Originally Posted by
BMKal
Years ago I was living in Merredin and an uncle had an old beetle which had exactly the same symptoms - a very loud and savage "clicking" sound at all revs. We tried everything we could think of and could not find the fault.
Went around and saw an old German bloke on the outskirts of town who had a yard full of dak daks, and he told us that it was more than likely a broken crankshaft.
Not believing him, but also not being able to come up with any alternatives, we pulled the engine out and stripped it down. Sure enough, the crankshaft was broken completely in half, with the break being diagonal through the shaft. If I hadn't seen it for myself, I'd still find it difficult to believe. Apparently it was a common occurrence with some of the earlier VW engines, and it was not uncommon for them to run on for many more km's in this condition (according to the old German bloke who told us what to look for).
The engine was still running fine in this condition, still had normal power etc but just this loud clicking noise as the only sign that something was wrong.
We never repaired it - a quick phone call to a wreckers in Perth at the time had a complete replacement up overnight on the bus, and we had the old banger back on the road next day.
Hope you haven't come across the same problem, but don't let anyone tell you it can't happen.