1981 VW ignition

[Marlboro Mafia]

I bought a '81 Rabbit Convertible for the engine(IT) or maybe to fix and drive.

The car has a low-mileage, original engine, but it has apparently had chronic ignition problems. Lots of paperwork with the car shows that twice the fuse box was replaced and four times the ignition switch assembly was replaced.
I have been told that there is a problem with a certain relay in the cowl area of the car. It appears that the shade tree mechanics where I bought the car have tried to jump the relay.

The car turns over but doesn't seem to fire.

Is this a problem typical of this model? Any thoughts or suggestions?
I apologize for the possible non-IT subject matter.

[racer_tim]

Don't bother with the motor. That car came with the 1.7 motor. Same bore as the 1.6 but a longer stroke.

Check the hall plate inside of the distributor. I broke one of very small 24 gauge wires while I was driving it, and the car just died on the spot.

I now carry a spare one in the tool box now.



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Tim Linerud
San Francisco Region SCCA
#95 LP GP Wabbit
http://linerud.myvnc.com/racing/index.html

[Marlboro Mafia]

Any thoughts on the apparent long history of ignition problems with the car? Why woudl they have replaced fuse blocks? Water maybe?

Also, any good sites for performance upgrades?

Thanks for your help.

[Vantage #51]

Cabrio=waterleak I bet there is something amiss in the fuse box area under the drivers lower corner of the dash,by the sounds of the previous r/o's on this,I'd start there.

[Marlboro Mafia]

Can I clean, etc. the fuse box or will I have to find a new one?

I assume water=corrosion and not shorting of the components.

[Bill Miller]

As Tim said, don't waste your time w/ the motor as a race engine. It's a 1.7, and you'd have to put it in an ITB car.

As far as the ignition problem. A1 VWs are notorious for water leaks that will soak the fuse box. These cars are mostly 20 - 25 years old, and I don't know of one that doesn't have some water issues in the fuse box. There are a couple of areas that cause this.

1) the drains in the rain tray (one on either side) get clogged up and the water just sits in the rain tray. The sealent around the air inlet starts to crack and the puddled water leaks in.

2) the windshield seal leaks, and the water gets in behind the windshield and runs down behind the dash.

3) the antenna seal leaks, and the water travels down the antenna cable, through the firewall, and onto the fuse box.

The big problem w/ the water is that it gets into the relays attached to the fuse block. They plug in from the underside, and some are not sealed (just metal or plastic covers) and the water will seep into the relay and puddle there. I've actually poured water out of relays that I've taken out of cars. If you pull the cover off, you'll see some serious corrosion in there. I saw one that was so bad, the contact arm had actually rusted off.

For some reason, it seems that the main relays affected by this problem are the fuel pump and the wipers. I've also had blinker relays and headlight relays go, but the wiper and fuel pump relays are on the R/H side (at least in '83-'84 GTIs), which seems to be where the water ends up.

You will see corrosion on the fuse terminals as well, and will get some shorting across the fuses. I've seen fuses that just disintigrate in your hand when you try to remove them.

Hope this helps.

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MARRS #25 ITB Rabbit GTI
SCCA 279608

[dave parker]

Bill
Have you been looking at my rabbit convertible again?
Everything you described has happened in my 83 street car.
dave parker
wdcr itb#97

[Bill Miller]

Dave,

You have enough A1 VWs for long enough, you'll see all that stuff!

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MARRS #25 ITB Rabbit GTI
SCCA 279608

[Marlboro Mafia]

Originally posted by dave parker:
Bill
Have you been looking at my rabbit convertible again?
Everything you described has happened in my 83 street car.
dave parker
wdcr itb#97

Any tips? I thought about relocating the fuse box.

I did get the car to crank though. Two problems, no fire to the coil fromt he ignition module(wet fuse box I guess). So I jumped that. Then the ignition swith was bad. Unplugged it, jumped what needed to be jumped and it crank right up. Runs rough, but I believe it will work itself out with some attention.

The ignition switch would would make the car turn over, but not crank. When you switched it off, it would hit a place in the turn that tried to crank. That's how I figured to jump the ignition switch.