Fuel Lines Redux and Spark Plug Weirdness

[meldred@vermontmedia.com (Mike Eldred)]

Hi all,
A few weeks ago I wrote to the list with a rant about the apparent =
impossibility of replacing the fuel lines in my '82 Scirrocco.  Thanks to =
input from Cory Langford and Cathy Boyko, the problem was resolved fairly =
easily by installing rubber fuel injection line in place of the stock =
metal line.  (BTW, cheapest fuel line I found: $2.99 per foot from JC =
Whitney.)
I finally got off me arse and put in the rubber line last night.  After =
sitting for well over a month, the car fired right up.  However, I must =
have broken the return line when I was pulling the old main line out, as =
it started leaking and spraying from two different places when I started =
the car.  (I was still in angry rant mode, and none to careful, when I was =
pulling out the old line.)  But no problem, tonight I'll install a patch =
in the return line, and the Winterocco will be back in business.  Thanks, =
Cory and Cathy.

Here's another interesting bit of weirdness:  It appears my '86 8v will =
only run with the Bosch Platin spark plugs that were in it when I bought =
it two years ago.  Here's the history:
Last year, I bought a new rotor and cap -I didn't know how long the =
current ones had been in there.  While I was at it, I bought a new set of =
plugs -Autolite, since I was low on cash.  They were total shite.  The car =
was missing and hesitating.  Now, I know Autolite plugs are crappy, but I =
expected to get more than an hour out of them.  Anyway, I took them out =
and put the old Platins back in and it ran fine.
This year, I replaced the crappy NAPA cap and rotor with OEM, and while I =
was at it, I put in new spark plug wires.  (I don't even know how the car =
ran with the old ones.  They were very, very bad.)  And I figured I'd put =
in some new plugs again while I was at it.  This time, money wasn't a =
factor, so I bought the Bosch Supers -which the guys at the VW place =
recommended as a long lasting premium plug.  They said the Platins, at =
about twice the cost, were overkill.  Well, you guessed it, I gapped and =
installed the Supers, and the car ran lousy again.  Not as bad as with the =
Autolites, but there was some definate missing going on.  Out they came, =
back went the old Platins, and ...yep, it runs fine again.
When I took the Supers out, one of them smelled like gas, the others =
didn't.  I'm assuming that means that is the bad plug that was causing the =
problems.
So my question is:  Does my car have an unnatural, or supernatural =
attachment to these aging Bosch Platins?  Or have I actually been unlucky =
enough to get a bad plug two times in a row?  Should I bother to buy new =
Bosch Platins? (the old ones ARE pretty worn)  Anyone else ever have a =
similar problem?

Thanks,=20
-Mike


Mike Eldred
Staff Reporter
Deerfield Valley News
MikeE@vermontmedia.com
P.O. Box 310
West Dover, VT 05356-0310
(802) 464-3388, ext. 16
(802) 464-7255, fax
www.dvalnews.com