[Vwdiesel] '93 Golf help

[Brett]

Hi guys,

This isn't relating to a diesel unfortunately, but I'm having some problems
with a gas Golf I bought for the wife and am hoping someone here might have
some tips on what to check. Below is what I posted to the vw.watercooled
newsgroup If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. Thanks!

I bought a '93 Golf last weekend with the 2.0 litre ABA engine. At the place
I bought it at, it wouldn't start when I first went to check it out, though
it did run fine a couple days beforehand when it was driven onto the lot. To
fix that, they replaced the cap and rotor along with the wires, and also put
4 new Bosch platinum plugs in. Started and ran fine after that. We got it
home, and I did the front brakes since they were worn. I also took the idle
air stabilizer off and cleaned it well with brake cleaner because it was
dirty. It wouldn't start after doing that. I replaced the wires again, and
took the plugs out and gapped them to .28 since they weren't gapped
properly, and it started up. When I took the plugs out to gap and check
them, they were coated in gas.

The problem is that it will start sometimes, and the idle is a little rough
at the beginning, but then it smooths out once it warms up a bit. I took it
to a closeby Napa garage to get a state sticker. They got it started to go
into the garage and did a compression test on it. Then they couldn't get it
started back up until they replaced the plugs. The tech said the plugs were
flooded and the only way to fix it was plug replacement.

The wires and cap/rotor/plugs are all new, any idea what the issue could be?
Looks like something is killing the plugs or wires after a few start/stop
cycles, but gas is definitely entering the cylinders, so it looks like just
a spark issue. Bad ground possibly? I can't really afford to take
it to the dealer for diagnosis, and it seems like it could be something
simple that might need to be replaced. I don't know if the idle stabilizer
valve/idle air control is faulty with the rough idle at first or what. I did
get a Bentley manual on Thursday, but haven't had a chance to start testing
things. If anyone could advise me on what to check for to resolve this, it
would be most appreciated. :) Thanks!

-Brett