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Won't run hot

Car, 1987 Scirocco 16V. 233,700 miles. Location, Eastern Massachusetts. Time: Yesterday afternoon during tail end of snow/rain/freezing rain. Around 30 degrees F out.

I've had this very occasional problem for a few weeks where it would loose power for a second or so.

Then it progressed to loosing power for many seconds to a minute or more. But if I shut it off and started it again, it ran for about five seconds then went back to the low/no power mode. When it's doing this it sounds like it's running on one or two cylinders and the tach claims 100 to 200 RPM. During this period, if I just let it idle like this for a minute or two, it cleared up and ran normally again.

Yesterday, it did the above trick once, then, on the way home, got stuck doing it continuously. If I shut it off and started it, it was doing the "five second run" thing, but immediately went to the "two cylinder & 100 RPM" thing. I kept at that for close to an hour. At which point I got to wondering if it would run better if I let it get cold rather than tried to get it to warm up. So, I let it sit for ten minutes. Started up and ran normally for about a minute. Enough to get down the road a bit and into a place I was less likely to get rear ended by a snow plow. Got it into a parking lot and left it.

Went back up later to move it into a proper parking space, started right up, drove it around the lot, no problems. Probably ran for about four minutes and was still going OK when I shut it down. But the temperature gauge never got out of the white zone at the very bottom of the scale.

Any suggestions on what this might be? I'm trying to decide if I bring it home or take it to the garage. Either is about the same driving distance, and I figure if it's dead cold I can make it to either location. If it's likely to be easy to fix, I'll bring it home and do it this weekend. If it's likely to be a pain, I'll take it to the garage.

Advice? Observations? Suggestions*?

Anything I forgot to mention, just ask.

- Bill ___________

  • No, sledgehammers and explosives aren't viable suggestions. Though I did think of both, and more, myself yesterday.
Reply to
Bill Leary
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S.W.A.G: Ignition-related (electrics).

a) Bad coil -gets hot, gets intermittent. b) Bad wires/cap/rotor/plugs more-or-less in that order.

Super-Stretch-S.W.A.G: Vapor lock related to a clogged or partially clogged fuel filter.

Peter Wieck Wyncote, PA

Reply to
pfjw

As Peter suggests, I'd sure check out the ignition electrics first; if it isn't there, then you might look at the following.

Since "During this period, if I just let it idle like this for a minute or two, it cleared up and ran normally again," it could be flooding brought about by a failed fifth injector timer. This car has a timer-sensor in the water jacket or in water line on the front of the engine which causes a fifth injector to pump raw gas into the plenum chamber to start the car when it's cold. One of the failure modes of the timer sensor has the result of opening up the fifth injector, causing the engine to flood. This caused starting problems on my 85 Jetta GL (8V engine) until I finally replaced the timer sensor.

I don't think it's your hall sender, which also gave me fits, because the usual symptom is for the car to just die (usually in the middle of a busy intersection...how does the car know?) and then, after you push it, cursing, into some parking space, and get a ride home, everything starts normally when you get back with the tow truck about an hour later. However, your "2-cylinder and 100 rpm thing" is not the same as a stone-dead car that won't start at all.

If you find a good deal on sledgehammers and explosives, let me know - it may be time to take revenge on my 85.

Pat Moore Juneau, AK

Reply to
PatAL7L

Does it run fine when warmer out? Is the pre heat hose to the air cleaner connected and working? the fuel distributor sensor plate maybe icing up...

Reply to
Lost In Space/Woodchuck

Thanks for the suggestions folks. I'll work through them as soon as the weather permits.

Comments:

I'd dismissed the ignition system since it runs perfectly while it's cold. On the other hand, most of that is so simple to check that it would be sort of nuts not to go through that first and at least put it out of consideration.

As to "when it's warmer," unfortunately, the car has had a couple of adjustments which happened to coincide just about exactly with the weather getting colder. It had to be tuned to pass inspection. And it got colder about that time. And the problems started about that time. It's hard to say it was an issue with the tuning (no new parts, just adjustments) or it getting cold.

I just drove it home. It was just up the end of the street. Took about three minutes and the temperature gauge never moved off the bottom of the scale. Ran perfectly the entire time. I'm going to start it up tomorrow and let it run until it's warm and see what it does.

Thanks again. I may be back for more ideas after I've worked through these.

- Bill

Reply to
Bill Leary

Don't. Ignition systems often have problems with heat. That would be the first thing I would check with the problems you are having.

If it is about time, I would replace the plus wires coil and cap.

Reply to
Joseph Meehan

IIRC you have another car; I'd try swapping the coils between the two cars and see if the symptoms follow.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

I'd been thinking about that since I said it, and I find that I agree. I recall a beetle from long ago that would quit after warming up. Turned out the coil had gone bad and would work until the engine warmed up then started getting intermittent.

Now that you mention it, the plugs and cap were replaced about a month before all this started.

- Bill

Reply to
Bill Leary

You recall correctly. I have two 1987 16V Scirocco's.

Your suggestion is perfectly logical, but I won't do it.

I just KNOW that something will screw up and I'll end up with two dead cars instead of one.

If it were in the 70s I'd probably do it anyway, but with the temps running in the low 30's in the day and the teens at night, I don't want to be out there tinkering with a car which works fine right now.

- Bill

Reply to
Bill Leary

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