10 hours of MkI seat time...storytime....long...

[roccit_53 at scirocco.cs.uoguelph.ca (C Boyko)]

Dedication: To those who toil on watercooled Volkswagens, ungrateful things
that they are..

Preface:
Well, der Klausen (my 1979) and I were on the road together quite a bit
this weekend, mainly because there is no adventure in driving anything but
the one that is running like ass.

So first trip was up to the north. I was at my wits end with the ass
running, and decided it was time to call in the heavy hitters, and Mr. Tech
Procedure (Drew Mac) offered, so off I went. Progress was made, but there
are still issues. That was 6 of the seat hours. The first three being quite
miserable due to extremely erratic running. Much better now, but still not
perfect.

So I was feeling like crap this morning, and decided to check out a VW show
today, 2 hours away, rather than getting up early enough to enter a car. So
why not drive the old one? Off I go, with an assortment of tools from
yesterday's adventures still in the car. 

Chapter One: Be Kind to Strangers

So now I get what Klaus' deal is. He dislikes aircoolers. He would have
been on the lot with them in '79, and no doubt he feels superior to them.
Last year he spewed a great cloud of steam and coolant upon entering the
air cooled show, and this year? He just plain quit. Yep, I'd JUST turned
into the show, and the idle dropped below the point of no return, and that
was it, the silent stealthy approach. Rollin, rollin, rollin in the
driveway...Luckily the parking lot was at the bottom of a hill, which I
rolled down, and then I met a nice aircooler guy who offered to help. Not
that there was anything he could do.
I'd popped the hood by then revealing some really creative work, like the
second coil temporarily cable tied to the strut bar, and the lovely yellow
fused coil bypass wire, aka, the secret shutoff. Anyway, he noticed my
yellow battery pack, and asked to use it later, to fill his tire, at which
point I met up with....another MkI owner!! (young Mr Effinger) Woot! That's
where helping a stranger helped out.

So Klausie started for me, and it was off for iced cappucino at Timmy's.
there's nothing that cheers me up like a Scirocco convoy, even if it's only
a convoy of two, (In this case, a nice silver 78 and my green 79) and it
was my fault that Klaus stalled, I'd decided to lean the mix a bit, and
didn't have a 7mm flat wrench to also adjust the idle screw.

Chapter Two: Providence. Also entitled: BUY A FIRE EXTINGUISHER!! DO IT
NOW!!!!

So as I'm driving home, still with the idle down into the "needing three
feet to keep running at stopsigns" zone, and on top of that, the brake
light now no longer goes out. Out I get to see if the rears have locked on,
or the fluid's low, nope. I chalk it up to old car flakiness. Which has
never been an issue with this car. 

I'm getting pretty tired of nearly stalling all the time, and what to my
wondering eyes should appear? A nice driveway with this in it: A Dodge
Caravan (the reliable DD no doubt, LOL) a Fox, two Cabbies, a Rabbit and a
MkII Jetta. So in my little brain, one cell tells me: Stop here, they MUST
have a 7mm flat wrench. 

Now you may say to yourself, why not just tweak the mix a bit to keep the
car going? Well, because the car would die, that's why. So I get out of the
car, which has just stalled, and get in the car again to start it. Wuh,
wuh, wuh. Nope, not gonna do it. By now you can imagine my language usage
was somewhat unladylike, so out I get with the charger pack, which of
course is half drained from letting the aircooler guy fill his tire with
it. But I find a loose connection on the coil, I just got the car going, it
was sputtering, and as I unhooked the charger, what do I see??? Yep, WHITE
SMOKE, rising from the "strapped to the stress bar" coil. Perfect. Turns
out it was from below it, and the brake fluid sensor is (quite literally)
toast. I didn't have to use the extiunguisher, but it was nice to have it
right there on the seat beside me I tell you. I'd turned the car off, and
by now the owner of the fleet in the driveway appeared, and he helped me
get the car going long enough to get the idle up for the drive home. See,
Klaus knows how to stop me when there is a crisis, thank goodness it
happened when it did, since (at  minumum) I'd have toasted the ignition
harness and coil, and I don't want to think any further than that.

That's it for now. It was a nice ride home from there actually, and I
really love driving this car, even if he's not running perfectly. 

But go to the all night drugstore and get that extinguisher. Do it. Do it
now...

Cathy