Hi all,
So after a couple of weeks of not driving my 16v, I took her out for a nice cruise with a bunch on NYC area guys. Everything ran great until the end of the night when I stopped for gas. The ignition would not do anything. Not even an intention of cranking. It has happened to me before and I think its just the ignition switch which has finally crapped out. (although I replaced a year ago).
So I am stuck in the gas station at 4am with no real room or help to jump start it. So I decide to short the starter with a screw driver. It works, and the 16v starts right up. So I figure I'm good enough to get home. I drive about 15 blocks and the radio turns off and the lights dim. Then when I hit a red light the car dies.
After that, no amount of key turning would start the car. I was afraid that I blew something with the screw driver trick so I didn't want to try that again. But after an hour of 'jiggling the cable' I decide to try the screwdriver again but this time it first spins without cranking and then would try to crank and sound like its locking up. The battery also seemed to be weak at that point. So I decided to lock up the car and take a cab home.
I am on my way to go get her now and try to start her up so I can get her back home.
Anybody have a theory as to what happened? Seems like it may have been a combination of bad ignition switch and something wrong with the alternator. I am thinking that after I started it up at the gas station the alternator was not doing its thing and when the Optima finally drained, everything died. But I am not sure if I caused the alternator to fail with my stupid screwdriver trick.
ok, off to get my baby, she must be scared and lonely out there. Larry 91 GTI 16V 99.5 A4 1.8T _____________ List Sponsor: http://www.netsville.com To remove yourself from this list, send mail to [email protected] with 'unsubscribe a2_16v' in the body of your message See us on the web at http://www.a2-16v.com Visit the 16V Homepage at http://www.gti16v.org
