VW stalling when stopping?

Asked by es70autostick Apr 01, 2021 at 12:44 PM about the 1970 Volkswagen Beetle Hatchback

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Hello, newbie here. I’ve been having some issues
with my 1970 Autostick Bug for a few months and
I’m coming here for help. I’ve owned the car since
September of 2019 and it’s currently April of 2021.
The body and interior of my car is mostly original
but everything in the engine has been replaced
since I’ve gotten it (carb, alternator, etc). My upper
part of the motor was also rebuilt for the first time
at 113,000 miles and started driving a week ago.
Anyways. Back the the issues I’m having. Since
September of 2020 my car has a “stalling” issue. It
does it in the cold frequently and still does it in the
warm but not as much. I’ll start my car, it will start
and idle just fine, although it might take a minute to
have the idle not idle rough. After the car warms up
I rev the engine just a little bit so the idle goes down
before I put it in gear and it will go into gear and
back up fine, depending on the temperature the idle
might be low while backing out. The car drives fine
but when I let off the gas to brake the engine gets
real quiet and idles slow when I brake and when I
come to a stop it dies. No shaking. Just turns off. If
the car dies it usually doesn’t stall again and if it
does it does it 1-2 times. Since the engine rebuild,
my car idles slow and acts like it wants to die when
I coast in neutral. Also, my car is hard to get into
second gear, it goes into all the other gears easily
but second is next to impossible to get into. It
doesn’t grind by the way, the car has a brand new
rear transmission mount but the front one is still the
original. Before the engine rebuild every time you’d
bump the gear shift you’d hear my idle go up when
the clutch engages now the idle goes down for a bit
when you put it in gear and it sounds like it wants
to die, but doesn’t. Any help would be appreciated.
I’m thinking I need a new carb for my stalling but
I’m not sure since it was adjusted a few days ago
and it was brand new as-of 12/2019. It’s Empi. For
my shifting issue I’m not sure if I need to adjust my
gear shift or clutch. Thanks for reading my long
paragraph!

2 Answers
40,180

TDolby answered 3 years ago

The carb should be fine if it was adjusted properly, no need to replace. How often do you drive the vehicle? It might be that the fuel is just old. You should burn through a tank of fuel fairly often. I would think you drive your car occasionally. Fresh fuel does wonders.

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155,255

james answered 3 years ago

Do you have a factory shop manual for your Bug? On a vintage vehicle you should have one. Double check the carburetor adjustments and the ignition timing. Also make sure the vacuum advance mechanism and centrifugal advance mechanism are both working correctly. Some vehicles of this era used an anti stall dashpot on the carburetor that basically lets the throttle ease back to the idle position when you take your foot off the gas to prevent stalling. If you had the gas tank cleaned, that was a mistake. Many years ago a friend had a 1965 VW Bug and he had the gas tank professionally cleaned. There was a coating in the tank that, after the cleaning, was flaking off and giving him never ending problems with the fuel system. Hope that helps! Jim

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