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Loopylottie

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Hi we collected our early bay on Saturday and all drove fine. Moved her round a couple of times later that day - all fine. Sunday went to move her and she will turn over but doesn’t fire up. Left overnight in case we had flooded her but still no joy [emoji53] Where should we start? Thought we should check fuel getting through. Blocked pipe? No evidence of leaks. Battery charged. Fuel in tank. Any help greatly appreciated. She is our first!


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Hey,

Sorry not an expert (relatively new to camper ownership) but a few pumps of the accelerator pedal before trying to start it usually helps ours if that's something you haven't already tried. 6 pumps for some reason appears to be the magic number.

Hope you can get going soon!
 
Are you absolutely sure you have fuel? You may not be able to trust the fuel guage. Take the fuel cap off and get someone to shake the van about by grabbing the gutter and lifting while someone listens. Fuel gauges are notoriously left not working properly. If you have fuel , next check where it’s getting as Ade says above ^^^ and if no sign of fuel, check for spark while you got a plug out. If you got spark but not sure on fuel, get a capful of fuel down his throat (carb) and try again then we’ll know where we’re going with it.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,, and it’s great you found us , so Welcome! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 
First, welcome to the forum.

Second, as long as nothing has been disturbed you only need two things, fuel and spark. Spark is easy to check by taking off a spark plug cap, shoving a screwdriver into it (ignition OFF and wear gloves!) and hold the shank of the screwdriver 1/8"-1/4" away from something metal like the engine. Get an assistant to turn over the engine a few cranks and look for a spark between the screwdriver and engine.

Fuel is a bit more complex, a) yes do you actually have fuel as Ozziedog suggested, but b) is it getting into the carb? You can disconnect the fuel pipe from the carb and put the end into a clean jar/bottle, and get the aforementioned assistant to turn over the engine a few times. Fuel should squirt out into the jar if the fuel pump is not knackered. If it IS coming out, and you have spark, it may be that the fuel is not getting into the carbs jets (blocked float valve perhaps?). If NOT, take the pipe off the other side of the pump and see if any fuel comes out of it. If not, it could be a blocked fuel filter.

Also, you may not know, but there is an automatic choke on most carbureted buses. Before starting you press the accelerator all the way down and release it, and if the engine is cold that engages a stepped lever on the throttle which chokes the carb. As it warms up it releases it. Pretty cool when it works.

Incidentally there are several workshop manuals/books which have detailed "It wont start - what do I do?" sections. Certainly the Autodata manual has a good one, maybe the Haynes and Bentley manuals do (I can't remember), but I definitely recommend the book "How to Keep your Volkswagen Alive" by John Muir is written from a very different perspective but I think it's quite good for people just getting started with mechanical stuff and aircooled VWs. If you don't mind the 60's hippie (hippy?) tone, then its quite entertaining too.

Good luck.
 
^ yeah replacing points with electronic ignition is one of the quickest best things you can do for a few quid. You won't ever have to reset or change points again... (or have to know what a 'dwell angle' is :mrgreen: )
 
Thanks to everyone. When we finish work this evening we will go out and see what we can do. You have all been really helpful and thanks for welcoming us to the group! :)
 
Had a similar problem on a 1303 beetle. Turned out to be a bit of rubber that had turned gooey in the tank and was floating around and blocking the fuel pipe.
But I agree with what the other guys say.
If you have fuel, its spark. If you have spark, its fuel.
Aardvark
 
Just to add, please check you fuel lines for cracks or the rubber going soft, There have been engine fires caused by bad fuel lines, it is advisable to change the lot because modern unleaded fuel has additives that will rot normal fuel lines, you need to fit ethanol PROOF lines (NOT ethanol RESISTANT as this rots the line from the inside) there is lots of info on this forum key "ethanol" in the search bar and you will find plenty info there, if not just ask and someone will come back to you with a supplier
Please do this ASAP

Hope this helps
Vinvan
 
Thanks. We had a look last night and plan to change them.

Guess what we’ve got her started! Followed all the steps on here and by magic she is up and running again! Thanks everyone! I’m sure we will be back again soon with more questions!


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Not exactly - we think it may have been a loose connection somewhere. We have been around her checking all wiring etc. Thanks everyone for help...now moving on to replacing window seals. I am sure this will lead to yet more questions! :)
 

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