[T3] New spark plugs and a confession

[Jim Adney <jadney@vwtype3.org>]

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....

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