What would be causing your 1974 Super Beetle to not turn over with a few turns of the key yet sometimes starts right off?

Answer 1

it may be your alternator going bad that is what happened to mine, and i just changed the alternator, and it fires right up, to check your alternator start your car if it will start, and while its running take off your positive battery cable, if it dies your alternator is bad if it stays runnign your alternator is good, then it could just be your compression, or something in your gas.

Answer 2

Engine wear or a tired starter would contribute to it. Also, poor spark and a sluggish fuel pump would slow it all down. Do maintenance things first before jumping to conclusions. Change the ignition coil and plug wires. If the distributor cap is cracked, replace it. Also, replace the rotor button inside of the cap. Chances are, that will significantly improve matters. If the car will start quickly with a roll start, the problem could lie with a tired starter motor.

Answer 3

You need to verify a few things to diagnose this. The coil needs to be receiving battery voltage while cranking and running ( 2 different circuits, same connection at the coil, look for the + symbol on the coil). The points may be burnt, need to verify the points are good and have a correct gap. While you have the cap off the distributor verify the rotor is actually turning when cranking the engine (wierder things have happened). Make sure the rotor is good and not worn off the end excessively, then look inside the distributor cap and make sure the carbon button in the center inside is ok and making contact with the rotor center contact. There can be carbon tracks inside the cap preventing the spark from going the proper way, look for any dark tracks or cracks. With the cap and rotor back in place, cranking the engine, hold the coil wire a small distance from a ground (like the engine case) and look for a spark. From here there could be a bad coil or coil wire giving you trouble, substituting known goodcoils and coil wirescan be very helpful. Make sure the green wire from the distributor is ok and making a good connection at the coil. If you have good voltage going to the coil, the points opening and closing should produce a spark from the coil. Everything else being good (checked like I previously stated) the spark should be getting out to the plug wires/plugs, verify that the same way as the coil wire. I realize these things may be a little out of order but all these things need to checked from time to time anyway.Keeping in mind the basics of these ignition systems are simple and don't get lost in the details and you can get it going in no time.