Hello everyone! Everything was jim-danny until a couple weeks ago. My golf ran prefect for ever but one afternoon i went to go start it and it just wouldnt fire!!! not for the life of it!! Well, needless to say new spark plugs, spark plug wires, and starter later still nothing. You can smell it getting gas and it tested that the distributor was getting eletricity but anything after the coil wasnt. So i replaced the coil and 10 minutes later, it died again and i am stuck in the same situation. I never bolted the coil to the firewall, does it need to be grounded to the firewall? Maybe just the other coil sucked? i also replaced a sensor in the distributor and that still did nothing too. So what does everyone think? Please let me know if you have any information at all, please help me out. Thanks so much you guys!!!

 

ahh w/e. jim dandy, jim danny? its the last of my problems

 

Not sure of you VW, but some around that model had a
set of points inside the distributor that only caused a
pulse for the computer system. the points would get dirty
or close up and it wouldn't fire up. Remove the dist cap
look inside and see if it has a set of points, if so use a
piece of sand paper and clean the point tips and reset
the gap .018

 

i see, i see, so the points you describe are where the rotor hits on the distributor cap? how would you go about gapping the points? thank you SO much for responding!

 

Remove the distributor cap, remove the rotor button,
remove a plastic cover, (round plate about the size of
the bottom of a soda can ) see the points under the
plastic plate, put the car out of gear, iginition switch
off, rotate the engine by hand, pull on the fan belt and
the little cam in the distributor will turn as the engine
turns, align one of the 4 little lobes to the rubbing block
on the points then check how wide the points open, they
may have to be cleaned if burned, you will see adjusting
screws, only loosen the one holding the points , then
you can move the points open or closed, the gap is
.018 or about the thickness of a hacksaw blade. The
rotor button just lifts off , it may not be easy, just
slightly wiggle it and pull up, be gentle it can break.
after adjusting the points reinstall all the goodies in
reverse as you removed them, start the engine.

 

so, i know i probably sound dumb, but where are the rubbing blocks that you are supposed to line up the lobes to? Are the lobes the points? OR are there an even amount of points on the rubbing block that will line up with the 4 lobes? hahah clearly you know ALOT about VWs and, it makes me jelous! lol, Thanks again for responding!

 

Hey dude, i'm aVW certified Tech.
I take it your not sure what a set of points look like.
They look like a small set of tweezers with a spring load
that closes them when the cam lobe is moved away from
the rubbing block, When you find the points, look at the
4 lobes on the distributor cam and as they move ( TURN
IN SIDE THE DISTRIBUTOR) you will see a little plastic or
bakealite block that touches the lobes, this little block
is mounted on one side of the points, The block is about
1/4 inch by 1/4 inch square and there is only one block
and only one set of contact points. Points is a part, not
several dots in a row.

 

smokin dog, dont hate me lol i am just not THAT advanced at the whole VW repairing thing. I tried replacing the coil today, i made sure i grounded it and...nothing...i checked to see if i was getting spark with a plug tool that i borrowed from my friend and i still wasnt getting spark from my distributor to the plugs....nothing as well. so i am not getting spark at all i guess. do you still think it could need to be timed? i was told i wasnt getting spark to my coil either, i wouldnt doubt it. so is there a fuse or a relay that would be faulty? is there a sensor that i may need to replaced that controls the spark at all? do i need a distributor?...am i going crazy? Please let me know what you think. smokin dog, it seems like you run this place, so pleaseee help me. thanks

 

after theroly examing it....i notice one square cut out on the side of the soda can thing. on this distributor it looks like the square opening cut out on the side of that metal round thing is suppose to line up with that black block sensor thing. correct? but i only see one square cut out thing (point?) that i could line up with the black block. and i am unsure on how to gap it. please let me know. thanks

 

ohh i checked to see if i was getting spark through the coil myself, and i was.