Took the cabrio out for a spin the other night after fitting the new fuel pressure accumulator. Driving along with the roof down just starting to feel really pleased with my newly purchased car, when suddenly I start losing power and eventually grind to a very noisey halt with the temperature guage rising fast and smoke billowing out from the front arches :'(. When I lifted the bonnet I could see the smoke was coming from the exhaust manifold which was glowing red hot.
My neighbour towed me home and investigation soon found the problem. The distributor clamp was loose and the distributor had been slowly moving and retarding the ignition timing. A mate turned the distributor while I cranked the engine and we managed to get it running again and today she's in being set up on a tuning rig and having a new cam belt and tensioner fitted, along with a coolant and brake fluid change.
Thankfully the tough old VW engine seems to have stood up to this nasty bit of punishment. It could have been so much worse and I'll be checking that clamp regularly from now on.
