Re: SOS! Mysterious problem..

["Doyt W. Echelberger" <Doyt@poboxes.com>]

Sounds like it might be worth checking for low voltage at the starter.

 Had an 82 VW that behaved that very way since new.The key word was
"Mystery..."   Nobody could figure it out. Happened to a lot of the same
model cars. After several years, the manufacturer came out with a service
bulletin that described installing a direct heavy-guage wire between the
battery and the starter, controlled by a relay that was activated by the
ignition circuits. On top of this, my car had a weak electrical connection
between the ignition coil and the distributor. The two problems together
made the starting protocols fail about half the time. They created a
marginally functional system, at its best. 

It cost me a thousand dollars in wasted service calls, and YEARS of waiting,
to find a mechanic who had read that bulletin and could diagnose it in my
particular car.

The clincher that such a circuit was needed came from a voltage test at the
starter. Low voltage (I forget which circuit) indicated that the "relay" fix
was worth trying.

O.K...there it is, and it may not be what is wrong with YOUR car, but it
sure fixed my old 82 Jetta. And, they are very distant cousins. Maybe you
just have some poor connections between the battery and the starter, and
back again. It's a place to start!(No pun intended. This was not funny to me
in any way at all.)

Doyt
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At 04:07 PM 2/6/97 EDT, you wrote:
>hi all, 
>I got a '92 AUDI 100 CS Quattro with a very strange
>and unsolvable (??) problem. It could not start, 
>carried to the dealer, put a new battery. Worked for a day, 
>could nor start the next day!!! The dealer looked at it, 
>replaced a window relay, said nothing is wrong. That was
>in New Jersey. Recently relocated to CA, had the car shipped.
>First day, fine... the next day !!! Cannot start again!!
>Carried to dealer, they found nothing wrong, but they 
>washed it... this problem comes and goes, always
>overnight; if the car has started in the morning, there's 
>no problem during the day. However, there are problems starting
>it on some days. Any suggestions, advice welcome, most
>welcome cos 2 dealers in each coast can't solve it!! 
>
>Regards
>Polly
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