My 1977 VW Beetle just stopped in the middle of the road.

Asked by mhkm97 Nov 27, 2014 at 06:58 PM about the 1977 Volkswagen Beetle

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

My 1977 VW Beetle just stopped in the middle of the road.  There was a little smoke
and it just lost speed and stopped.  Once we got the car out of the road we noticed a
"rubber" burning smell and cannot pinpoint a source.  We cannot see any visible
problem - no belt problem, no oil run-out, no cable dislocation, etc.  We did have issue
cranking the engine earlier and almost flooded it but managed to get it started and it
ran fine for quite some time before this happened.  Now engine wants to turn over but
will not.  The fuel system on this car was just overhauled with new tank, lines, filter
clean-out, etc.  Any advice on where to look next?

1 Answer
10,985

ytlas answered 9 years ago

When you say the engine wants to turn over, do you mean the engine turns over but still won't start? Assuming this car has a carb (My memory is horrible these days), it's possible the float inside the carb has stuck and is not allowing gas to fill the bowl. If you want to try something, use the wood handle end of a hammer or some tool and rap the side of the carb firmly a few times in the area of the fuel bowl, then try to start it. Try it a few times. Over the years I've had that happen to me on my '68 bug and on a Quadrajet carb on a 454.

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