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Thanks for the confession. I'll remember that story. Daryl - 72SB ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Adney" <jadney@vwtype3.org> To: <type3@vwtype3.org> Sent: Saturday, August 20, 2005 11:25 PM Subject: [T3] New spark plugs and a confession > The '73 squareback that I actually drive quite often has not gotten much care > of late. It just gets used. In the past few months, however, it has gotten hard > to start and often didn't run well until it got well warmed up. Early this > summer I checked the valves, the dwell, and the timing, and even changed the > oil, but none of that helped significantly. > > Recently, my wife's Taurus is down with a bad alternator and she has been > driving the Square, making it more important that I make it run better. She > took it out this morning for some brief errands, and then I drove it. By the > time I got it on the road it was pretty awful. > > I got it warmed up and had to drive about 10 highway miles, which I thought > would be good for it, but it just got worse and worse. IT was hard to start and > would die at idle. It seemed to be running on 3 cylinders, and backfiring > occasionally. I had visions of clogged fuel injectors. I checked the charging > system voltage but that was fine. > > Finally, I had time this afternoon to pull a spark plug. I have to confess that > I've never before seen a spark plug that was so in need of replacement. The > center electrode was eroded down to a little bump just sticking out of the > ceramic. The gaps were probably close to .060". All the sharp edges, where the > spark can jump from, were eroded round. > > I pulled the rest of the plugs and they were all the same. I checked the SP > connectors and the resistor in one of them had gone open. It's actually quite > amazing that it would run at all, although the signs were that it was on the > verge of not running. > > I replaced the 4 plugs and the connector and then took it for a drive. > > Wow, what a difference! > > I wonder how long those plugs had been in there.... > > -- > ******************************* > Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org > Madison, Wisconsin, USA > ******************************* > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >