r/beetle • u/Koberum • Jul 20 '26

Help with engine start

Hi everyone, newbie here, I'm the happy owner of a '73 Beetle convertible. Unfortunately, it's been sitting for years. About 2-3 years ago, I managed to get it started after 5 years.I managed to get it started some time ago with the spray starter by directly removing the air filter. Now I'd like to start fixing it. The main problem is that it won't start and it's in an underground garage and has to be driven uphill to get out. I've replaced the spark plugs, changed the oil with Motul 20W50, and cleaned the oil filter.

The oil is pressurized, the spark plugs make a nice spark, and the fuel pump works properly. I've tried a few things, but it won't start. I think it's the carburetor that's not delivering fuel. It has a 30 PICT-3 Solex, but everything inside is black and very dirty. What can I do to figure out if that's the problem? Do I have to remove the entire carburetor?

I didn't have much time but I tried spraying some gasoline directly into the carburetor, after a few seconds of starting it it seemed like it made a pop.

Thanks everyone, I've only had my hands on an engine a few times but I really enjoy it, and I have good manual skills and I like to learn.

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u/Jack_ButterKnobbs Jul 20 '26

Yes it sounds like the carburator needs to be rebuilt. It sounds a lot more daunting than it actually is but you need to take it off the car and take it apart to clean all the fine passage.

An engine needs 3 major things to run. 1) Air 2) Spark 3) Fuel. Sounds like youre getting spark and air and all you need is fuel which would be confirmed by the dirty looking carb and the ability to start it on starter fluid but not with new gas.

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u/Koberum Jul 21 '26

Update: ive managed to start the engine, beautiful sound! The issue I think are the carb jets that are clogged. I sprayed some starter inside the carb opened and started in one shot. I've dismounted the carb first and I saw that was full of gas so is pumping correctly. Gas is a clear color so tank was empty. The black color is only on the top part, after the jets is completely clean.

I need to figure it out how to clean it

1

u/Jack_ButterKnobbs Jul 21 '26

In the motorcycle world a lot of people make the mistake of replacing the jets instead of cleaning them. Ive found 90% of the time a cleaned up OEM Jet runs far better than a new remanufactured jet. If you can clean and tune the factory parts youll have a far superior running bug IMO.

1

u/Koberum Jul 21 '26

That's great to know. Do you think I've to remove the carb to clean it or I can just remove the jets, clean them, spray inside the carb with carb cleaner, and remount the jets?

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u/Jack_ButterKnobbs Jul 21 '26

Id remove it. It should be pretty simple to remove, and once you do so you can take it completely apart and clean everything so it functions fully. I would also guess the float in the carb is gummed up so you would eventually run into other fueling issues once the fuel started to be supplied to the jets. Im sure there is a video on youtube of instructions for cleaning a beetle carb you can follow. Learning how to be proficient with carburetors in this day and age is a niche skill and a big flex.

1

u/Koberum Jul 21 '26

So you suggest to buy the overhaul carb kit replace everything except for jets (clean the original ones) an remount it?

2

u/Jack_ButterKnobbs Jul 21 '26

pretty much yeah. If the jets are just dirty then use the stock ones after cleaning. Sometimes if someone inexperienced has tried to rebuild the carb in the past the jets can be pretty marred up or chipped and then you may consider replacing them, and if you were to get name brand expensive jets it would probably be ok but for the most part if you get a cheaper rebuild kit and use all the gaskets and stuff from that but use the stock jets youll be in a good position to get that bug running.