[T3] Mysterious squareback condition

[Jim Adney]

On 26 Jan 2011 at 13:50, J. Jonik wrote:

> Can someone explain why grounding the distributor at the condenser screw
> fixes this problem?    Is some other ground not working? 

Adding that wire would only fix the problem if the distributor body was somehow 
no longer getting grounded to the engine case. Given the way it's mounted, 
that's extremely unlikely. It's more likely that something else, perhaps 
inadvertently at the same time, fixed the problem.

It's easy to bump a wire or change the timing, or maybe just loosening and 
retightening the dist clamp did the trick.

It's certainly true that the dist body must be grounded for the ignition to 
work. I've never seen or heard of that being a problem.

He could test this fix by carefully disconnecting the case end of his wire and 
seeing if the engine still runs.

-- 
Jim Adney
jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, WI USA