cegammel wrote:I am measuring the battery posts with the engine running. I cleaned the contacts, but my wiring is definitely suspect.
I personally would assume that the car is not being driven enough to keep the battery fully charged. This is a classic issue for old Volkswagens and it is part of why people have learned that VWs "like to be driven". If you trickle charge the battery overnight and get a winning start in the morning, disconnect the battery if you are going to let the car sit for a week. Let us know if the next start is a winner.
We have determined from the above good start-with-charger that your car needs some sprucing up as far as electrical efficiency during starting. Yes, optimize all hot side wiring from battery to starter to fuse box to ignition switch to coil, the whole daisy chain . . . but also optimize grounds from negative post of battery to floorpan to transaxle strap to case to distributor ground strap.
Is your battery actually fresh? Is starter a nice quick-rotater? Can you give us:
a) turn on ignition/headlamps for one minute - read voltage at battery just after you shut them off
b) coil voltage during cranking
c) battery voltage at 2,500 rpm
?
Colin
(p.s. sooty plugs are bad cold starters, try to get this engine to run lean enough to keep plugs clean, and drive it long enough to thoroughly heat up the engine)
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