Re: Scirocco 16v on heroin? (rather long)

[T Berk <tberk@mindspring.com>]

This is not me, but a guy with a 16v on the newsgroup. Can anybody help
him? I have my thoughts but not too much experience with the later Mk2s.
(btw- Don't reply to _me_ pls.) 

Aaron Poland <mailto:x4130@hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
>     I've had my Scirocco since last July, and aside from normal upkeep, it's
> been a very stable car. But lately, it's gone all to hell. The other day,
> after driving for about 20 minutes on a hot day, with the oil temp at about
> 100 C, which is where it usually peaks, the rev started going off the wall.
> I was cruising at about 3000 in 3rd, when it suddenly bogged down to about
> 500, then shot back up to 4000, then evened out again at 3000. The throttle
> was in the same spot the whole time. It continued to do this every couple of
> minutes as I drove it home. I thought it might be gummed up injectors, and
> tried a bottle of fuel system cleaner, but later realized that a fuel
> problem would be more constant. Next thought was distributor, and sure
> enough, when I got home and checked it, the brand new cap was scorched on 2
> of the points, and there was oil leaking around the bottom of the
> distributor on the outside, and the hall sender was loose.  I cleaned up the
> cap and rotor, replaced everything, zip-tied the sender on so it wouldn't
> wiggle, and then ordered a new distributor from a friend of mine at Shine
> Racing.
> Today, I went out to see if my hack-job repairs had made any improvements,
> and to my surprise, it ran fine. I got one bit of light stuttering in the
> middle of the trip, but that was it. On a second trip out, with the engine
> still warm, I felt confident enough to rev it up a bit, and it was fine up
> to 5000. Right after though, I came to a stop at the end of a road, and
> didn't even make it to third coming onto the next road when it bogged down
> to 500, then died. Tried to start it, and it spun up ok, although rather
> rough, and even started to sputter at one point, but no life. Let it sit,
> tried again, let it sit some more, checked everything I could think of under
> the hood.... finally started, only to stall 30 feet closer to my house. Same
> deal, only started a little sooner. Drove it the mile or so back to my
> house, only to have it stall halfway up the driveway. My father helped me
> tow it to the top, where I went through the checks as before with the
> distributor, and started charging the battery that turning over the engine
> for so long had killed. This time, one of the points in the cap had an
> actual scratch in it from the rotor. Yes, I know, I'm dumb, and should have
> just waited for the new parts, but I'm replacing it all anyway...
> I put the battery back in tonight, and it started up perfectly. Idled for a
> while, then turned on the lights. BIG mistake. They acted just like a kill
> switch, and everything, power included died before the lights even had a
> chance to blink.  Except for a slight glow in the back of the dash leds when
> I turn on the key, it's dead as a doornail, and the battery still shows a
> charge. I checked all the fuses, and I'll be checking the battery with
> another charger tomorrow.
> So, end of story, if you made it this far, do my woes sound like a
> distributor problem, or am I going to replace that and find my car to still
> be dead? I need a new one anyway to fix the oil leak, but I'd like to have a
> working car too. Also, my odometer decided to die last week, as did my one
> working dash light (the other never worked, and I've got to replace some
> freaky wiring job by the previous owner before I can replace it). This just
> isn't my month. =\
> 
> Anyway, help/insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot for you
> time,
> 
> -Aaron
> '87 Scirocco 16v

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