(tech) the jealousy begins

[jason at scirocco.org (Jason)]

At 05:42 PM 6/11/2003, Cathy Boyko wrote:
>Well, we all know what happens when one ignores certain Sciroccos/buys "new"
>ones.
>Anyway, went out to drive the headache (miserable bitchy 16V, no Drew, you
>can't have it), and it started, then sputtered, then idled well for a few more
>seconds, and completely died (I thought the key had been turned off, it was
>very sudden). Anyway, the kid had borrowed the battery again, and the cables
>were loose, snugged them down, still no fire. Ground wire from the  coil to
>intake was a bit loose, so it got snugged up, and still nothing. The battery
>has a good charge (12.78V), it's cranking fast enough to do the job. Good gas
>smell from the exhaust. Further inspection revealed no spark from either the
>plug wires, or the one on the centre of the distributor from the coil. I went
>to look at the Bentley at this point, and recalled <ahem> that someone
>borrowed it at Cincy, and will be using the grey MkII one till I get it back.
>So what's the next most likely candidate? The Hall sender is less than a year
>old, but it wouldn't cause the no spark on the centre wire anyway, right?

Yeah, it would.  The hall sender actually tells the coil when to fire...


>So is the coil a likely candidate? (do they die suddenly or gradually?)It's
>original to the car. And if so, will the one from the poor 80 work? (that car
>starts and runs...)

It's possible, but I've not heard of one dying that quickly...


>The other complicatng factor is it has a Clifford ignition disable, but I
>don't think it would crank at all if it was the problem, somebody familiar
>with auto security can confirm/deny this.

It will crank, yeah... I'm thinking this should be the first place to 
look.  Just arm and disarm it and see what happens.
Next step would be to test to see if the Hall sender is sending a signal.
Then check the ignition computer -- they're known to just die like that.


>Anyway, I await your input, I really don't have time to dick with it anyway,
>but if it's an easy thing, I'll go try it right now.

Jealousy is a bitch.
Good luck Cathy, may the Schwarz be with you!
Jay