The air-cooled Volkswagen Kombi is an iconic vehicle that just oozes character. Kombis are practical too. You can drive them to work, carry the family around and go camping in them, and you still see them being used on a daily basis as well as being restored for occasional use. There are still plenty of young guys and girls who would like to own one as their daily driver.

Volkswagen kombis do have one disturbing fault though. They catch fire, and then it’s goodbye Kombi.

So just why do they catch fire, and what can you do to stop yours burning?

I haven’t found a definitive article in a VW magazine yet, but I’ve been driving my 1976 2 liter bay window as my daily driver for over 14 years, so I’ve taken an interest in the problem and learnt as much as I could. I’ll answer the question as well as I can.

There are actually a few different things that can cause the Kombi to burn, but they all come back to fuel getting loose in the engine bay. Kombis have a fuel tank in front of and above the engine, a hose going down from that to the fuel pump, and another hose going up through the tinware to the carbies.

Kombis are old now, and they have a lot of age related problems unless they’ve been rebuilt. Even then, it’s most likely not everything has been brought back to as new condition.

One of those old-age problems is perished and cracked fuel lines. Chances are yours have been replaced, but check them anyway. When they crack they can leak gas everywhere. One spark and your Kombi is history. Also, right below the engine are two hot heat exchangers that have the exhaust running through them. I don’t know what causes the biggest problem, heat exchangers or sparks, but it’s largely irrelevant when your van goes up in smoke. Read the rest of this entry »