Trying to help friend with odd problem.

Hey. My buddy has a 1964 Bug. The previous owner converted it over to a 12v system and installed a crappy headunit and some nice sounding speakers in the back.

Anyways all of a sudden he has started to have some problems. Right now his car can't idle, it dies. If he keeps his foot on the gas it will stay going but if he lets off and lets it idle it will just die.

At first we thought maybe it was an alternator/generator problem (I dunno if they used a 12v alternator or generator) because sometimes if the engine RPM's are going fast enough and the radio is on and you hit the blinker or something that uses power, the radio will shut off and restart. However if it was the alternator/generator going bad then woulden't it just not start at all?

Please help, thanks.

Seems to me like you have 2 problems. The idling, I would always assume it to be the carburetor. Could need simple ajusting, (most likely)or it could need a cleaning. Try being lazy and use a liquid carb cleaner first. You might have to tear it apart as well. A third possibility could be the timing. If the timing is too far advanced it could run poorly at low speeds.

The radio situation sounds like it could be a short somewhere in the system. I'd get a better opinion than mine before fussing with that though. I can however tell you that if you want to test your altenator, you can pull one of cables off the battery while the engine is runing. that will tell you if you're drawing power from the battery or not. Good Luck

Aaron

Check the idle cut off solenoid. It's the small round thing on the left side of the carb. It should have a wire going to it from the coil. Often that wire falls off.

If it's connected, test the solenoid. Remove the wire and turn the key on (Do not start it, just turn the key to the run position). Touch the wire to the terminal. You should hear or feel the solenoid click. If it doesn't, the solenoid needs to be replaced. If it does, move on to the choke and make sure it's functioning correctly.

It's possible that he failed to change the 6 volt solenoid to a 12 volt one when he did the conversion. If so, then the 6 volt unit probably fried from over voltage.

YES THAT WAS IT! :D

My buddy checked and he was lookin and he saw what you were talking about and a wire hanging that belonged on it. They plugged it back in and crimped it a bit and now it's workin great again.

He says THANKS SO MUCH! :D