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16V WOES ... HELP!!
I think you are definetley on to something. When I swapped out my fuel
filter yesterday, the gas was cloudy and gray, which led me to believe
it was rust in the tank.
I would be interestedi n buying your old fuel distributor, let me know
how much yo uwant for it and we can work something out.
About the transfer pump, where can i get the proper clamps, and the
short peice of fuel hose to replace the original one?
Thanks a lot
Quoting peter <peter@thescirocco.com>:
> I think it's either the fuel distributor, or the transfer pump in
> the
> tank.
>
> The transfer pump is $40-80, comes with a new screen/pickup and
> takes
> about 10 minutes to change, providing you have the proper clamps, and
> a
> short piece of fuel hose to replace the original one.
>
> If that doesn't fix it, I'd try cleaning the bottom of the fuel
> distributor, and/or swap in a used known good 16V fuel distributor.
> I
> have an extra one, e-mail me if you're interested...
>
> My '88 16V would intermittently cut off, and when I poured out the
> fuel
> of the fuel filter, the fuel was cloudy and gray, from the transfer
> pump
> trying to self destruct.
>
> HTH, and good luck!
>
> Peter
> 302.832.8989
> http://thescirocco.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: scirocco-l-bounces@scirocco.org
> [mailto:scirocco-l-bounces@scirocco.org] On Behalf Of Carlos Alves
> Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 11:29 AM
> To: scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> Subject: 16V WOES ... HELP!!
>
> Hey guys,
>
> This is my first posting on this message board. I am a student at
> UNC
> Chapel Hill who lives in Jersey, and i have an 87 16v with roughly
> 113k on the odo. Up until about 2 weeks ago, I absolutely loved this
> car, I bought it with 87k, and it generally served me very well for
> the past 2 years, with only minimal repairs and breakdowns occuring
> because either coolant hoses broke or because the thermostat went.
>
> When it comes to working on cars, I am generally a beginner, only
> having done small things on various other cars. I am becoming
> painfully aware, however, that owning a 16v necessitates doing most
> of
> the repair work yourself, or forking over a LOT of cash to the damn
> vw
> stelaership, Which brings me to my next point.
>
> 2 weeks ago, my car started sputtering and stalling at various
> RPM's.
> It would sputter and die down on the highway, for instance, and I'd
> have to drop it down into 4th and let the cluth out, and the car
> would
> start back up. Then it would proceed to function normally.
> Dumbfounded, I checked the car out and couldnt find anything wrong,
> so
> i took it to the VW dealer. They found some vacuum leaks on the car,
> which they fixed, cleaned out some "gunk" on the throttle body, and
> reset the fuel mixture, and said the problem was fixed. I drove the
> car home, and while home, it commenced sputtering again. So I
> resolved
> to drive the car back down to school when the time came and try to
> get
> it fixed by an expert on the 16v cars that I know near my college.
>
> Sunday, I leave, and go to my brothers place. I start smelling gas,
> open the hood, and see that the fuel filter is leaking a little
> fuel ... so I resolve to change it. Swapped a new one in, no
> leakage,
> and the car seemed to have stopped the sputtering problem. So, I
> leave, and roughly 30 miles later, my car breaks down, on the side
> of
> the highway. This time the problem seems different, almost as if the
> car is running out of gas, where the engine just dies down and i
> cooly
> pull off. THe gas gauge reads 1/4, but I am thinking it is rust in
> the gas tank.
>
> My bro comes, we put about 2 gallons of fuel in the car, and it
> drives fine for the next 30 miles, to the VW dealer. 5 miles before,
> it started dying down again, once again leading me to believe that
> rust is the culprit, seeing as how with about 2 gallons, the car
> would
> be good to go for roughly 40 miles before rust concentration builds
> up
> causing the car to die down. I put 5 dollars of gass in, and drop
> the
> car off.
>
> Today the VW dealer calls me back. THe problems they found, as they
> quoted, are as follows:
>
> Fuel distributor has a lot of carbon buildup. Needs to be cleaned.
> Throttle body has carbon buildup. Needs cleaning.
> O2 Sensor is sending error codes, possibly faulty..
> Spark plug wires need to be replaced.
> Distributor cap and rotor show signs of corrosion.
>
> And the grand total, $2500 for all of this work, and THEN they will
> check the car out again to see if rust in the gas tank is the actual
> culprit. Needless to say, I will NOT spend 2500 on a car I bought
> for
> 1500. My course of action is to try to get the car down to NC and do
> most of the work myself in my free time.
>
> So, some questions are, is rust buildup in the sciroccos common? How
> dfficult would it be for someone with a beginners spin on mechanics
> to
> do most of the work required by the dealer? I Would of course
> purchase
> the Bentley manual and consult it to the finest detail. Are those
> parts expensive in it of themselves? Difficult to install?
> >From your professional opininos, does it seem as if the dealer
> quoted
> problems are the actual culprit? IT seems as if the leaky fuel pump
> fixed most of the sputtering problems, and the car only started
> acting
> up when the tank (in my opinion) neared empty and the rust
> concentration build up.
>
> Any help you guys could give me would be greatly appreciated. In
> your
> opinions, does it seem as if all those "carbon" infested mechanical
> parts are the reason the car is failing me?
>
> My guess is I will probably be consulting this list more frequently
> as
> I start to do the work on the car. I love the car, and am not
> willing
> to see it go without a mechanical fight. I just hope I can learn
> enough about the car so that I can fix it properly. Thanks.
>
>
>
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>
Faster than a speeding pinto......
Coches