10 hours of MkI seat time...storytime....long...

[roccit_53 at scirocco.cs.uoguelph.ca (C Boyko)]

>
> But go to the all night drugstore and get that extinguisher. Do it.
> Do it now...
>
> Cathy
>
> You might think I am crazy, or even full of it, but I had this same
> exact thing happen to me when I drove my Mk1 from Oklahoma City to
> Purcell, some 45 miles south.  I had just bought it, and it was the
> car that had all the good mechanical bits that would be donated to
> the car that Mark (Mk1 Mark) ended up buying.  Second, and last time
> I drove that car.  Upon arriving in Purcell, I noticed a tiny bit of
> smoke coming up from the hood.  I popped it, thinking it was a rats
> nets I had stirred or something similar, and it turned out to be the
> connections at the master cylinder!  The previous owner had made some
> sort of geometric design of the wires there, and it appeared that he
> had done it wrong.  The wiring gave up the ghost and I did my best to
> pull the wiring away from the cylinder and kill the short...  It was
> toast, and my hands were a bit crunchy as well, but I saved the
> car... I am convinced that the wiring on these cars REALLY needs to be
> replaced after prolly 20 years or so...  I am knocking on wood now,
> as my GTI is 23-years-old...  :(
>
> Glad you stopped it in time!
>
> David
>
Well, odder still, there was a nice early Mk1 (a 75, it had the dent in the
firewall for it's previous life as a carbed car) up here at the June
Jitterbug from Ohio, and he had toasted his on the way up here. I would
have scrounged one for him from my parts car, but it looks like I'll be
needing it myself, so good thing I didn't. Provided it isn't still
available from the dealer, I'd rather have sensors new if they're still
being sold. My plug looks okay, it may have survived, though I may harvest
that from the parts car too. I'm gonna end up rewiring this car, I can feel
it coming already. :(

Cathy