Fuel Lines Redux and Spark Plug Weirdness

[scirocco@powerlink.net (John C. Worden)]

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At 01:10 PM 5/28/02 -0400, Mike Eldred wrote:


>Last year, I bought a new rotor and cap -I didn't know how long the 
>current ones had been in there.  While I was at it, I bought a new set of 
>plugs -Autolite, since I was low on cash.  They were total shite.  The car 
>was missing and hesitating.  Now, I know Autolite plugs are crappy, but I 
>expected to get more than an hour out of them.  Anyway, I took them out 
>and put the old Platins back in and it ran fine.
>This year, I replaced the crappy NAPA cap and rotor with OEM, and while I 
>was at it, I put in new spark plug wires.  (I don't even know how the car 
>ran with the old ones.  They were very, very bad.)  And I figured I'd put 
>in some new plugs again while I was at it.  This time, money wasn't a 
>factor, so I bought the Bosch Supers -which the guys at the VW place 
>recommended as a long lasting premium plug.

I like Bosch Supers a lot, but they are hardly a "premium plug".  Not many 
premium plugs cost a $1 each.



>They said the Platins, at about twice the cost, were overkill.  Well, you 
>guessed it, I gapped and installed the Supers, and the car ran lousy 
>again.  Not as bad as with the Autolites, but there was some definate 
>missing going on.  Out they came, back went the old Platins, and ...yep, 
>it runs fine again.
>When I took the Supers out, one of them smelled like gas, the others 
>didn't.  I'm assuming that means that is the bad plug that was causing the 
>problems.
>So my question is:  Does my car have an unnatural, or supernatural 
>attachment to these aging Bosch Platins?  Or have I actually been unlucky 
>enough to get a bad plug two times in a row?  Should I bother to buy new 
>Bosch Platins? (the old ones ARE pretty worn)  Anyone else ever have a 
>similar problem?

Did you try swapping the one plug that smelled of gas with one from another 
cylinder to see if it was the plug or the location of the plug that was the 
culprit?  If it turned out to be the location then you could do the same 
with plug wires, or just Ohm them out.  From there I would look at the 
coil-Bentley lists test values for this.

Good luck.

John C. Worden
Bucksport, Maine

'98 Dakota 4x4-
'86 Scirocco 8V-
'81 Scirocco 2.0 16V -
'78 Scirocco Brazil Brown Metallic,  4 speed.

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