RE: Help!

["Aaron Ness" <aaron@makuta.com>]

Check for spark.

You don't need a cold start valve to start the car, even in cold weather.
It just makes it easier.  The power circuit for my cold start on my '84 was
open and I never got around to fixing it before parting it out because it
always started fairly easily, as long as everyting else was up to par.

Do you have a Bentley, or even a Haynes?  If it's spark, Haynes walks you
through it pretty easily, and Bentley goes into more detail.  If you have a
timing light, put it on and crank the engine.  If it flashes, it's probably
a fuel problem.  If you don't have a light, and you have a helper, check for
spark against a ground at one of the ignition wires while cranking.  If you
don't have a light or a helper, you'll have to resort to checking for
voltage with a meter per Bentley or Haynes.

If it's spark, see if you have 12V at the coil.  I had a similar problem
with my '82 (usually ran fine, but then one day it started and ran for a few
seconds before it died), and I only had about 6V at the coil.  My temporary
fix was to run a wire from the battery to the coil and connect it before
starting the car.  The permanent fix in my case was to replace the
fuse/relay panel, which seems to have done the trick.  A bad hall sender, or
no power to the hall sender, is also a likely cause of no spark.

I just thought of something else - how many miles are on your timing belt?
Could it have snapped?  You should be able to see the cam turning with the
crank if you take off the oil filler cap, IIRC.  If it's broken, you haven't
stuffed any valves because you don't have an interference engine, if it's
stock.

Sorry this isn't very organized - I'm on my way out the door and don't have
my head together.  HTH.

Aaron
'82 Scirocco
'70 Beetle
'87 Jeep Cherokee 4.0
'81 Honda CX500

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> [mailto:owner-scirocco-l@scirocco.org]On Behalf Of Duffy Penski
> Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2000 3:55 PM
> To: scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> Subject: Help!
>
>
> Ok here's the deal. I've got an 86 8v, it has run perfectly
> pretty much
> since I got it 2.75 years ago. I had some idle problems back
> in the day but
> thats about it. Anyways, yesterday I got in my car to go to a
> friend's house
> and started the car, it was idling normally and steadily, was
> getting ready
> to leave, and boom the car just dies. I tried to restart it
> to no avail,
> until the battery pretty much died. When I tried to restart
> it it seemed
> like it almost caught on but died immediately a couple times,
> but not even
> close to actually running. Today I put my charger/starter on
> it, and all
> that happened was the starter turned and turned, nothing
> else. Its been
> extremely cold here, however, the fact that it started so
> nicely at first
> makes me pretty sure that its not the cold start valve. When
> I try to start
> it and have the ignition on, the fuel pump makes its little
> humming noise,
> seemingly normal for a couple of seconds, so its probably not
> the relay, and
> it sounds like the pump is functioning properly as well.
>
> Ok, so where do I go from here? Its extremely cold outside so
> I figured I'd
> come here to get a list of things to check before I start
> taking shit apart.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Duffy Penski
> 86 8v
>
>
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