Jeremy,

We are planning on coming to Germany next summer. Would love to come to Stuttgart:D

Oh yeah!!

Nice!

What an amazing story. Not just of the build but of your wonderful family, your life and many blessings. It's a weird thing to feel like you know someone because you just read 7 years of their life in a day or so. From a single grad student to a married professor to a father of twin boys to a baby girl. You have been very blessed and it's amazing to read.
It is all very motivational to us in getting moving on our projects.
So many people have gained so much from your journey and I want you to know how much I enjoyed it. Especially watching your hair grow. Long then short then long.
What happened to your job in Florida? Did your 3 year contract expire? What are you doing in Co?

Sorry so many ??'s but I feel so immersed in your story that I feel that I need some closure haha.
Always subscribed
Tony
Montgomery Tx

Hi all! It has been a while since I checked in but the Rat has been running perfectly for so long that I have not needed any advice. That changed this morning after dropping my daughter off at pre-school.

Pulling up at a stop light the engine died. I could not get it to start (although I could hear the fuel pump) and ended up towing it home with my Jeep.

Here is where I need your help:

Craziest thing is once I got the Rat towed home it started right back up once I pushed it into the garage. My initial thought is that I have an electrical issue (coil? condenser?) that worked again after cooling down. Anybody have something similar happen before?
Any advice on what I should start looking at?

Thanks in advance

Over heated starter/solenoid maybe...

I was having this issue. There were three causes, at different times in my case.

A bad connection in one of those electrical connectors that goes from the ignition switch through to the frunk. I could reach under and hit the plug and it would spring back to life. Major clue was most all the electrical would go down when this occurred.

A bad, ie intermittent, CDI unit. Once when my car died a friend of mine goes " here's your problem" and hits my CDI unit with a screwdriver handle. Instant whine and starts right up.

A bad fuse to the CDI. When checking fuses pull them out and look at then ends not just the center wire, AHIK.

Don't you hate intermittent electrical problems.

The starter was firing no problem and it sounded like it was engaging and I was getting compression.

Hi Trackrash! Thanks for the help. I am not running a CDI. Just points, coil, and condensor, which has worked fine since 2008

Very highly probable one of the 3 items trackrash Gordon items... start there...

Vapor lock in fuel system...?
When you last get gas and where is car parked ie does it see all darkness and as sun rises the sun is beaming on the fill side or frunk all morning and or all day...?

I doubt it is vapor lock. The car is parked in my garage and has no uneven heating. Also, the temperature in Denver this morning was in the high 30s.

I did notice that there were a couple of strange stutters when I drove the car yesterday but it didn't completly die like it did today.

Hi Tony,

So glad to hear that you liked the tale of the Rat. I have indeed been truly blessed on many fronts and try my best to appreciate that every day. Since it has been a while since an update here is where things are with my life.

My job in Florida was amazing! I had the best boss a man could ask for and he treated and fostered me like I was his own son. I worked there for almost 7 years and made associate professor in the midst of having small twins. Getting promoted was the project in the year and a half after finishing the Rat.

In the spring of 2016 I landed a Full Teaching Professor position at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden CO and we moved in December 2016. Being a native Coloradoan it was a miracle that we got to come home. The students at School of Mines are unmatched in their work ethic, intelligence, and tenacity and it is a pleasure to teach such motivated students.

My parents live in Denver and they help a ton with the kids. The boys started kindergarten full day (for free thanks to Jared Polis - our new governor!) and Leni is in preschool three times a week It has truly been a revelation to be back out west. We get to play a ton in the mountains (I have climbed 18 14,000ft peaks since returning - the kids have climbed 2 :)) and we have a cute little ski hill (Echo Mt) 35 minutes from our house. Anna has also started teaching an ethics and writing class at CSM this semester so all of the pieces have fallen into place.

My project this year was to build a tree house for the kids in a 50 year old silver maple tree. The day we looked at the house back in 2016, Anna and I were both salivating at the thought of a tree house with attached zip line for the kids. I ended up putting the finishing touches on it two days ago before our first big snowstorm of the year. And in case anyone is wondering it does indeed have Bavarian trim and the total number of windows including the two skylights is 14 ;-) Here are a few pictures

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1571930285.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1571930312.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1571930330.jpg

And me dressed up as a pirate on the boys birthday for a treasure hunt

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1571930373.jpg

congrats on getting a job at the Colorado School of Mimes! - a friend of mine is there in the physics dept.

better driving w/o the humid heat too

Another project I took on last year was bringing a 2004 Audi A4 Avant back to life. It had a cracked head and needed a new clutch. The kids helped me a bunch and the boys actually installed the water pump, belt tensioner, thermostat and various parts on top of the engine. Thanks to Daves911L for getting me into cars and giving me the skills and confidence to tackle something like this. Also, why does Audi think you need 14 bolts to hold the engine and tranny together. I could have dropped and reinstalled the motor and tranny in the Rat 4 or 5 times in the time it took me to do the clutch on the Audi. If anyone ever spends 3 hours bleeding a new slave cylinder on an A4 and can't get a stiff pedal and is at a loss for what to do simply lower the front end of the car, raise the back end of the car, and pump the pedal 4 or 5 times and you are done. Apparently the way the lines are routed traps a big air bubble that even a pump bleeder cannot get out if the front end of the car is higher than the rear end.

This car has turned out to be an amazing ski car and is a ton of fun to drive as it is the 1.8T engine. Anna has named it Heidi and it has become her daily.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1572022179.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1572022444.jpg

I had a bit of time this weekend to try to figure out the issue with the Rat.

Of course it started immediately so I have a feeling this is going to be fun:rolleyes: I went in and cleaned up the two fuses that go to the coil and the fuel pump. They had a bit of corrosion but nothing serious.

I drove the car around for half an hour and it ran perfectly.

My next step is to have the coil tested.

This mysteriou cutout seems really strange as I lost spark when I got stranded last week braking hard up to a light. I had the engine stumble a few days before that happened under hard cornering. It almost makes me think there is a loose connection somewhere.

Could also be the fuel pump acting up?

check ALL of your body ground points for the straps & wire harnesses...

and if there is ANY green corrosion or such at these points, ie if such on the copper mesh ground straps, replace them... on the eyelet wire harness end ground wires, clean them & the body where these make contact...

My mystery "engine died" problem was a bad connection at the fuse box. I moved the fuel pump to the front cross member and wired the pump on the ignition circuit too loosely as it happened.

I would check the fuel pump considering the history of fuel pump failures I went through with the pump located in the engine compartment. Fuel pumps like to operate with gravity feed from the fuel tank rather than sucking it up all the way up to the back of the car.

Hope it helps,

JP

Thanks for the advice. I have checked all sorts of connections and the car is running fine. I have had two fuel pumps on this car in the last 8 years so I might try the fuel pump relocation. I still need to have the coil checked.