It. Is. Alive!

Victim:
1998 Volkswagen Jetta Mk III
2.0L 8v ABA Engine - Stock 115HP

Because the Jetta had come in an unknown state and 150k on the odometer, some mechanical refreshing was in order. My first order of business when I got the car was taking care of the brakes. When simply changing the brake pads did not help, I entrusted it to a garage for speed and peace of mind.

The new subject of inquiry was the ignition system. Nothing had likely been changed for over fifty thousand miles, and it was quite probably on the same spark plugs from 1998. I picked up spark plugs, plug wires, a distributor cap and rotor. An adventure was about to ensue.

The VW 2.0 engine has a rather unusual trait: its intake and manifold snake out the front of the engine, over the top, and around the left side of the engine bay. In the process, it makes getting to the spark plugs and wires an interesting and somewhat difficult affair. Also, the distributor cap has little spacing between it and the engine block. It seems like a really cramped design for a relatively roomy engine bay.

I had to acquire two new tools just to get going: a spark plug puller and a wobble ratchet-shaft. The first thing I found was that the valleys that the spark plugs were stuffed into did not give enough room for the spark plug tool to fit around the wire boot. After shaving down the rubber grips, I was able to pull out the plug wire and get at the first spark plug. (Yay! 1.5 hours down!) The replacement spark plug went in fairly easily.

According to the Chilton's manual, I should not need to remove the intake manifold to get at the middle plugs. Don't buy that line for a second. At the very least, it has to be loosened to allow for maneuvering room. However, some creative maneuvering got the other three plugs replaced and the wires removed from the rat's nest that is in under the intake manifold. (Yay! 2.5 hours down!)

My one bit of excellent forethought was in keeping the plug wires attached to the distributor cap. I popped off the clips and pulled off the old cap. I replaced the rotor, no sweat. I thought to myself, "I'm pretty much home free!", but I was about to learn that I was mistaken. I was flat out WRONG!

I put the new distributor cap on, sans clips, and it jiggled around a bit. After fumbling with it to make sure it was aligned properly, I was ready to clip it back on. I pulled on the clip, but it was about 2 mm from cresting the ridge on the cap. I pushed on it. I pulled out pliers. I pulled out more tools. I tried bending the clips. After about an hour, I gave up for the night.

Sunday, I came back with renewed vigor. More pushing. More prying. I tried bending the clips again. No luck. I tried the old cap, but its ridge was in the same position. No luck. More Pushing. More prying. No luck. After a couple hours of wrestling with it, I gave in for the night. After all, the Super Bowl was coming on.

Monday evening, after posting pictures of my problem, I got a little piece of advice. Use a flathead screwdriver or two, and hook it under the clip, and put the tip on the ridge. Use the leverage to guide the clips onto the ledge. After 15 minutes, the distributor cap was in place! Hoorah! I spent some time getting the new plug wires in and got everything buttoned down.

After a prayer, I turned the key. And it fired right up. AMEN!