OT: Jetta incident.

[greg.rocco at gmail.com (Greg Pallett)]

The car:  1991 Jetta 8v, 200k miles, stock motor.  Had new
cap/rotor/wires/plugs/airfilter back in the spring.

Driving in to work today, it gave a huge.. buck? Like a misfire, but it was
very noticable, not just a little misfire.  Then later on the drive it
repeatedly would buck, and I feared for the car - that it would stay running
and get me the last 2 miles to work!  It stalled at idle at a stoplight, but
started right up.
Before leaving work I gave it a quick visual inspection.  It was 1/2 a quart
low on oil, but all the important looking wires and things seemed to be in
place.
It was hard to start, requiring t a little more cranking than usual.  It
stalled once at a light on the way home, and required a lot of cranking to
restart.  Then it ran like a top the rest of the way home.
It has 2/3 a tank of gas.  I should mention that I didn't change the fuel
filter in the spring.  Since it's condition is unknown, I should go ahead
and change that.  Another symptom was that when 'bucking' the tach would
fluctuate wildly.  Could be normal, if it was a misfire, or is it a sign of
a problem with the coil?
So,  Suguestions on what to look for?

Thanks gang!

GP

-- 
"Fatal mistakes rarely happen, but funny things often do"