cam & straight-cut gears...

But if she doesn't win anything... Not even one of the "top 25" things... Sputters & backfires the whole way home...
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