Need some car help ASAP! please ;-)

[smashweights]

So i've had ZERO problems wrenching the bike, but this car is driving me nuts. It's a 1997 Jetta with about 130k miles on it. So i did the oil last week and decided to change out the spark plugs. Beforehand, i know some of this stuff might seem stupid, but whatever. Well one was pretty badly corroded on the connector to the wires (all teal blue), but i cleaned it out some with some chain clean and reused the wires. Replaced 3/4 plugs as i couldnt for the life of me get in under the metal air intake to get the 4th wire cap off.

so after about 2 days it starts stuttering really badly under and significant acceleration (beyond a crawl really). I pull the wires off and a 2nd wire cap is corroded on the contact metal along with the original one again. So i bought a new wireset, replaced all the wires and finally got that 4th spark plug, (so all new plugs and wires) and it's still sputtering! Mainly under 2000k rpms above that it seems to smooth out... i think i faintly hear some kind of sparking noise around the distributor cap/1st plug, but i'm not sure if this is new or not as i didnt listen when it was working fine. I pulled the distributor cap off and it "seems" fine to my zero-experience eyes.

Help! I dont wanna ride the bike in the storm tomorrow! Thanks in advance.

Edited June 16, 2009 by smashweights

[that dude]

its a vw what did you expect- is everything tight..maybe its time for a new cap and rotor?

is the check engine light on by any chance?

[954RRLuke]

You might want to check the firing order and make sure that you didn't mix up any wires. That's what it sounds like to me...

[smashweights]

its a vw what did you expect- is everything tight..maybe its time for a new cap and rotor?

is the check engine light on by any chance?

yes, it came on about 2 days after the plugs were changed when the sputtering happened.

and for mixing up the wires, i only pulled and replaced one wire/plug at a time so i HIGHLY doubt that. but in the off chance i did, how would i even tell without randomly mixing and matching?

and yeah, it's a VW. it's been a problem since day one, literally. the gauges went out the day i drove it off the lot...

[that dude]

take it to autozone..have them pull the codes,its free. this will tell you in the vacinity whats wrong

[that dude]

you should have changed the cap and rotor as well

[Wheezle]

Buy your self a haines manual as it is to late to ask the dealer what the firing order is.

[smashweights]

if i can get it to autozone....

[serpentracer]

crank position sensors will do that too but not always set off a trouble code..personal experience on a gmc sonoma aka, s/10.

[grober]

put 2 table spoons of salt into 16 oz of water in a spray bottle and spray distributor cap. if there is a crack in it you will see the spark cause salt conduct electricity. You may have cracked it dickin with that 4th plug. Firing order is 1-3-4-2. Distributor looks as below.

1

2 3

4

Edited June 16, 2009 by grober

[jporter12]

From what you've posted here, I'd say Distributor cap and rotor would be very likely, even if they look ok to your un-trained eyes.

[that dude]

so......

[smashweights]

sigh....

Lesson learned: NEVER assume your spark plugs are pre-gapped...

otherwise you'll spend $100 on a wireset you dont need and have to replace fouled plugs with another set of plugs at 9pm in the rain whilst mosquitos devour your legs...

Plugs should have been .028 but were about .044

autozone pulled codes saying "misfire in cylinders 2, 3, and 4" so i guess now i know what it's like to drive a 500cc car. thanks for the thoughts though guys, if it had been something else i would have appreciated one of those ideas.

And HEY! Thanks for at least assuming i was smart enough to gap the plugs! (the NGK's i got for the bike were pre-gapped)

[smashweights]

Glad you're back in business and it wasn't anything serious.

yeah me too, i would have been stuck riding the bike 20 miles in the rain tomorrow if it hadnt gotten fixed.

[max power]

BTW, if you're replacing plugs and wires, spend the extra $15 and replace the cap and rotor also. It doesnt make sense to only replace part of the spark delivery system.

[RC51 John]

[curby]

BTW, if you're replacing plugs and wires, spend the extra $15 and replace the cap and rotor also. It doesnt make sense to only replace part of the spark delivery system.

[cbrjess0815]

sigh....

Lesson learned: NEVER assume your spark plugs are pre-gapped...

otherwise you'll spend $100 on a wireset you dont need and have to replace fouled plugs with another set of plugs at 9pm in the rain whilst mosquitos devour your legs...

Plugs should have been .028 but were about .044

autozone pulled codes saying "misfire in cylinders 2, 3, and 4" so i guess now i know what it's like to drive a 500cc car. thanks for the thoughts though guys, if it had been something else i would have appreciated one of those ideas.

And HEY! Thanks for at least assuming i was smart enough to gap the plugs! (the NGK's i got for the bike were pre-gapped)

I know what you mean.. went through the same damn thing in march!

[that dude]

fail