<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478042130158_11021" dir="ltr">'71 Sqbk FI Std.</div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478042130158_11066"><br></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478042130158_11065">30 mile trip in rain, wipers and lights on. Turned car off to unload things at home. After 2 minutes, car wouldn't start...like no battery...only noise the FI relay thing. But headlights were fine.</div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478042130158_11125"> Pushed car into slight down-hill parking spot. Snugged up all relevant wires, moved and re-tightened pos and neg on battery (and neg to ground), and gravity test had battery being ok. Still dead. Luck had it that a neighbor, very soon, said he had a battery charger....or "booster"...the kind, about size of a toaster, that you just need to clamp to the battery to jump it. Miracle device...never used one before. (His thing also could do air for tires.)<br></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478042130158_11214"><br></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478042130158_11236">Car started right up. Started again (without help) a few hours later. Started again the next day and all six days since then. Auto Store ran battery test today. Battery good. But, when will that oddity happen again? A once-in-lifetime fluke?<br></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478042130158_11238"><br></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478042130158_11265">So....what happened? Can a fault in wiper motor, with (or without) lights on, do some dirty trick? Is there a way to test if wiper or lights are messed up somehow?</div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478042130158_11487"><br></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478042130158_11509">A clue to something? Just before that 30 mile return trip, for a brief moment, the wipers got Very Slow, almost stuck...then returned to normal. But car started ok after that.</div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478042130158_11546"><br></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478042130158_11575">Where's a "complete idiot" manual for 45 year old VWs?<br></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478042130158_11205"> <br></div></div></body></html>