JH 8v barely runs suddenly

[gatesj at twcny.rr.com (John K. Gates)]

Greetings, wondering if I can get some ideas with what's going on with my
'85 JH 8v...

Last summer I thought I was having some grounding problems, lazy sounding
starter and all.  I ran a new audio grade 4 gauge wire from - on the
battery to the stock ground point on the frame rail and then from there to
a bellhousing bolt that I had taken out and welded another small bolt
onto, head to head, to duplicate the stock one in my A3 Jetta.  Any ground
problems I might have had at one point went away and I drove the car one
day, just amazed at how well it ran, it hadn't run that well since I got
it (1995).  As a result, I drove it pretty hard and was really enjoying
it...

Then, about a block away from home it started to run just awful.  It would
barely idle.  If I caught it just right and floored it it would run up
2-3000 rpm (neutral) and hang there, firing what sounded like a couple of
cylinders.  The harder you step on the throttle, the more it chokes, but
if you step on it hard and let up, it will run for a second or two on all
four.  It sounds like it's loading up the cylinders with fuel and then
actually igniting it when the vacuum comes up?

It sounded at first like fuel starvation or a big vacuum leak to me at
first, so I started plugging up vacuum ports to see if it made a
difference.  It might have made a very small one.

Then I ran out of time and parked the car.  I never tested fuel pressure,
ignition or timing.  The car does have very recent new pickup and pressure
pump.  I don't think it got more than 3000 miles on those.

The car also starts really hard, I crank and crank with the throttle open
all the way before it'll hit at all.  It stinks of raw fuel out of the
exhaust when I'm trying to start it cold.  I think it's getting fuel
pressure OK.

I started the car a couple of times in the winter (very cold here in
central NY) and it ran perfectly!!!  I thought the car had cured itself
somehow, but now that it has warmed up again it here it's running just as
poorly as it was.

Like I said, I have not checked fuel pressure, spark or timing and I
should have before posting, but I'm wondering if this sounds familiar to
anyone.

The JH doesn't have the keyway timing problem like the 16v, does it?  What
would let the car run OK when it's very cold out but break when it warms
up?  Do I have water in the coil or something?!?!

I think my first step is to pull the fuel pump relay, pull plugs and
ground them and see what the spark looks like.  Then I'll check timing and
then fuel pressure and then on to compression.  Sound like the best
approach?

Sorry for the long post, I hate not giving all the information though..

TIA,

John Gates
--
'85 Scirocco
'97 Jetta GLX