RE: [T3] Fastback Troubles...engine still missing - update

["Jim Adney" <jadney@vwtype3.org>]

On 31 Dec 2001, at 16:30, Christopher Sheridan wrote:

> From: Jim Adney

> >If it still misses, I'd put in a fresh
> >set of plugs because it could well be that the old ones were fouled
> >by the rich mixture before you changed the VR.

> It does and I will. Took it 30 miles round trip in the rain last
> night and it ran well, except wanted to stall at the stoplights and
> did once. And the idle seems too low. Took it 60 miles round trip
> this morning and it ran good again with the same problems. 

You say that it still misses, but that it "ran well." Can you describe 
what is improved and what is unchanged?

> >Secondly, it's awfully easy to fall into the trap of blaming the FI for
> >faults just because you are having a hard time finding the cause.
> >Certainly the FI is a possibility, but so is the ignition, and most
> >miss problems like this turn out to be ignition problems.

> Okay. Will go back through the ignition again....could worn
> trigger points or a worn distributor shaft cause a miss such as
> this, or just hunting? 

I've seen bad trigger points cause missing, but this is fairly rare. I'd 
recommend a dwell meter to check for dist shaft wear. See if its 
reading is steady at various speeds.

> >> questions:
> >> 1) ..the idle adjustment screw range doesn't seem to raise the idle above
> 800rpm...
> 
> >Are you doubling the 8 cyl reading as you need to for the 4 cyl
> >engine?
> 
> Yes, but I'll triple check.

If you're reading it right, then this is probably just one more 
symptom of lack of power, all from the same root cause. Have you 
tried pulling one SP wire off the dist cap at a time to verify that 
each cylinder is contributing equally? When you pull off a wire the 
RPM should drop slightly. If it does not, that cylinder wssn't doing 
anything. Remember to pull off the dist cap end, NOT the SP end! 

If you find one or 2 bad cyls, then you can narrow down your 
search to things related to those.

-
*******************************
Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
*******************************

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