I'm not crazy about Freds Garage, not at all... but
I've read of good things of Karmechanix in Berkeley...
Volks Cafe is good, but they have limited mechanic
space..., Ben T was saying he heard positive of Bus
Lab in Berkeley....

Now I wish I could get a referal for a good mechanic
in San Diego County.. in Orange County there is both
Europro and Max Performance and they're good...

What if you change the plugs.. maybe one is fouled...

Date:    Sun, 7 Sep 2003 10:45:41 -0700
From:    Craig Oda <craigoda@COMMUNITYBUILDERS.INFO>
Subject: failed SMOG, cylinder misfiring?

Hi,
I have a '83 1.9L watercooled that recently failed the
hydrocarbon test
for CA SMOG. CO levels passed.
I just installed a new O2 sensor, but no change.

Engine runs fine at highway speed, but there is a
noticeable pulsing of
the exhaust at idle, almost as if one of the cylinders
was not fully
combusting.

Valves appear to be properly adjusted and cylinder
compression appears
to be within spec (lowest was I think around 120).  I
can check again
since I have the tool.

Any ideas on what to look for?

If I can't fix this, in the next few days, I'm going
to bring it into a
mechanic.  I'm thinking about Fred's Garage in Redwood
City, CA.  Any
recommendations?  I live/work in Palo Alto, CA, so
there is Ole's Garage
near my office, but I don't know if he is a VW man or
not.

I would love to take it to Ben's place in Sacramento,
but it's a bit too
far for me to drive there with my wife and drop off
the van.

But, hey, there is also the slim chance that i'll find
the problem
myself (with the help of the friendly people on this
list).

Peace and Thanks.
-- Craig

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