| Author | Message | ||
     Mike Gensler (Vwzorm58) New Member Username: Vwzorm58 Post Number: 19 Registered: 08-2003 |
Some of you may have read my post about being stranded in Dillon, CO this past weekend in my 95 D1. Well, it's fixed and I drove it home. Turned out to be the cap and rotor. Here's what I found: The carbon brush in the cap (the little black thing that rides against the center of the rotor) was gone. As in there was no sign of it. And so the underlying spring was riding against the rotor and had completely eaten away the copper so the spark I was seeing was WEAK beyond belief. No wonder the poor bastard wouldn't start up at 12,000 feet altitude! So I put a new cap and rotor on and it fired right up! On the drive home (120 miles) I noticed several times that the engine cut out for a second or two, but always came right back on. When I got home I pulled off the cap to have a look and guess what I found?! I found the brush had gotten turned sideways and must have been pinched between the cap and the rotor. It destroyed the brush and the rotor was damaged so I had to buy a new one (again). What I think happened is that when I put the cap on I must have cocked it over a little sideways while struggling to get the rear clip on (in the middle of a blizzard no less). I guess I'm lucky it got me home. I have 90K miles on my 95 D1 and was still on the original cap and rotor. So don't let yourself be stranded for $80 worth of parts. Have a look at the brush in your cap and the top of the rotor. If you've got 60K or more miles on the cap and rotor you should probably just replace them or at very least buy new ones and carry them as spares. Mike g. |
