Damsel in distress, please help guys - lumpy running xx :(

Hi guys, please help a damsel in distress.

I have a GTI Cabby - 1985 which runs really lumpy and after a while is completely undriveable.

Here is a typical day:

- I start the car - give it 3 mins to warm up.
- I Pull off, it drives perfectly, even pushed - she accelarates brilliantly.
- Then, after about 10 mins of normal driving- for what seems like no reason…
- Engine stutters when it is under load and eventually the power starts to die off and is very very lumpy.
- **Engine sounds like it is running on 3 cyclinders…***
- I pull over, restart the engine, holding the ignition in for a while to ensure a good start…
- It drives and accelerates fine for about 25 seconds - then BAM, same thing again, engine starts to run lumpy, and eventual lose most power.
- I was doing a max speed of 45mph on the M62 the other day, the whole car would judder and splutter and misfire whenever I touched the pedal.

- RECENT WORK DONE - I haved spent nearly £800 in trying to find the problem.

- NEW filler neck
- New dizzie cap + spark + leads
- Gasket reskimmed and pressure checked
- New oil (same type)
- New fuel filter
- New fuel pump

- Apparently the spark plugs (??) at the top of the engine are a bit rusty (orange)

OTHER symptoms - have to top up the water levels every week, loses about a pint per two weeks…

Please help guys, I am at my wits end and I think my garage doesn't know what the problem is, they're charging me so much money and nothing fixes it…

Thanks so much for your help,

Amy xx

Sorry to hear that you are having problems.

Remote diagnosis is very difficult.

Post up where you are located and I am sure someone on here will recommend a garage that knows their way around a MK1 with k-jet fuel injection - the later is very important because its testing is quite different to modern electronic fuel injection cars.

Having worked on these cars for quite a while I would almost certainly say that you have the classic rotten fuel filler neck, which will of allowed rusty particles and water to enter the fuel system.

It shouldn't use any water, so that could be a head gasket, a leak or faulty pressure cap.

Sounds like another example of muck and water in the fuel tank via a corroded filler pipe. Get your garage to look under the rear seat/inspection flap/sender unit to see if the inside of the tank is clean or full of crud.

I forgot to mention, it has a brand new fuel filler neck.

I had the engine taken apart and the gasket was checked by engineers and being absolutely fine.

If it has a new filler neck , that means the original needed replacing which means the tank's prob full of crud unless it was cleaned out when the filler was replaced?

Where are you based???

From your description that is classic corroded filler neck. But you have had it changed which makes me think that you have crud in the tank/lines.

This is a real pain in the A to get fixed.

Did the original garage change the neck? If so why? I had mine done years ago by BRMotorsport and they had to clean out all the lines to be sure that it had been fixed. Labour intensive but the only way you can be sure it is fixed.

As for oil leak. Check you oil/water - do they look normal? If so, I would supect leak from a pipe.

Good luck!

Sounds like your cold start air valve sticking open
it is supposed to close at about 10 minutes

Lumpy running…love the term…is usually caused by a messed up mixture or your vacuum advance dancing the 2 step
both have happened to me.

stuporman
across the big pond

just for the record guys. whats the best way to clean the fuel lines out. ive not had to do this yet touch wood!
i would disconnect them them blow air down them at the MH end.
would that do?

again whats your location!

Has it just started doing this or has it been building up for some time? When its running roughly can you stop it and take a couple of the spark plugs out and see what colour they are.

rust has gone through the filter and entered your fuel injecters well thats what happned to mine. fuel spray pattern not correct or bloking up.

Did you have this problem before the fuel pump was changed..

If not then check the fuel hoses around the fuel pump (underneath back infront of rear drivers wheel ) for any slight twists or kinks

If you have any slight kinks/twists it will still allow the pressure to build up for starting but will slowly reduce until it starts to starve fuel pressure needed to run and will give the same symptons your describing

If you suspect this could be the case then undo the brackets securing the fuel pump and the accumalator and let them hang down from the car underside without undoing any hoses and try running engine again

When fitting a new pump it is alot easier to connect everything up whilst its all hanging down but you can twists the hoses without realising when you push everything back up into place i found this out the hard way and spent days trying to find out what was wrong

Good luck

take it all apart, take pics if you r afraid of not remembering where everything goes
hoses off fuel distro, distro off airbox, etc…
 
spray all nooks and crannys out with brake cleaner, including injectors, plunger, swing arm

put it all back together, with some wd40 or such and voila, good as…well, used

mikeb

If the problem is fuel related you really need to work out whether its caused by an over rich mixture or a lean mixture. If the plugs are damp and black its rich, could be the fifth injector/thermo-time switch or the control pressure regulator. If they're very pale then its lean and the faults in the posts above could be causing the trouble. You need to narrow down the possibilities before spending any more money. Another problem I heard of once that could cause this is the ignition module coming loose from the heat sink.

Sounds exactly the same thing that happened to my cabrio!

Turned out to be the rotar arm under the dizzy cap was knackered, changed it and it ran perfectly again (only a couple of quid).  That water problem could be the head gasket on its way out, try putting some radweld in the coolant tank as a temporary fix (this should also fix any small leaks that may be present).

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GOLF-MK1-1-6-GTi-JETTA-1-6i-SCIROCCO1-6i-ROTOR-ARM-NEW-/230554613215?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item35ae2035df