Trouble starting

[smithma7 at gmail.com (Mike Smith)]

Which ground cable?

On 7/10/06, Jim Ruffi <sciroccos@earthlink.net> wrote:
> I had the same problem with my 88.  Spark stopped when the starter was
> cranking and started right after I let the key back off of the cranking
> position.  I could only get it to start if I cranked it 1 second at a time.
> If I continued to crank it, it would flood, as there was no spark.  I had to
> try to get it to fire off of that "single" spark that occured when I
> released the key.
>
> I replaced the ground cable with a new one and the problem went away.
>
> HTH
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Mike Smith [mailto:smithma7@gmail.com]
> >Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 2:56 PM
> >To: car
> >Subject: Re: Trouble starting
> >
> >
> >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 16
> >
>
>


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