Panic has set in!!
Driving along, my beetle basically turned off. No radio, engine turned off the lot, and I rolled to the side of the road.
I wobbled the battery cables ( my first thought was battery) and tried again, no luck. Then by the same fate, without me doing anything, back to life it came, radio, car started first time.
Now i am hestitant to drive it antwhere until i know why.

Can anybody please give me some advice and a starting place of problems.
Thanksnn[ Edited on 2-9-2005 by bobupp ]

I guess you might have inadvertanly fixed it wriggling the battery cables?
If the terminals look good and clean, often old cables can break where they join the terminal. Also check the other end of the cables, the earth will bolt to the body next to the battery and the power lead will go to the starter motor.
I have seen plenty of old ones where your down to only a few strands of copper not broken off.
If that checks out, a battery place can test your battery for you (often free).

Other than than, not sure, maybe ignition switch on the way out? I think there quite cheap to buy new at a VW place

OK.
Not the battery, as when I disconnect the battery to imitate loss of "power" the radio loses all preset stations, this did not happen on my stoppage, when the "power" came back the radio had not lost its preset stations.
When the car stalled, for lack of a better word, I could not get any ignition lights (gen/Oil) lit up, no power any where, it just came back to life!!

ignition wire to the coil may be loose or corroded.

Ah,
Sounds like ignition switch then, as your not loosing power to accesory part of radio.
That's my guess anyway!

Not sure on a '72, but you can access the switch part (below the key barrel) without too much hassle in my 'L bug and type 3. Might even be a loose cable under there?

Now for the next installment. My beetle has a "kill"switch under the dash. I still need to turn the key to start, but the kill switch must be on to start.
Does this affect the diagnosis?

Possibly

are the wires/swich loose??

If it is not making propper contact it will cause the problem you have

Check all the fuses as they can sometimes cause a sympton like this. Pull each one out and put back in again, or just rotate the fuse insitu.

Don't know whether this'll help, but years ago, I had a '68 1300cc Beetle which suffered from the same sort of symptoms. After many months of trying to track down the problem, loose/faulty wiring, fuel blockage etc., it turned out to be a problem with the auto choke.

Don't know whether it's specific to that particular model or not (and don't ask me what the carb was, coz I haven't a clue, but I'd suggest it would've been the "standard" one). The autochoke effectively consisted of a bi-metallic spring inside a porcelain "cup", bolted into the side of the carb - as the engine heated up, the spring heated up, it uncoiled and opened the choke. Over time the porcelain cup had become brittle and had broken, therefore when the spring uncoiled, it not only opened the choke, but it sometimes caused a short in the electrics causing the car to stall - typically when you didn't want it. When the engine cooled down, the spring closed fractionally, electrics were restored and off you went. I replaced the auto-choke and everything was fine after that.

I had that bout 2 yrs ago and on mine the push on lug to the starter motor relay came off and was just touching the terminal so it was intermitant.:duh

Started with the coil. one small connector had soot all through it, the other oil. Took then and cleaned them. Have now been 50km with NO problems. But I still have that sinking feeling that something else is amiss.
Lugnuts, I have just been through the starter motor problem, one wire had broken off due to it doing a u-turn back over to the passenger side - I also checked this and all was OK.

sounds like the iggy switch to me, too.

So, is it consensus to replace my ignition/kill switch or just clean/adjust connections to unsure contact??

Clean everything and adjust it if you can.
Might be time to replace your ignition switch.

Correct me if I'm wrong, please because what I'm about to say is based on the kombi ignition switch.

get another switch mechanism and keep it with you. Put it in the glovebox or something. If your ignition swich fails. Unplug from the steering column, grab your spare and plug it in. give the switch a twist (you may need a screwdriver). If it works then it's time to replace your switch. If not, your fault is elsewhere.
Or you could just keep a couple of wires with the right blade connectors with you if you don't want to take a spare ignition switch. Probably use a decent 12v switch with them though. using plain wire contacts can tend to weld the connectors together.

Hmmm, stopped agin today twice, the second time was fatal!!

Twiddled, plyed and swore. Then rotated the fuse to the "kill switch" and AWAY SHE WENT. Have since "polished" the ends of the fuse and where it sits.

May this help someone else, cause I have learned!!!