84 4kq problem...

[Iain Mannix <mannix@privateI.com>]

Hi again!  Many of you responded to my question about a 4000q I was
planning to buy.  Have not even had the opportunity to thank everyone who
responded.  I bought it, washed it, waxed it, fixed the clunky seat(plastic
doohicky was broken in the rail), took it for a drive.  It broke.

First question - the Hall Sender plug, on the side of the distributor -
mine was broken, and had been epoxied into place by the PO.  I did not
notice the epoxy before I bought it, everything seemed in order.  After the
car died - sudden loss of power and crappy idle - I took it home, noticed
that the plug had once been epoxied, but the epoxy had broken and the plug
was sorta floating.  Is this enough to cause the aforementioned problems?

I checked the following - vacuum leaks, injector o rings(replaced two, but
have not done the other three, carb cleaner does not target them), changed
plugs, one wire was bad, replaced that(am planning on replacing the others
soon), cap and rotor, fuel filter, replaced some vacuum hose that was
really bad, made sure the boot from airflow sensor plate to throttle body
was not ripped, replaced a 3" section of hose under the boot from airplate
to TB(had been duct taped by PO, thought I'd found it), made sure the
timing belt did not skip a tooth - seemed OK, engine at TDC, cam dot lined
up with the valve cover gasket, rotor pointed roughly at #1 notch - uhhh,
what else....made sure the vacuum lines by rear differential had not fallen
off, got a new/used distributor.


None of above helped.  Still running like crap, if at all.  New/used
distributor has broken plug - when helper held the plug in place, the car
ran better.  When it idles, with either distributor, my timing light says
it has 42 degrees of advance.  Umm, huh?  It is as if it has too much
vacuum.  Any thoughts?  I guess I want to know if it is possible to have
too much vacuum, and if the hall sender plug being loose could cause a car
to exhibit these tendencies - no power, bad idle.  I'm lost.  The car was
running beautifully.  I was driving home to put some lights on it so I
could see at the night SoloII the next day at Steamboat.  I had put some
BG44k into it, maybe some crap clogged an injector or something.  No idea.
It actually looked good after I washed it.  Sigh.  I don't think it is
terminal, it has to be something stupid - I just cannot find it for the
life of me.  I've got some epoxy curing on one of my distributors right
now, we'll see if that does it.  If not, off to Slipstream it goes, they'll
fix it, and I hope that this'll get it all out of its system!


Thanks, Iain Mannix
(if anyone _knows_ the problem, has some insight I just can't wait for,
call me at 303/545-9779 - I'll gladly send you a couple of bucks if it is a
long distance call, this is really bugging me, I know it is something
dumb...sigh.  Anyhow, probably good that I wound up driving a Scirocco @
Steamboat, some of the 4wd class drivers were _fast_, I'd not have had a
chance in my quattro, but I think I did OK in the Scirocco.......)