I have had a couple videos of burning Beetles randomly present themselves in the last few days. Logically, fuel hose and carburetor gaskets are the biggest concern. As I was walking around the car, I decided to open up the rear deck lid and gave the fuel hoses a squeeze. They are fabric covered, so I couldn’t see anything wrong, but the rubber still felt nice and pliable.

The next time I started up the car, I smelled it.

After running for approximately twenty seconds, there was a puddle of gasoline in the bottom of the engine bay.

I had recently been troubleshooting a similar problem with my lawn mower. It doesn’t leak fuel noticeably when mowing, but over the course of the next few days after, would slowly dribble it out, soaking into the air filter. Mowing my lawn only takes a third of a tank of gas, but every time I go to mow, the tank is empty again.

ANYWAY, after disassembling everything and cleaning the carburetor, verifying the hoses and clamps were still good, I had the same problem the next time I mowed. As a temporary stop-gap until I could figure out the actual cause of the problem, I picked up a fuel petcock at Lowe’s (Lowe’s link) which also came with a foot of fuel line. Two birds, one stone!

I’m happy to report, there have been no further issues. BUT, just in case…

That’s not at all the right angle to store that at (surprise shot in the face).