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Newbie - I think I screwed up

Hi All-

I've been reading this group for a while and decided to join to get some advice and hopefully offer some advice once I know what I'm doing. I am a newbie to the aircooled VW world with a '73 Super.

I tried doing a little maintenace yesterday and now she won't start. The engine turns, but now she won't catch. Here's what I did:

1) I pulled the radio in an attempt to rewire the speaker, but the radio had no power once I pulled it out (it did have it before I pulled it). I gave up and put the radio back in. The car started fine after this.

2) I cleaned some of the fuse connections with steel wool. I did connect 2 fuses as the wool started to burn, but the car started OK after this incident. However, my left low beam has gone out.

3) Here's where I think my problem is; I checked the gap on the points, which was fine. I put a little bearing grease on the rider ala Muir book. I cleaned the rotor and checked the resistance. I poked around the distributor a little to orient myself.

4) I changed the fan belt.

The car started and ran fine the day before and right now I'm beside myself. I've gone over everything I touched, but have no idea where to go from there. Sorry for the long posting, but I want to be thorough as possible. Thanks for your help!

Reply to
Houdsie
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Sounds like a grounding problem. Speedy Jim's site has good info on this.

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Reply to
Dennis Wik

points,

around

I am a VW newbie myself, but not new to cars. I doubt it is anything very serious so don't panic :)

Are you getting spark?

If not, is your distributor cap seated correctly?

Did you have to make a large adjustments to your gap? If so, I'd triple check it.

Maybe the contact in the middle of the inside of the cap fell out when you regapped the points.

It could be that your rotor has worn too far down - it might have been on the hairy edge before but cleaning and reseating it pushed to over that edge.

Are you handy with a voltmeter, because you will probably need one of those?

Remco

Reply to
Remco

Check the wires that connect to the fuse box. Make sure one of them didn't slip off. Pay close attention to any red or green ones.

Reply to
Funkie

Well, I feel sheepish. I took the advice Speedy Jim sent me to clean the points in case some grease got on them. Turn the key and she started right up. 24 hours of frustration taken care of in 1 minute. I wish all things in life were that easy. Thanks to everyone for your input.

I did notice a white spot on the points at the contact point. Is that normal? Or should I plan on replacing the points in the near future? Thanks again. Now on to the radio problem...

Reply to
Houdsie

It's normal. You will need to go back there sometime in the future to file or sand them clean. They'll develop a "spike" and a crater, and much more white (and black) buildup that you see now. After you file them flat and shiny again for the first time, they will get nasty again MUCH sooner than before. (The protective surface treatment will be gone). THEN get ready to replace them.

Jan

Reply to
Jan Andersson

Of course the CONDENSER is your friend here, and should always be changed when changing the points to help prolong the new set of points...

You'll still get your spark at the plugs, and the points will last longer.

Reply to
Red Bug

Good catch. Thanks.

Jan

Reply to
Jan Andersson

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