vw bug help

[PaleBlue90]

ok so frist off the car was dead on cyl #1. the plug was fubared. replaced it and the wire and it ran great. took it around the block it started bucking. got it home cyl #1 dead again. plug and wire are good. was going to start it to see if the points moved. no start. replaced the end of the postive cable beacuse it was bad. no go. i push start it. it started. went to pull it into my drive way and it died and wont start. anyone havce any ideas?

 

[PaleBlue90]

checked power to the starter and its good. the starter is good too. i bench tested it. anyone got any ideas?

 

[MusicManiac]

I know you said you bench tested it, but I say check for bad grounds and replace it anyways. You can get a rebuilt one for a porsche at Checker or Autozone for 60 bucks. My 66 was experiencing similar difficulties and wouldn't start either. Pulled the starter, took it to Checker, and had it tested. Tested fine, went home reinstalled it and still nothing. Got under it to take it back out and just slightly bumped the ground strap from the trans to the body and it fell off completely. So I replaced the strap and tried it again. Nothing.... Went down to checker and bought a new starter for 60 bucks, went back, put it in, and no problems since then. Turns out that even though the starter tested fine, since the previous owner had tried to start it a few times after the ground strap broke, it shorted something out in the starter and it would never work in the car again after that. I can get the part number for the starter you would need if you want it. Assuming your car is on a 12volt system anyways.

 

[MusicManiac]

To expound a little bit, when I tried to start the car it would just click like the bendix was trying to fire, but couldn't. If I jumped the gap between the solenoid and + post on the starter with a screwdriver it would spin, but the bendix wouldn't fire. When bench testing it, it would fire and spin just like it should. One of those strange electrical things that doesn't make a whole lot of sense if you ask me. Just glad I got it figured out and only had to spend the 3 bucks on a ground strap and 60 something for the starter.