Re: [T3] Red light on!

[John Jaranson <jaranson@the-bridge.net>]

Reminds me of my old 69 beetle....errrr, I mean T3, yeah that's what it
was....a T3....maybe a Square.  Anyway, I was driving home for Christmas
in Minnesota from college in NY.  The weather turned bad and very cold
near Minong, WI (Jim Adney knows where it is, no doubt) and my wife and
I decided to stop for the night.  Woke up the in morning to -35 degrees
F (yes, 35 BELOW zero not counting the wind chill!!), the bug, errrr T3,
went "click" when I tried to start it.  Would not even turn over at that
temperature.  Guess what the viscosity of straight 30 weight oil is at
-35F.  Infinity!

After borrowing the hotel owner's magnetic block heater and letting it
coo踈哅n the oil sump plate for about an hour, I finally got it to
turn over.  Still would not start, so I pulled a plug thinking I had
flooded it or something. Plugs look fine, but fingers now pretty
frozen....Still won't start.  Getting frustrated, I check for spark and
don't have any....hmmmmm.  Wires all look OK.  As I stare into the open
distributor, I notice that the points are open......but what's this? 
The follower is not on one of the lobes!  I push the points closed and
turn the engine over by hand.  They open on the first lobe and stay that
way.  The points are frozen open!!!!  10 minutes with my wife's hair
dryer and BAM!  She starts right up.

But guess what, the RED light is on.   Everything checks out and it is
really cold so I leave it running and we drive the last 100 miles or so
to home.  RED light stays on for the next couple of days, but everything
seems to be working just fine.  Get in the car one day, start it up, RED
light still on.  Leave it idling for a few minutes to warm up while I
finishing getting some stuff in the car.  Get in to leave and slam the
door closed.....POOF, RED light goes out.  Did not come back on again
and never did figure out what caused it to come on in the first place.

Just one of those things that makes our VW's so endearing...8^)

Later,
John Jaranson
'71 FI Auto Fasty

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