[T3] gas mileage, voltage, etc.

[Daniel Nohejl]

>> So should I just check the spark plugs for "fouling" before moving on
>> to investigating "hard" FI components for issues? 
> 
> Yes.
> 
> Another thing to check would be to look for stray wire strands that didn't get 
> caught in the crimp, either in the brain connectors or out at the engine end.


I pulled all the spark plugs and found an interesting pattern. 1 and 4 were “fouled” and 2 and 3 were pretty white, despite the fact that on Friday #3 looked like 1 and 4 in these pics.

1 and 4

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1659498.jpg

2 and 3

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1659499.jpg

I replaced all of them since I didn’t have enough of the same heat range to just replace 1 and 4. The ones in the pics are B5HS and I replaced them with B6HS. I also recalled (correctly I hope) that the trigger points fire 1/4 and 2/3 as pairs and that the condition of my plugs followed that. The connector from the harness to the trigger points has seemed fairly loose. I discovered last week during diagnostics that it could be wiggled off the trigger points with little effort. I removed the connectors from the plug and tightened them up ever so slightly and got a good snug fit when plugging it back in. 

I went for a drive around the neighborhood and nothing was awry…..no missing and no weird idling. However, it took a bit of driving for things to go wrong yesterday so there’s still every chance that the problem will return. Should I have issues again, does it seem that today’s discovery means I should replace the trigger points? Or is what I found more of a coincidence?