Wont start !

Ive not long bought a 92 Mk 1 cab, rivage,
It has a 2.0 16v engine fitted from a Mk3 gti,

Car has been sat in storage for years, and apparantly ran ok before going into storage.

Currently wont start, will fire into life if you hold foot to floor when turning over but often dies or you have to keep it a 4/5k revs for a little while, then if your lucky it might idle, once at idle wont rev up at all and hunts, if you even touch throttle it dies,

Checked the usuals, dizzy cap had 2 contacts missing in there so replaced the cap and arm, gettting a spark out of the coil lead, fitting new leads and plugs today as a matter of course anyway,

All levels ok on engine, i can smell fuel after cranking and i can hear fuel pump working when i turn on ignition, thats why i looked at the ignition side of things, maybe it could be duff fuel as its been sat for a while, shall i drain this out ?

Previous owner seems to think its somthing to do with a relay, but not sure about this,

Any ideas as we would like to get it running before we start the other jobs,

Thanks for any help !

fuel starvation. clean you fuel lines and filters. clean out the fuel pump then the tank.

Get it on VAGCOM

Whats Vagcom ?

fitted plugs and leads today, charged up battery, drained fuel, put new fuel in, still no go, turns over might splutter but thats about it,

Was going to check timing but there is no mark on the top pulley to align with the cam cover,

Where is fuel filter ? cant see one in engine bay, il have to look under car,
Will it have one ?

VAG-COM is a program that you plug into your ECU to retrieve errors codes.

Are these available to buy ? or they very expensive ?

Ive worked with the Vag dealer equipment before, is it like that ?

Hunty said

Are these available to buy ? or they very expensive ?

Ive worked with the Vag dealer equipment before, is it like that ?

Most garages have it and if I'm being honest, because it's an engine conversion you might not have all the sensors that a MK3 would have so I doubt you'd get an exact reading anyways.

It's just a program on a laptop with a crap load of leads for all different cars.

36thCrazyFist said

 because it's an engine conversion you might not have all the sensors that a MK3 would have

That's probably part of the problem……

No fuel filter???? Or have you found it yet?? Mk3s have the fuel filter at the back of the car, Mk1s have it at the front. So if you do the engine conversion and don't add it in, it won't have one.

Probably doesnt have one then, drained the fuel out today by putting 12v to fuel pump and so pumping fuel through the pipe to the engine bay, this flew through no problems at all, and was a very strong flow in the engine bay, so i would say that the fuel is getting pumped through ok, so i dont think the pipes or inline filter if it had one were blocked in anyway,

I suppose i could try turning the car over and see what flow i get in the engine bay, maybe the pump doesnt run when i turn the car over ? although i can smell fuel when trying to start for a little while.

Ive been told the car ran ok before storage, so maybe i can eliminate the possibility of not having the correct fuel pump fitted,

The fuel pump relay works (clicks) as does the ignition relay, the car turns over, just doesnt fire,

When we first got the car you could just about get it to start if you held your foot to the floor and revd the balls out of it, it would then idle but would not rev up at all,

Cant get the car anywhere to have a machine put on it, as it doesnt run, not mot,tax etc, also as its a conversion it prob wouldnt tell me too much anyway.

Anyone have a link to wiring diagrams ? and an epc ?

Where would the temp sensor be for cold start on a Mk3 16v gti engine ?

if it starts with foot flat down its more than likely not electrical unless the advance is holding it up. pull the plugs and see what colour they are for a start. try turning it over with the plug on the head to see if it fires. if yes then you have a spark next up is to check timing to rule that out.

then check for fuel at injectors. whip one out and turn the car over with it in a pot.

my money's still on fuel so check all the lines after the pump aswell.

plugs were black when i removed them today, and worn,
Fitted new ones, 3 prong NGK ones, the right plugs for the car i am told,

I should have a spark as i did after the coil, i guess the distributer could be playing up, il check for a spark at the plugs next,

Is timing adjusted by rotating the distributer on these ? i notice it doesnt have a crank or cam sensor.

I still have doubts whether the cam belt is timed properly, i normally always check this, the top pulley doesnt have an alignment mark on it though.

Il check the lines but it pumped through easily enough today, need to replace the rubber petrol hose in engine bay as it has perished a little, this is the return though, the delivery pipe looks ok, will replace both to be sure.

Thanks for all help so far, its giving me more faith in the car, really fallen for it ! saw a couple of golf mk 1 cabbies out in the sun today ! cant wait !
Classic !

Is the engine K-jet? check fuel pressure if is it……
If so I am having the same problem, mine is a standard 1.8 8v Gti dunno what to do the car looks amazing but runs like cr P sun is out GRRR

ChrisRivage said

Is the engine K-jet? check fuel pressure if is it……
If so I am having the same problem, mine is a standard 1.8 8v Gti dunno what to do the car looks amazing but runs like cr P sun is out GRRR

Mk3's don't run the K-JET, it's all electronic I believe.

My car has had an engine conversion, its got a Mk 3 2.0 16v gti engine in it,

Not had chance to get to see car this week, sunday will prob be the earliest, got to tow it on friday night, as its at my bro's house, he's moving so got to move car, only round corner tho,

Hopefully check the next list of things,

Distributer
Cam timing - not sure how as no mark on top pulley
Injectors

Hunty said

My car has had an engine conversion, its got a Mk 3 2.0 16v gti engine in it,

Yeah but there's many variations of how you can set up the fuelling, since its a non-standard thing then there's no one set way of using parts and connecting everything together. So you'd need to look at the car and identify which components it does have, including which kind of fuel injection.

Surely it would just use the same as what the engine came out of, a Mk3 golf gti 16v,

The fuel rail looks like it lives on that engine, so im guessing its as a Mk3 golf ? Not sure what fuel pump it uses,

Ive heard you can run it on various different set up's but why would you do that ? would it not complicate things ?

Hunty said

Surely it would just use the same as what the engine came out of, a Mk3 golf gti 16v,

The fuel rail looks like it lives on that engine, so im guessing its as a Mk3 golf ? Not sure what fuel pump it uses,

Ive heard you can run it on various different set up's but why would you do that ? would it not complicate things ?

No you'd not run various different setups on the same car, you could have 3 different 16Vs and there be 3 variations of how its done.

No you'd not necessarily use exactly the same as the engine came out of - after all, you're ditching the car, losing the lambda sensor in the process (or does your manifold have a boss for one welded in???) etc etc

Fuel rail - any pics - if you fit another part to the engine, it will look like its supposed to be there, right?

I guess, well the fuel rail is black in colour and plastic,

My car doesnt run a lambda sensor,

Hunty said

I guess, well the fuel rail is black in colour and plastic,

My car doesnt run a lambda sensor,

It could be related to this then - what engine management does it have, and have you plugged it into VAG-COM and read off the fault codes yet?

No not yet as cant get the car to a dealer or garage,

The car did used to run ok, so its not a case of a bad or incorrect conversion, the car was a friend of a friend so is known to run ok, and the problem seems to have developed after being stored for the past 3 years.