Next time it acts weird try shutting it off and starting immediately, resetting
the ECU. If it runs fine after reset then the ECU is probably going south.
Here is a good link that I have posted before, I don't know who this guy is but
he has a great Digifant site.
http://www.members.tripod.com/~fuelie/intro.htm
Rich Blake
88 GTi16v
88 Jetta 8v
-----Original Message-----
From: Denis Palmans <[email protected]>
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Date: Wednesday, July 25, 2001 3:57 PM
Subject: car stutters, and runs funny
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
