72 beetle needs help!

cant get it to spark, anyone got any ideas?

First have you ckecked the gap of the point's? Should be .016" . If they remotely look worn go ahead and replace them along with the condenser . The condenser alone could pre-vent you from getting spark , be-sides they are fairly cheap . You can also check the coil to see if it is remotely giving any spark . To do this you should first see if there is power to the coil . You can do this with a cheap test light or even an old 12 volt light bulb and socket from a junk car .

1: turn motor over by hand clock-wise and get the timing notch on the crank pully about 1 inch to the left of the center line of the engine case . Then ground one end of you're test light to the motor .

2: remove the coil wire from the distribitor cap an set it near a easily seen metal part BUT NOT THE CARB OR FEUL PUMP !!! (so you will be able to see the spark jump from it to the metal)

3: turn on the ignition only far enough to get it in the on/run position(the Gen light and oil light should be lit-up)

4: touch the lead's connected to the coil one at a time to see if there is power to the coil .

(I say touch because depending on who has worked on the car the coil may not have been installed in the exact factory position,there fore you might have to find out witch side is the actual positive terrminal. If stock wiring the ground shound be brown if my memory serves me right)

5:Then slowly rotate the crank pully clock-wise till you get a spark , witch should happen with-in 1 inch of rotation clock-wise past the center if the case .

6: If no spark you may need to then test the coil by (with the key on ) removing the ground wire from the coil of witch should cause it to dis-carge.

7: If you get the coil to spark then re-peat step's 1,2,3 & 5 to check the timing.
With the test light connected to the ground side of the coil and the other end grounded to the motor .
The test light will only light up at the point the points open up, if that is that the points and condenser are good . If the condeser is bad the light should light up the entire time as for if the gap is too large on the point's or they are grounded out in the distribitor .


I hope this help's you out if it make's any sense to you .

I think there is a wire running from the plate in the distributor which the points mount on - and going to the inside of the distributor body. This is a ground wire. The points have to have a good ground, or you wont have a good spark.