J clarified:
> Have you ever noticed that rally tires on bad roads can be rather loud? Of
> course I listened to the engine, silly boy. :) When one pushes on the gas
> pedal and nothing happens, it generally gives me the indication that the
> engine is definately not running properly. :) I wouldn't blame the tach for
> this...when I said it still ran, I didn't mean at idle...it just behaved as
> if it did (ie. starter grind), but there was no throttle response, as if it
> was barely getting any fuel. What I may have left out, which could give you
> the impression that I am engine-deaf, is the fact that soon after this
> "sort-of-running-but no-throttle-response" phenominon happens, the engine
> dies completely. I understand this sounds really bizzarre...but it is the
> case. :P
Doesn't sound bizarre to me. That's how my car dies when I forget to flip
the fuel pump cut out switch to on before driving off. When it finally dies,
it runs on for a couple of seconds making a little noise that's called
"chuffing" when tigers make it (the noise). But it stutters for a while
before it (the car) does this. Generally, when a carburetted car dies
suddenly and without warning, it's an ignition problem. Electronic ignition
is prone to this kind of failure and the original electronic ignition on a
late B does this at every inopportune moment with increasing frequency until
the car won't run at all. The "dead" giveaway that it's ignition is that
the tach doesn't register while the car runs on. If it were a fuel problem,
the tach would still display a reading that varied with the death throes of
the engine.
To prevent the other kind of late model B "sudden death syndrome," check your
air filter and be sure to look at the inside of it because that's where the
dirt collects.
Denise Thorpe
thorpe@kegs.saic.com
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