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Re: RE: Almost Made It 2 Weeks!



This sounds like a fuel issue to me. Your car is turning over when turn the key. It needs gas and spark to actually run. Your volt ratings might be low but not outrageous. I feel that you are not getting fuel pressure to begin with. What year is your car? Didn't you just repcale both fuel pumps? Or am I confusing you with another. If that is so than maybe it is a spark issue. If you have a bad alternator it will not kill your battery that fast. 

It is hard to tell exactly what is happening. You are in the bay area yes? I could help you some time after work, if so. Not that I am an expert or anything but know my way around. 

Mark hausler



---- Begin Original Message ----
 From: takhisis@ix.netcom.com
Sent: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 11:22:17 -0700
To: "'William J Erikson'" <williamjosiah@juno.com>
CC: <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
Subject: RE: Almost Made It 2 Weeks!


> I'm STILL confused : ) What do you mean by "dying"?
> Does the car actually fire?

If you mean fire by the car attempting to start, then yes.

> How fast does it crank over, if at all (crank over meaning the
> starter turning the engine, before it starts).

It cranks over normally!

> So if you let go of the
> key it will die instantly, meaning that it never started at all.

Yes! It cranks over, but the second I let go of the key the engine stops.
As long as I hold the key in start the engine runs. I've learned that if I
gas it at just the right time as I let go of the key the engine continues to
run and runs normally. I've also learned that if I have jumper cables
installed and someone is jumping me the car will start normally without any
hassles just like it did before I had this problem.

I replaced the battery last night (walking 1/2 mile to the auto parts store
and walking back with the battery...ouch!) and it started nicely on the
second try, but then the engine stopped after maybe 20 seconds without any
user intervention. It was just idling.

> Or meaning that it fires every once in awhile and the starter is required
to
> keep it turning over? If the starter cranks over fine, then you should
> look to fuel or spark for your problem.

I believe that the starter is working fine. I'm hearing that maybe my
alternator could be causing this? It's a Bosch and it's pretty new looking,
so maybe that's it... I haven't looked at my spark plugs yet, and I'm kind
of afraid to pull one out and hold it near a metal part! I did put in STP
fuel injector cleaner and octane booster a 1/2 day before this happened.
But I get such good gas mileage (:-) that I still have maybe 3/4 of a tank
left! Could that have caused it? I've noticed that my fuel distributor
makes a rapid clicking noise. If that's not normal, then maybe it's the
STP!

After getting jumpstarted last night so I could go home from work I was
keeping an eagle eye on my volts guage. At times when I was cruising ~65
the needle was at 13.5. And when I was going slower (either in stop & go or
~40) the needle was dropping very slowly. The lowest it went was ~11.5.
And this was without lights or radio on.

I mentioned before that I could gas it just before I let go if the key and
the engine would stay started. I should mention that when this doesn't work
and I'm holding the key in the start position (grinding the hell out of my
starter surely) I can rev it and rev it and rev it but the volts guage won't
go over 8 or so. This seems strange!

> Good luck!

It seems like I'll need it. I'm still recovering financially from getting
it towed/fixed two weeks ago! I might actually have to deal with it until
6-15! YUCK!

> 	PS One of the small wires to the starter may be for the voltage guage, I
> don't know, but one of them is to activate the solonoid. It pulls the
> starter gear into position and then pulls power from the large red wire
> attached to the starter with a 13mm nut to actually turn the motor over.

Beats me! I'm still learning the mechanics of this thing.... I can tell you
that I have these extra guages: Temp, Vaccuum, Volts, lbs per square inch,
and amps (not hooked up).


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---- End Original Message ----



mark hausler
'81 scirocco s
'94 toyo 4x4 
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