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On 4 Dec 97, Ginger D.&Peter P. wrote: > I have finaly tracked down an intermitant starting problem to a cut in > the insulation on my coil power wire. No strands have been cut, but > there is a 1" long slice in the insulation where it enters the engine > compartment. If I leave the ignition on and go back to wiggle the wire > at this point, I can hear the distributer "click", and the car will > start right up. > Instead of shortening and splicing into the wiring harnes, I was > considering clearing the old insulation off, melting in some soder, and > using heat shrink tubing to reinsulate. Is this too hokey? What's the > best way to do this, I'm not too experienced. (Yet) >From your description, I believe you have a bunch of broken strands under the insulation somewhere. You need to put a voltmeter or trouble light on the coil terminal while you slowly flex and pull on the wire to determine exactly where the break is. Once you find it you will probably find that the wire is extra flexable there, and you can probably just pull hard and break the insulation since that's all that is holding things together there. Then strip back a bit and solder and heat-shrink the splice. Use a long piece of heat shrink if you are close to the skinned part of the wire, or slide an extra piece down to the skinned part before you do the splice. Done carefully, this will make a permanent repair. My guess is that this wire got caught during some previous removal/replacement of the engine. It's good that you found it; this kind of thing can be very hard to track down. It is a perfect example of the rewards of someone else's sloppy work. Jim --------------------------------------------------------------------- Melissa Kepner Jim Adney Laura Kepner-Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, Wisconsin ---------------------------------------------------------------------