Please print these articles out. Dave wrote - Years ago with one of my first Bugs (early 1960s vintage) I had a problem which was very frustrating and which I had a very difficult time tracking down. For no apparent reason, the car would sometimes be very difficult (i.e., impossible) to start; at other times the engine would die in the middle of nowhere, not to be restarted for love nor money. This was before I was smart enough to march through the "fuel and spark" routine; even if I had known enough to look for insufficient fuel flow I may not have found the problem, as it occurred downstream of the fuel pump, in the carburetor. Finally a friend, a fellow Bug enthusiast, was with me one day when the problem occurred. "Oh, I know exactly what that problem is," he exclaimed. And I stood by in amazement while he opened the engine lid and tapped on the top of the carburetor with the handle of a screwdriver. Magically, with a few short taps the car started right up again! I was impressed, to say the least! Well, I needn't have been, as there certainly was no magic involved. When you look at the exploded view of a carburetor (for example, the Exploded View on our 34 PICT/3 carburetor overhaul page), you will find a "float needle valve" that screws into the underside of the upper body assembly of the carburetor. This valve is opened and closed by the float, which moves up and down in the bowl of the carburetor, just like the float in a toilet tank. When the carburetor bowl is full of gasoline, the float moves up and closes the float needle valve, which in turn closes off the flow of gasoline into the carburetor from the fuel pump. Sometimes (rarely) the float needle valve sticks in the closed position (needle valve stuck up in the valve body), effectively preventing fuel from entering the carburetor, bringing the car to a complete halt. My friend temporarily fixed the problem by tapping (gently!) on the top of the carburetor, dislodging the stuck float needle valve and permitting flow of fuel into the carburetor once again. As he emphasized to me, however, this "tap on the top of the carburetor" trick is only a temporary fix, and the problem will undoubtedly recur. The more permanent fix, of course, is to overhaul and carburetor and replace the float needle valve with the new one that is provided in the carburetor overhaul kit. Very good lesson learned (but one which I have never had to use again! :-)