Car cooked!!! HELP!!! long!!!

["Tobias M-G" <scirocco16v88@hotmail.com>]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Yesterday's little problem turned into a tire kicking, steering wheel 
pounding, mad raving, Scirocco bashing charade today.

Driving home from work, the car idles high in neutral, has been for a few 
days now, this afternoon it stayed at a constant 1400 RPM and wouldn't come 
down. I ignore this for the time being, thinking that it's probably the 
stupid battery like Shawn said, that it's draining/ed and the alternator has 
to compensate and the gauges are all a little wacky too because of it.

So there I am, stop and go traffic on the 880, when the little warning light 
on the temp gauge goes on, which is all the way to the right I realize. 
ERRRR. Look at the oil gauge - 260. ERRRR <GULP>. Look to the hood 
confuddled... puff puff puff out of the left side. ERRRR SCHEISSE!!. Hang a 
quick right and exit on 237, round two corners and park the car. Now I get 
the fog machine effect going on the side of the hood. ERRRRR. This sh*t 
don't look good. Pop the hood, coolant leaking out under driver side fender. 
"I drive this car why?" Wait .. wait longer, wait much longer .. wait 45 
minutes, watch car cool down, watch coolant level disappear. An hour later I 
decide it's cool enough, about 1/4, to head to the gas station across the 
road to get coolant. 2 minutes ... one right turn, one left, one right, and 
the gauge is screaming to the top again.

Pull into the station, turn off car, fan stays quiet ..hmmmmm. Get coolant 
.. takes 5 minutes. Come back, slowly pop lid off the coolant reservoir - 
this sh*ts under so much pressure every 1/4 turn sends the level shooting 
up. Finally get it open. Fan turns on??? HUH? No key in the ignition, car's 
been sitting there for over 10 minutes now. Stupid c...... @$!$^&*. Fill the 
coolant back up, start the car, and observe idle, coolant level, temp gauge, 
noises etc for 15 minutes. Nothing happens, everything A-OK - if the car had 
a face it'd be grinning at me daftly (British for stupid if my memory serves 
me right, been a few years since I lived there .. but I digress) in a sort 
of "How the F#&^ should I know what's going on under the hood" manner.

I say, screw this, have to get home before it gets dark so I don't have to 
use the lights and strain the electrical system (if the battery is really 
the culprit). Drive 20 miles, and not a peep from the car - it's cooler out 
now yes, but nothing, NOTHING .. like I had some damn bad daydream or 
something. Get home, idle is a little high, about 1000-1200, but car stays 
cool until I park it and turn it off.

All in all I lost over half a gallon of coolant, almost 2 hours, many 
nerves, and all so that I can sit here and shoot ??????????? to the list 
because I haven't got a friggin clue what just happened. Still just a faulty 
battery or what? Woulnd't be the distributor .. na, no way. The cooling 
system is fairly new .. 4 months old.

What's up, what is up??? <Sigh> <--- a collective one from the entire group 
I'm sure cuz we all deal with this kinda stuff. Join the club eh? hehe.


It's not the Scirocco! It's the guts of the car, that's what it is. Stupid 
engine, stupid fuel pumps and relays and wiring and so on. The Scirocco 
itself is only an unwilling shell for this stuff. VW should pay for 
emotional distress for people like us!

Oh yeah, what do I need to fix here?

Tobias
- Unlike TBerk who hadn't touched a drop the last time I checked, I am 
grabbing a bottle with each hand now!!!

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