I’ve never used this forum before but I’m at wits end. Even after 6 years and a rebuilt engine it doesn’t run. My 82 air cooled 2.0 vanagon cranked and ran well getting home from the tech session last week. At the session Tom checked compression, plugs, changed a gasket on a valve cover, jury rigged a missing bolt on my left carb and a bunch of other stuff. I stopped on the way home and he still ran fine. When I got home he was running a little choppy but I noticed I didn’t have any brakes. The pedal went all the way to the floor and he would turn over strong but barely started and when ut did it was extremely Smokey. Eventually he smoke went away. from then in he won’t start. Like there was no spark even though The battery was on a trickle charger. I took off my instrument panel and all my brake fluid was gone. I haven’t bled the brakes yet because it won’t start anyway. I just put new soak plug cables and ngk spark plugs in. Turns over strong but won’t fire up. I can smell gas so I think my fuel pimp and filter are ok. Could the issue with my brake reservoir be the issue? Do I need brake pressure to be able to crank? I didn’t see any external leaks from the brake reservoir (looked under dash column and ran a clean cloth all around the reservoir. I’m at wits end and will miss the show again this year. The brake booster seems to be connected tightly in the engine compartment.  

From Dan Hoffman