Recently my 1990 GTI 8v has been acting up. I know this is the 16v list but I think this is more of a general engine question. My car has been running fine lately. But every once in awhile, when I turn it on it runs like crap. It seems as if its missing, and running on 3 cylinders. When it does this there's also some black smoke that comes out of the exhaust. The car doesn't do this all the time, sometimes it'll run fine but other times it'll act funny. I figured it was something ignition related, with a cylinder that wouldn't get a spark, and so the fuel was just blowing out of the engine hence the black smoke? So I did a quick check of the cap/rotor they seem ok. I checked the wires (checked the resistance) and they all seem fine. I just pulled the plugs and checked them all, and other than being a bit dirty from wear they seem ok also.
So if anyone has any ideas on what to look at it would be great. -Denis
