Volkswagen Scirocco Scala
Charlie throws in the towel and heads for a VW specialist to cure his Scirocco’s poor running
1988 VOLKSWAGEN SCIROCCO SCALA
Regular readers will be well versed in the running issues I’ve had with the Scirocco for over four months, now. But to recap quickly – despite having a fairly large service, during which the cambelt and fluids were changed, it has been down on power and fuel consumption has risen.
I’ve touched many bases in attempts to rectify this, including a rebuild of the infamous Pierburg carburettor and multiple sessions with a stroboscopic timing gun, but none of them has proved successful. By my own methods, it was at the point where it would idle properly and power was almost back to normal levels, but was returning 28mpg at best, despite conservative driving on an almost entirely motorway-based commute. It really should be capable of at least 35mpg, with some owners claiming that they get 40mpg or more on longer drives.
So, having exhausted all of my ideas, I booked it in to Peterborough VW specialist, Rustworks. Nick Goodyear’s outfit focuses primarily on VW’s air-cooled products, but will turn its hand to a water-cooled VW too.
I left the Scirocco in Nick’s hands with a fairly simple brief – ‘just fix it’ – after a quick run back to the office in his fantastically noisy drag-spec Beetle. Within hours, he informed me that some of the ignition components – particularly HT lead number one, the distributor arm and the distributor cap – were worse for wear. How did I miss something so simple? I had checked each, but that was four months and numerous timing adjustments ago – the incorrect timing had accelerated the wear. While the parts needed replacing, I’m not entirely convinced that they were the cause of the fault. They were fine when these issues began, so it seems odd that they would be the cause of such similar symptoms now. Still, it seems pointless to attempt further work without testing things out with the refreshed ignition system.
Despite my scepticism, getting back in the Scirocco soon showed that a few horses had returned to the paddock. The car felt more urgent and noticeably better in the upper limits of its rev range. The real proof will be in what sort of fuel economy I achieve over the next few weeks, however.
Should these parts not improve the solution, I’ll be thoroughly confused once again. I’ve been trying to stave off the Weber conversion to which many owners of carb-fed VWs turn, concerned for the car’s originality and fuel consumption. A properly set-up Weber will be much more efficient than a faulty Pierburg, though, I remind myself. Of course, after going through the effort of swapping over the carb I may find the Pierburg wasn’t at fault at all – a recent rebuild made not the slightest bit of difference to the car’s running.
It sounds like it’s all doom and gloom, but fuel-chugging aside, it’s still fun, practical and reliable. ’It idled properly and power was almost back to normal, but did 28mpg at best’
Once I have the fuel issue sorted, I’ve been very tempted by a headlight relay kit that offers a bolt-on way of providing better headlights. More generally, I can’t wait to simply enjoy the Scirocco without the constant pain of knowing that every drive is an exercise in throwing money out of the exhaust.