Gasoline odor

On 5/10/2013 5:40 AM, Bill Leary wrote:
> Oh, well. If I wanted something economical I wouldn't be driving a 26
> year old car.

But it is fun to drive, right?

Check each spark plug and see if any are gas fouled, or if any
particular cylinder is running rich.

--
I'm never going to grow up.

"PeterD" wrote in message ...
> On 5/10/2013 5:40 AM, Bill Leary wrote:
>> Oh, well. If I wanted something economical I wouldn't be driving a 26
>> year old car.
>
> But it is fun to drive, right?

It is such a joy to drive.

I drove a guy I work with to pick up his car last summer. During the drive
he said "You're making pretty good money right now. Why don't you buy your
dream car?" and I said "You're sitting in it."

My other car is a 2000 Plymouth Neon. 2.2L 16V. I inherited it from my
father. It's quick and handles very well. Maybe even better than the
Scirocco. Though the Scirocco need some suspension work so I don't know how
it would come out once that's done. I drive the Neon when I won't drive the
Scirocco. Usually weather, or I'm packing a lot into it, or that I suspect
I'll have a hard time finding a parking space with a low risk of gathering
dents.

Every time I get back into the Scirocco after driving the Neon for a few
weeks, it's like I've been born again to the joy of driving. I’m always
strongly reminded of the term "Fahrvergnügen." Heck, sometimes it doesn't
even take "weeks." I had to drive the Neon last night to haul lighting
equipment. I'll drive the Scirocco later today to go shopping and I know
how it's going to feel. I've driven a lot of cars that handled better, and
all of them were faster, but there's something about the whole package of
the Scirocco that's just "it" for me.

> Check each spark plug and see if any are gas fouled, or if any particular
> cylinder is running rich.

Ah, yes. I hadn't thought of that. That would tell me which injector is
sticking. Assuming it's a cylinder injector rather than the cold start one.
And, of course, assuming it's a sticking injector and not a sensor or
computer problem. Still, it's quick, cheap, thing to check. Thanks.

- Bill

In article >,
says...
>
> Every time I get back into the Scirocco after driving the Neon for a few
> weeks, it's like I've been born again to the joy of driving. I?m always
> strongly reminded of the term "Fahrvergnügen."
>

Gods yes, I know what you are saying with that word THERE. I've been
driving Volvos for the last 12-14 years. Now, don't get me wrong, the
760 was like sitting in your living room armchair - a new dimension of
comfort. The 850 was a real pocket rocket. The V70XC and the XC 70
seemed a lot more lumbering but the latter actually could corner faster
than the 850, despite the soft steerig and the squishy feel of the
drive.

Well - last year the XC 70 started giving sooo much trouble (expensive
doesn't come close) that I started looking for a new marque. Screw those
Ford-munted Volvos.

I had never thought I'd end up with Vee-dubs again.

Come the Passat Alltrack 2.0 tdi test drive, and I was sold. Yeah, it's
a station wagon. It's a diesel. Do you know it when you drive it? No.
My wife has repeatedly commented on this car being a "real driver's car"
and I can only agree: I feel so much more connected to the road, and get
better feedback throughthe power steering than the Volvo -- and the
thing goes like on rails. You can really pile on the Gs going around the
NZ windy country roads ... ***Fahrvergnügen*** indeed. It's surprising
what VW have pulled out of a hat, here. It's pure joy to drive; I was
getting quite jaded about driving long distances before, but I've
suddenly regained my enthusiasm for taking my wheels out on the road!

-P.

"Peter Huebner" wrote in message
t...
> In article >,
> says...
>>
>> Every time I get back into the Scirocco after driving the Neon for a few
>> weeks, it's like I've been born again to the joy of driving. I?m always
>> strongly reminded of the term "Fahrvergnügen."
>
>
> Gods yes, I know what you are saying with that word THERE. I've
> been driving Volvos for the last 12-14 years. Now, don't get me
> ((..omitted..))
> I had never thought I'd end up with Vee-dubs again.
>
> Come the Passat Alltrack 2.0 tdi test drive, and I was sold. Yeah,
> it's a station wagon. It's a diesel. Do you know it when you drive
> it? No. My wife has repeatedly commented on this car being a
> "real driver's car" and I can only agree: I feel so much more
> connected to the road, and get better feedback throughthe power
> steering than the Volvo -- and the thing goes like on rails. You can
> really pile on the Gs going around the NZ windy country roads ...
> ***Fahrvergnügen*** indeed. It's surprising what VW have pulled
> out of a hat, here. It's pure joy to drive; I was getting quite jaded
> about driving long distances before, but I've suddenly regained my
> enthusiasm for taking my wheels out on the road!

I have a friend who drove an Audi TT for years. Got in an accident with it
and tweaked the frame/body/whatever and it never felt the same again. He
got a Passat (something). Sports version anyway. And, despite going from
what one would think of as a serious sports car to a four-door with a
handling package, he made similar comments. He says the TT handled better
and was faster, but the overall gestalt of the VW is more satisfying.

I'm going to a wedding next weekend. Long drive. Well over an hour. I'd
figured on driving alone, so it'd be the Scirocco. And was looking forward
to the drive itself. My son and his fiancé asked to ride with me. Which
means that, since the Scirocco has effectively no back seat, I'm taking the
Neon instead. It will be nice to spend some time with them both, but I'm
not really looking forward to the drive itself any more.

- Bill

Update on the gas odor and poor gas mileage with my '87 Scirocco 16V.

I think I mentioned that the car started doing this after not being driven,
or even run, for a few months during the winter. When I started using it
regularly again after the winter hibernation I soon noticed that gas mileage
had dropped from it's normal 26 MPG to around 18 MPG. Shortly after that my
son was following me somewhere and smelled unburned fuel in the exhaust.

Well, a week or two back we had a cold snap here but, since it was just
cold, not snow or rain, I kept driving it. The second morning of the cold
snap it was pretty hard to start. It seemed flooded. So I did the "clear
the engine" routine and it started, with a huge smell of unburned fuel. A
couple of days after that I noticed it didn't seem to be using gas as fast
as I'd gotten used to. Filled it, reset the trip odometer and drove it
until I'd used a bit over a quarter tank of gas. When the trouble started I
was getting 40 to 50 miles on about a quarter of a tank. This time it was
nearly 80. And when I did the numbers after filling it again, it came to
almost 28 MPG.

That doesn't really mean it's better than it used to be before the problem.
As long as I've had the car I've gotten between 24 and 28 MPG, depending on
how I drive it, how long I warm it up, and all that. So, I usually just say
it gets 26 MPG and leave it at that. So, this 28 MPG just means it's back
to normal.

So, I don't know what the problem was, but it seems that something about the
cold snap cleared it.

Weird, huh?

- Bill