VW Beetle Winter Cold Start: Will it Run? | Beetle Diaries Ep. 10
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- čas přidán 30. 06. 2024
- ( www.TFLcar.com ) VW Beetle Winter Cold Start: Will it Run?
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The Volkswagen Beetle is the greatest car ever made. Recognizable. Reliable. Classic.
U can say that out loud again😎😎
At least the classic Beetle. New Beetle on the other hand is a whole different story.
@@W0LV1E45 please the new beetle was a body swapped golf.
Back in the day ;) the VW beetle ads were very creative and a lotta fun. One I remember asked the question "ever wonder how the snow plow driver gets to the snow plow?" and the ad showed a beetle making fresh tracks in the snow :)
I remember that commercial,another one boasted,"2 pennies a mile!"
It’s such a cute little car
yep
This guy seems like such a nice dude I feel like I could hang out with him all day
We could talk cars and never be short of something to say I'm sure.
I just got my first bug 2 years ago and I have been learning as I go and loving every minute of it. The VW community is awesome. Keep the bug videos coming :)
Of coarse it started, it will always start but don’t expect it bang to life a be ready to go instantly. Oh and the bottom of the car being all flat helps it slide across deep snow.
24 F is not what I would call cold. But then again I am Canadian. My father had a 1973 SuperBeetle (carburator) back in the early eighties and on new years night 1981, the temperature went down to -23 C (-9 F) and it was the only car that started in the parking lot after the party. But my mother had to manually defrost the inside of the windshield with a scraper all along the way back to our house. That thing had no heater, only two hoses that came from the back of the car to try and get some heat from the engine into the car ! lol ! BTW, very nice Beetle you have there. Thanks for sharing.
Agreed, had a red beetle my first year of college in Fairbanks, Alaska, back in '83. Not sure what year the beetle was but it was about 10 years old or so. It would start without being plugged in like everyone else's car in the lot, at -20 F or colder. Once we used a hair dryer to warm up the engine a bit when it was just too cold (and managed not to catch the car on fire!). My girlfriend had to constantly scrape the inside of the window when we drove. Traded up to a Datsun B210 the next year, it had a windshield defroster ; ).
It's ok to say 24F is cold because it is. Does it get colder?... of course, but its not a competition.
I once owned a VW bug through a Manitoba Winter. -40 was not uncommon. I drove it to work 5 days a week and parked it on the street. It never did give me enough heat but it never let me down by failing to start or getting stuck. The comment about pumping it about six times before turning the key sounds about right. You did this automatically after a while and never thought about it. It was a car that needed "frost shields on the inside of the front windshield. Google image "frost shields" as a refresher of the days before good auto ventitation was the norm. You brought back good memories but also gratitude for fuel injection and modern lubricants.
Tommy, it's actually not advisable to idle that engine like that right after a cold start, especially in that weather. With the unstable combustion owing to the un-atomized fuel inherent with the long runner carb set up, you end up pounding the cold crankshaft into the bearings with little to no oil pressure at such an abnormally low rpm, and what little amount of oil that does find its way to those bearings would also shear easily given the cold temps. The ideal way is to fast idle the engine enough to maintain stable running for at least 3 minutes, giving time for the piston crown and combustion chambers to warm up sufficiently for steady combustion. I suppose the thermal spring actuated automatic choke would have done a similar thing but it obviously wasn't working this time.
My first car out of high school in 1967 in Montreal was a 1960 beetle which I loved and it ran great through the notoriously cold and snowy winter there, until one morning when it was -30F and I went out to try to start it. The fluid in the transmission had frozen and when I pushed in the clutch and tried to move the long skinny gear lever into neutral, the whole thing broke off in my hand!!
Great videos, BTW.
We have a old volvo 240 and it started with -20°c on lpg which is incredible
Great video!! Please keep the wintery/cold start videos coming
Working choke on a new carb will really help with the starts
The BZ engines were used in brazil for the vw buses during de 70`s. Its a 1600cc simple carb. Actually i think it has originally 7.2 compression rate (at least in Brazil). I've one of this at home waiting a rebuild and a motor bay to "rest". Great video. Peace out.
i have a 1972 standard beetle that has had its choke removed. i am currently rebuilding the car from the chassis up and so far it has proven to be a wonderful experience. since getting the car and getting to know the beetles as much as i have i feel like i owe this car its restoration.
My first car in high school 28 years ago was this exact same car down to the color and all!! I'm loving this series TFL! Nostalgia for me without a doubt! I'm actually on my 4th and 5th beetle now. My main focus is my '72 SB ( a '71 & '72 both SB's, sitting on my property now). Looking to post a video of getting it running after 3 years sitting . I've always been a huge VW fan my entire life and now that I'm older it's time for me to restore one. I have to say that replacement parts aren't nearly as accessible as they were when I was way younger but where there's a will there is a way!! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
My mother had a yellow 72 Bug for her first car. She loved it.
A good battery and a properly adjusted choke/carb and these old cars VW or otherwise will start and run ok.
Point and timing adjustment is also critical. Get all that stuff right, and it will start when first cylinder fires.
Maybe it didn't just start because of the non working choke, but please correct me if I'm wrong, but the engine kind of sounds like the ignition timing is a bit delayed (taking also into account that it's a 6:1 engine). Plus! A fun fact! The Mexican 1993 regular beetle corrected that problem with carburated beetles not starting up on first key turn with the introduction of their Fuel Injected system. So, a fuel injected beetle in good condition should always start at first key turn, a bit high on the revs, and slowly regulating back to idle. I actually own one (1999) and VW also made indestructible ECU's and pretty reliable sensors. If you guys ever get the chance, try and buy a stock VW FI Beetle. They're a lot of fun to mess with!
I'm running a '73 Super with Mexibeetle EFI, though with a Microsquirt ECU and wasted spark ignition. Great setup, recommend 100%.
i agree...even a (properly maintained) carb'ed engine should start better than that.
Interested in how did you import the 99 mexican beetle, i had a 1999 FI beetle it ran awsome took me everywhere
@@ambienteterrazas Am mexican and reside in México lol Nonetheless it's super easy to import cars from here. If you pay in USDs it makes the whole process quicker because usually (at least in my state) people take you more easily as a serious buyer cos most of the time it's people that buy cars in USDs that want a quick and fast buy. No BS and that don't request credit. So yeah hehe should come down here and take a look. A lotta cool stuff on the market
Yo también soy Mexicano, y como he leído de americanos que vienen compran un bocho nacional en buen estado y pasan todo a una plancha con papeles americanos pensé que algo así había sido tu caso, lo bueno que aquí aun no explotan los precios de los nacionales y aun puedes conseguir algo en buen estado a precio justo, saludos desde Baja California....
Love these vids. Have a 71 Super Beetle as well and these videos just make me smile
Amazing video... I'm from Brazil an own a 1973 beetle too. I love this car and all aircooled ones
I had a '72 Beetle in the '80s and worked in South Lake Tahoe in the winters for a couple weeks each year. Always started and was great in the snow. Only issue was the door locks would freeze and I'd have to pour hot water on the handle to be able to unlock it. And of course the heater/defroster was not great. I wish I still had that car.
Hello,boy I’m from Kosova and I have Beetle 1974 J 1200cc and my car it is still working and running.Thank you for your shows.!!
I love mine and it is great in the snow.
When my wife was 16, she got a 1974 Super Beetle Autostick. She drove it through the remainder of high school, and after college, we moved up to Minnesota and that became my daily driver for about 5 years. It handle the Minnesota winters without issue.
For most cars (including the VW Beetle), back in the late 60's or early 70's, with a carburetor and automatic choke, the best way to start them: Pump the gas pedal to the floor 2 or three times to activate the choke, then hold about 1/3 throttle while cranking the starter.
How to drive a VW Beetle in a snowstorm: This assumes temperature is well below freezing. Bundle up: heavy coat, gloves warm hat. You will need this. Turn the heater off. On full defrost, it will give you just enough heat to ice up the windshield. Open the wing windows. This will create enough airflow to keep the windshield from fogging or frosting on the inside. Drive. Snow won't stick to the cold windshield. The old bugs were cheap, simple transportation, but the heaters were just about worthless, unless you were running full throttle at high rpm. Around town, you could get a little bit of heat by not using fourth gear to keep engine rpm up.
I've never had that problem. My heater in my 1970 beetle makes me sweat in the winter. I guess it just depends on the car
Man, you're getting snow and it's only October? Here in Seattle, it's October, and we're still getting 70s. It ain't fair! I want that snow. But, the TFL 2018 Winter season has officially started! Can't wait to see what's coming!
That's more snow than you think Tommy good to see you again
Hey guys I love your videos. My first car, in 1972, was a one-year-used
71 Super Beetle. You say yours is beige, but to me it looks the same
colour as mine, a very pale yellow called Shantun (sp?) yellow. That
car was so much fun. The back seat folded down, not quite to flat, so
you could load a bunch of stuff in the back and the "trunk". It didn't
tend to roll over when turning like the standard beetle. Mine would do
95 MPH flat out. I remember a drive on I90 in upstate New York, driving
beside a red Super Beetle, and we both had our feet to the mats and
were doing exactly the same speed. My friends all had old Chevs and new
Japanese cars, Datsun 510s and Corollas, and made fun of my bug. But
my girlfriend could hear me driving up to her dorm from a block away and
would be downstairs waiting for me. My Dad used to "steal" my car
whenever I was home to do errands, claiming he had to drive it because
it was the last car in the driveway. One Sunday morning he backed it
into a pole and put a tiny dent in it, then said he'd wrecked it so we
had to trade cars. I got a 69 Dodge Monaco out of the deal, which had
its own advantages, but I sure miss that Beetle now. Have fun!!
An interview with the original owner will be great, I bet there's a lot of history there! Really enjoying the series, great balance between entertainment and facts! Thanks!
Glad you put out another Beetle Diaries video. Feared the series was canceled.
From an original VW Beetle owner, 1963 and 1965; I can assure you that with snow tires on the rear, they were wonderful to drive in the snow and even ice if there was roughness on the ice. You will have fun trying it out.
I had a 73 Super and never had an issue going straight or up a hill in the snow. Going around corners however was sometimes challenging. I probably should have put some sand bags in the front trunk.
my mom and dad had a 71 vw super beetle. I was 8 at that time. The motor was never rebuilt the car the odometer been rolled like 6 time and it still ran well. I rolled the odometer one time and it was still going strong one day this happened the oil pump quit. That vw ran for like 24 years. I do miss that car. Most of the older cars lasted longer than alot of cars of today
This Bug series is my favorite one you guys have done
Just got a 71 beetle. I had one in high school. Im rebuilding it little by little.
Saving grace of big block V8’s was the deeper rubble as came to life on cold days. Freezing your butt till the temp came up enough to warm the cabin, took half hour .... decades later, start/drive/warm in a few minutes
I’m a VW mechanic and I’ve always pumped it to the floor about 6 times to the floor before cranking on it. Sounds like you might need to do a winter adjustment
in Brazil the VW Beetle is called Fusca. The nicknames are Fusquinha or Fuqueta. Some enthusiasts and performance lovers often put old Subaru engines of the 90s. Note: I'm sorry for my English
What a THRILL to see a young generation taking care of my first brand name car ?when i turn 26 years of age in a lonely LITTLE country town in Puerto rico my loving dad gave a Volkswagen beetle and old one like yours because we were very poor and till today a days at the age of 61 i see one of those cute LITTLE buggy in the road and i think of my father today i just got me a 2005 Volkswagen beetle 2.0 engine and is my future progect to make it looking hot and a show car HOPEFULLY my dream come thru
Great vid!!! 6 to 1 compression.... Hmm. Sounds like that could handle a turbo!! You should give it a try.
at 5000ft you can get away with 10 to 1 compression on a built VW motor if you're careful. 9 to 1 compression is easy for a built VW motor. Most turbo builds I have seen are usually around 7.5 to 1 on VW motors.
Turbo + carb = nightmare, not worth it for what little gains and not reliable. Convert to electronic MPFI first.
Indeed. The lack of a turbo, especially in Colorado, has a pitiful limitation of only about 85kPa manifold pressure maximum - a turbo is necessary to rectify that. Would recommend EFI, as The Real Elvis suggests - it can be done with a carb, but is a lot more hassle and limiting. I have Mexibeetle manifolds on mine, Microsquirt ECU, and am thinking of setting up a turbo, hook the intercooler output straight into the throttle body.
Man I am so glad we haven't gotten any snow here yet in Minnesota.
At 8:36, the pulling the handle to close the door while locked is a thing on most older cars w/o power locks. If you locked the door and just let it close, it will unlock again. Some say it's to prevent locking yourself out of the car by accident since you have to be pretty deliberate to pull the handle while you close the door. I suppose in an "oh crap" moment when you see your keys on the seat or in the ignition, you could quickly let go of the handle and save the day?
Wow, that snow is crazy! ....it’s literally 96 deg, here in MS. Great video, nonetheless!
My mother Rest in paradise we saw Herbie the Love bug years later very funny movie
I am very excited to see more videos
best series you all have had! I wish you'd bring back Mike
Great Video. Enjoy playing with it.
so many talk smack about 70s' cars but they were inexpensive, pretty durable and varied...as a teen during that decade I remember seeing out on the road VW, Fiat, Renault, Citroen, Peugeot, Sunbeam AMC, etc. my grandad had an early 60s air cooled Panhard as a 2nd car to an Olds 88, it ran and looked awesome
if the heater boxes are in good shape and all the hoses connected you will get great heat from the 2 vents under the back seat
I live aboot twenty miles south of Canada, and 24 is about what we've been having around here recently.
In order to start my 1979 Cadillac Seville with an aftermarket carburetor on the original Oldsmobile 350 V8 (original fuel injection was replaced by one of the previous owners probably due to a faulty vacuum line) in the winter I need to do the following:
1. Pump gas. A lot.
2. Give full throttle when the starter turns the engine.
3. Let the engine idle for 3 to 5 minutes (depending on how cold it is) because otherwise it would just stall immediately after putting it in gear.
4. Off we go to seek new adventures.
My 72 Beetle rolls every day with me here in Manaus, Brazil. That means the average temperature is 35 degrees celsius during the year. And it's the same set with very few changes on the engine between this super beetle and mine.
Go Boxer engine! The best engine ever.
A tip: i recommend you to turn on the car and as soon as the engine start keep on accelerating a little bit so the engine warm up quicker.
Use the snow to make a mo-hawk for the Beetle
I have a yellow 1973 Super Beetle with an auto stick transmission. Fun car to drive. That auto stick trans is a bit tricky. Love the old bugs.
Scott Colwill I almost had a 72 super beetle for my first car. It was bright Canarie yellow. The auto stick sounds neat
I like that exhaust sound
Just correcting you, the Brazilian engine code with the initials BZ came out with 7,2:1 compression ratio (the fuel here in the 70's was only leaded low octane petrol). It's a 1600cc (1582cc precisely) engine.
BZs engines was made here between 1975 and 1978 for the VW Kombi/Bus/Type 2.
You got snow❄️☃️❄️!!!!! I live in Alaska and no snow yet this year lol lol
Yep representing wasilla here and no snow yet!
Colorado
Just got first snow in canada
My 71 Super bug never defrosted the windscreen all winter.
Thats because of the heater settings. There is two, "cold" and "ice cold" :-)
Take it into the mountains, run it full throttle in 3rd up a hill and you'll get lots of heat. Otherwise, no.
Mine has aftermarket instruments so the vents going to defrost have been removed. My only defrost is open the vent window. Heat works great unless the floor pan is Rusty
wipe a thin layer of shaving cream on the inside of the windows.
your defroster channels probably aren't hooked up look in the hood/trunk see if your fresh air box is there it should have some hoses connected to the left and right vents that go down to a fork plastic piece that goes down to the heater channel there will be two other hoses aswell one that goes to the center vent and then one that goes to the defroster area hope this helps there should be diagrams online
This is making me miss those days when owning and driving a car was an experience.
Haha Really nice!! Nothing can stop a Beetle!!
Of course it started quite easily after a snowy night !
Besides simplicity, one of the reasons for the choice of an air-cooled engine for a 'people's car's back on the 30's was that closed garages were a luxury most of German workers won't have.
On extremely cold weather drivers had to light small fires under the radiator, so the Volkswagen boxer was a great advantage.
My ‘69 never failed to start.... NY winters can be very cold. I had to manually set the choke, but it started on a half of a crank...
I really really want that car!!!
The late Brazilian engines, specially the ethanol ones had 11:1 compression ;) plus dual carburetors. ALso on the later VW busses, it had EFI fuel enjection ;)
To start mine, I pump the gas 3 times and then push down on the pedal about an inch while cranking. Down to as cold as 20f it always starts with only a couple of cranks.
That engines sounds even more agricultural when cold.
My old carb'd Prelude is also notoriously fickle in winter. I ususally have to pump it twice and keep my foot on the throttle (My Dad used a brick instead) for about a minute until it warms up a bit
Your mufflers sound amazing!! Can you please tell me where can I find them or their brand?
Hello.
My wife drive her Coccinelle (Beetle in French 😉) from 1968 all day to go to work.
14°F is normal here in winter and it start very well.
The engine warm up very quickly (5 minutes...) so inside the car it's hot.
More than our Citroën 2cv 😕.
I test it by 0°F. No problem.
We have 4 Dunlop winter... We can go with it in montain 😂.
No. We have Mercedes w126 for that.
Nico.
Ps. Our Cox have a remote centralized... The only problem under 32 is the little little key 🤪
Please make more videos on the Beetle!
Have a neighbor who used to have a '58 in Canada, he said it was the only car in his neighborhood that would reliably start at -30
Get the automatic choke fixed and tune it up. It'll start in weather much colder than 24 degrees. I had one while living in upstate NY where temps in the winter reached -30 degrees. Mine always started.
I have a 74 type 1 beetle these things can really take a beating. Thankfully my choke works perfectly- I’ll breathe on the starter and it’ll fire right up. Give the gas couple of taps and drive right away
Its gonna be like 75°F tomorrow here in San Diego
Here in NYC today was 58°
Damn we Californians are going to be freezing . 😉
Amazing.
Nothing more cozy than sitting in a snow covered car
wow your so lucky you have so much snow
This video happened on my birthday last year
Love my volkswagens
Cool VW video :)
Something special about the old girl starting on a cold winter day!!
"Have you ever wondered how the man who drives the snowplow, drives to the snowplow?" One of the best classic VW Beetle TV commercials ever! Search "VW beetle snowplow TV classic commercial" if you want to see it. If you put snow tires on just the rear wheels of a Beetle, it would be practically unstoppable in the winter, even in very deep snow.
czcams.com/video/qfirnP08FP0/video.html
Idk in this extreme weather. But..
Usually how i start my carburated Beetle is by crank it without touch the gas (so i'm positive i wont choke it) then i pump the gas pedal around 3 times and start again
I loves those car's
I drive my stock 1972 Super Beetle in temperatures down into the teens and 20s all winter here in Tennessee. Get that electromagnetic choke working and you will be surprised about the difference. Mine never misses a beat.
I drive my 70 daily and I also live in Tennessee. They just don't quit
Yup. They are like German Energizer Bunnies. LOL. Where in TN do you live?
@@TheRainbowmanfan Cleveland
Oh, groovy. I am in Knoxville. The reason I asked is that we have a little VW group up here...East Tennessee Air Cooled. Check us out on Facebook. We have a lot of great members who have a love of air cooled VWs and you're sure to meet a great bunch of people. We just get together for short daytrips, monthly meet and greet, car shows, to help each other work on our cars, or pretty much anything we need. Just thought you might want to check it out.
I'd like one of these but with a diesel motor like a 1.2 tdi 3 cylinder lump with a semi auto gearbox I reckon that'll be pretty cool
Definitely have a choke or tune up issue. I’ve owned many of these even in recent years and they always started in Chicago winters which get much much colder than that
You consider that COLD?? Yes, I am Canadian and scoffing at you. Growing up in northern Ontario, my parents both had Beetles. Dad had the yellow one, Mom had red. In the dead of winter, where 24 Fahrenheit would be quite warm, those things always lit up.
Naturally, the heater wouldn't work, so I froze my ass off on the way to school many times. But it would run!
My 73 project bug would start in below zero temps, even with dual carbs with no chokes. Defrosting the windshield is another story though haha.
My first car was 70 super beetle. That car was very good in the snow. You have to pump the gas a least 4 times for it to start in the cold. Keep your feet on the gas for at least 2 minutes.
The first Super Beetles were not introduced in the U.S. till 1971. They had the same flat windshield as the regular beetle till 73 when the curved windshield was adopted. They did have the Mcpherson struts and larger trunk, slightly wider length and width in the 71's through 73's which classified them as "Super". The engine was the same engine size as the regular Beetles during those years.
Its true any carbureted vehicle always has a certain way that likes to start best example i have is actually a 1996 xr 250 when the engine was Stone Cold you would flip the choke all the way on give it just a little bit of gas kick it slow the first time and then the second time kick it as hard and as quick as you could, boom and it would fire up every single time and then as the idle started to drop you would flip down the choke one notch it would start to idle high again wait until the idle started to drop and then turn the choke all the way off and it would idle all day it didn't care about the temperature now you just turn the key and go how boring
Do you plan on putting in a bigger engine or a stock one with better compression
You are right your fuel filter should be relocated. Fire hazard. Try to avoid the engine compartment due to the heat. A safe place for your fuel filter is in the line coming out from the fuel tank, not easy to reach but it is a yearly maintenance job. Also for all the fuel lines in the engine compartment try to get the originals (cloth braided) I think you have those in the vacuum lines connected to the carburetor's acceleration control unit
I love that car
they end up in the ditch my friends father see em off highway when he drove truck in canada . i imagine its from going to fast .. seem good if took your time . add snow tires / chains for conditions
Great beetle :) All those black dots and spots inside the engine door and when you guys open the gas door ...its bad bad black mold which is dangerous to you ( toxic spores come off of it ) clean them off with diluted ( 50/50 ) clorox solution > Im enjoying your beetle videos . Keep up the good work !
great vids. For us living in the old world, if you could have screen say whenever you are using Fahrenheit or pounds, what it is in C or kg, it would be nice and polite! Thanks!
8:38 bro i didn’t know that explains why the lock pop. I always close my bug with the key but know I know how
They are not meant to idle. Start and go! Great vid.. put a sand bag in the front for winter.
That Colorado snow will be gone by lunchtime!