93 fox coil problems

My dad has a 93 fox wolfsburg edition. It will not start. He replaced the coil, and it ran at an idle for a few minutes then cut out. When he touched the coil it was very hot, and thinks something may have blown it. Can anyone information give me any information on what could cause this?

Reply to
JQ
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the coil in our beloved VW's rarely go bad. is he sure the first one was bad or was he just guessing?

one way to find out if either is bad is to check primary and secondary resistance of the coil with an ohmeter.

let us know

Reply to
Simplstupd

To be honest, he was just guessing...it is how he does most of his troubleshooting. I will check it with my DMM as soon as I can, but it may be a bit as the car is about a hundred miles away from me.

Let me give you some background on the situation. My father is an old school mechanic (did a stint as an aircraft mechanic in the marines in the around '58) and does not understand much about the electronics in newer cars. By replacement alone, I think he has ruled out any mechanical failure in the fuel system.

I on the other hand do computer support for a living and tinker with electronics as a hobby, and have done a few brake jobs and such with his guidance. He is living on a limited retirement budget, and is way too proud to accept a gift from his son like paying to have it fixed (or a new car.) Now some help, I am sure he would love.

Would an obd-2 scanner be any help in diagnosing a start failure? I have been considering buying one anyway to keep tabs on my own car. If so, what is a good package to buy? The hardware interface looks very simple, and I do not mind paying for a good software that would handle the extended codes on import cars (specifically VW and Honda,) preferable CE based as I am planning on purhcasing a pocket PC to use for for GPS navigation. I would also not be averse to picking up a separate scope (maybe an older tektronix off ebay?) to view any waveforms necesary.

I wouldn't mind purchasing the electronics because I think they would both have a lasting value to me. I know I am probably jumping ahead of myself with the scope there but how should one go about diagnosing this situation?

Reply to
JQ

The 93 Fox is not OBD-2 compliant, only vehicles 1996 manufacturer year and newer.

The more common no start problem on those vehicles is a bad transfer fuel pump in the tank....

Paul '89 Jetta

Reply to
Simplstupd

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