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Subject:Sputter, sputter, cough cough
From:Jeremy Speer
Date:Thu, 5 Sep 2002 12:26:42 -0500

Folks,

So i got up early this fine Minnesota morning and drove the Mystery
Machine around the city lakes. She ran PERFECTLY.

Drove her to work. 13 Miles mostly interstate. Ran GREAT.

Drove her back to Minneapolis a few moments ago... all was fine until i
was coming down the exit ramp. By the time i got to the stop sign it was
sputtering and just barely idling.

I limped back to "Good Carma" the VW shop i'd gone to in the past. Duane
and i poked and prodded every connector within reach. No effect.

He could push the throttle to wide open and virtually NOTHING would
happen.

He disconnected and reconnected a bunch of things. No change. We shut
her off and let her cool down a bit. When started again the throttle
response was better, but still lagging.

He said, "you're going to have to leave it with us for a while... it's a
mystery."

Since i didn't have anything else to drive home I said i'd make an
appointment later next week... and limped home. All the poking and
prodding did seem to make some difference since she did not stall on the
way home, but it was still limping.

My gut tells me this is all something to do with the distributor. Why?
Because the symptoms are a magnified version of the bad performance i
was seeing before the timing was advanced. But i'm just talking out my
butt here.

Anyway... maybe time for rebuilt distributor.... maybe something else.

All suggestions welcomed.

Thanks,

-jspeer
'89 Westy GL, "Mystery Machine"

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