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Only Me (Riddle me this Batman)

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JPSmit

JPSmit

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So, the ongoing saga of Ms Triss.

About a month ago I was driving to a cruise night and got stuck waiting for a VERY long train - that stopped to allow another long train to pass. Ms Triss started misfiring while she waited. The train passed and as I started moving she kept misfiring so I truned around to come home and all of a sudden it cleared up and I proceeded to the gathering.

The following week I started out to another cruise night only to have her start misfiring almost immediately. I never made the cruise night but drove all over town and around the house trying to get her running right (unsuccessfully). Basically she seemed to be running on only three cylinders.

Nursed her home and then only sporatically looked at her - partly because of the heat and partly because of company and home jobs.

My only real suspect was the plug wires as they are old and mismatched - so ordered a set (Note I hate that the local auto shop won't even talk to you without a year and model and don't understand swapping parts while stupid Amazon has what you need cheap and quick - but I digress)

Got the wires and installed them - no change, still misfiring.

Yesterday I tried again. Checked and cleaned the rotor. Changed the fuel filter (for fun) and then, managed to get her idling enough that I could experiment with pulling plug wires to see what was happening. Well, colour me embarrased two wires were switched - changed them back and Bob's your uncle.

So, you might be wondering was it a MOWOG or a house elf that changed my plug wires while I was waiting for the train?

Here is what I think happened. It was the plug wires (wire) after all. I got new wires - installed them wrong (still not sure how I did that) and the new plug arrangement exactly mimicked the old syptoms (actually slightly worse as now it was running on two cylinders not three)

At any rate, a few more grey hairs and maybe a new swear word and all is well again.

Gotta love these little goobers.

:cheers:
 
They are fun and maddening all at the same time aren't they
 
It's after the fact, but for anyone else in the future.
If the plug wires, or the distributor is suspect, take a plant mister and fill it with water, find the darkest place you can and spray water around the wires, plugs and distributor.
A blue lightening storm will tell all.
If one is still running older resistor wires, there's a very good chance they have Kevlar in the mix on the insulation, that stuff breaks down after a while, and while the wires may look OK, they're not.
 
Had a similar but unrelated incident a couple weeks ago. Took herself for a ride in "her" beetle because it was running great. Got far enough from home for it to start being a problem when we seemed to lose a little power, not something you really want in a Volkswagen. About a mile from home it died at a re light and was really reluctant to restart. Well, battery was full so I put it in first, let the clutch out and tried to turn into a parking lot on the starter. Suddenly, she started again and I limped home on what felt like three cylinders. It turned out that both the plug wires on the right side had come completely off the plugs.
 
J-P - my brain is more dysfunctional than ever.

How'd you manage to get from home to the RR crossing and never notice a misfiring engine?

Inquiring minds want to know!
 
NutmegCT said:
J-P - my brain is more dysfunctional than ever.

How'd you manage to get from home to the RR crossing and never notice a misfiring engine?

Inquiring minds want to know!
Click to expand...
it started misfiring during the RR crossing wait so I turned around to nurse it home - at which point with some spirited revving the misfore went away. (till the next time I drove)
 
Thanks J-P - I hear you there, but am puzzled that with the plug wires wrong, it didn't misfire on the way to the RR crossing!
TM
 
NutmegCT said:
Thanks J-P - I hear you there, but am puzzled that with the plug wires wrong, it didn't misfire on the way to the RR crossing!
TM
Click to expand...
I believe the RR crossing incident was the original wires - which when I replaced them with new wires - I got the new ones mixed up.
 
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