Trouble starting

[smithma7 at gmail.com (Mike Smith)]

So I was at a garage in DC today.  Guy didn't know too much about VWs
to know why without keeping it for an extended period of time (wasn't
going to leave it there and have no way home) but he did poke around
under the hood testing things and he said 2 things:

1) The battery is going bad.  He put a booster pack on it and it
cranked a lot easier and fired up a little quicker.

2) "Losing power to coil in crank position"... that's what he wrote
down for me.  He said that when the key is in the "on" position, the
coil is getting power, but not when the key's in the "start" position.
 Found that out when he was testing for spark.

What say you, list?

'86 16v, damn near stock under the hood, 'cept for previous mechanics
MscGyvering.

On 6/22/06, Mike Smith <smithma7@gmail.com> wrote:
> Lately I've had issues starting the car when it's been sitting a while.
> Starts fine when hot.  When cold, it cranks for a while and eventually
> starts (30 sec or so).  I don't crank it for that long at once, BTW.
>
>  Anyway, thermo time switch / cold start valve?  I used to have this problem
> years ago (at least 4 yrs before joining the list) and instead of fixing
> (was dirt poor then :) I just popped the clutch for a year or so.  Finally
> got it fixed and I believe that was the problem then.
>
>  Should I order those items?  BTW, anyone got part numbers for those two
> items?
>
> --
> Mike
> '86 red 16v: Red 5 (aka der Jahrtausendfeierfalke)
> "The world is my oyster soup kitchen floor wax museum." - King Crimson


-- 
Mike
'86 red 16v: Red 5 (aka der Jahrtausendfeierfalke)
"The world is my oyster soup kitchen floor wax museum." - King Crimson