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Scirocco Bliss (long)



I love this car...

I've been tracking down a hard start when cold/back firing when warm issue
for a while now.  I replaced a bunch of cracked vaccuum lines, a cracked
valve cover breather line, the thermo time switch, plus
plugs/wires/cap/rotor/fuel filter.  Finally decided that it couldn't be
anything other than the Control Pressure Regulator, so I got a known good
used one (thanks Peter!) and tossed it on Saturday.  I also took the time to
replace the main Positive and Ground battery cables, and redid all the crimp
connectors for the other little wires that connect to the battery posts.
Ran the car for about five minutes to make sure that I got all the air out
of the fuel system, and called it a day.

This morning I got up, brushed 3 inches of snow off the car, hopped in, and
twisted the key.   It fired instantly, with no desire to die or bog if
reved.  I drove off at once, as opposed to having to sit there and rev the
poor thing at 3K rpm to keep it running until it warmed slightly, and
noticed that the usual sag off idle when cold was gone.  By the time I got
to work the car had reached temps, and I nailed a 3-2 downshifting turn into
our parking lot.  Lo and behold, no backfires!  The car seemed more
energetic all thru the rpm range, and it idled really strongly at 975ish
rpms.  All my electrical things are working for the moment, and the heater
is blasting warm air like it was new.  Other than an annoying rattle from
the exhaust against the underbody heatshield, its pretty quiet inside, too.

I still can't believe that this car is 20 years old.  Sure, I've replaced
much of its mechanical wear items, but the engine/trans/steering/suspension
is totally original.  I've just been replacing stuff that wore out and
nobody bothered to fix before me.  I mean, come on, how hard is it to
replace the radiator fan thermoswitch?!?!?!

What a great little car!

Marc
P.S.  I'll probably go out tonight and it'll have dumped all its fluids on
the ground just to prove to me who's boss...:)