Fuel or ignition??? anyone had this problem???

Going down the motorway i was cruising at about 70/80mph as was a bit damp/light rain, i pulled out to overtake nd it was like i was running out of fuel. She was jerking, then if i put my foot flat on throttle she would just totally die, but if i litterally showed the pedal my shoe she would hold the speed, but was slowing down. When i turned her off to have a look (pulled off the motorway) could see nothing wrong. Then she started and was back to full life, no splutter etc :?  then like 200yards later it started to splutter till total loss of power. Oh i forgot to mention the engine would idle no problem, but touch the throttle and she died. I got home by having to keep turning her off and back on (lots of backfire).

Ive since changed the fuel filter and found bits in it and water (but it looked like it hadnt been changed since it rolled out the factory as it has the old type filter and fuel pipes) I also drained the tank and found no water. Ive changed the spark plugs and leads. It runs better, in that i mean she drives but is lacking power big time, but when she gets hot she smooths out a bit, and if i switch her off and back on i either get full power back for about 5mins, or no change.

WHAT COULD BE BROKEN??????? Id appreciate any advise

Chris C   cfcapes@hotmail.com

There was a number of posts about this problem either early in this forum or late in the old campaign register forum.

I would suspect fuel delivery and is likely your fuel pump is not delivering the pressure or volume of fuel.  This can be caused by other problems with the tank breather being blocked broken or the accumulator having failed.

Hiya im having the same problem with my clipper its a 1992 mk1, ive changed the inline fuel filter and fuel pump thought id solved the problem as it didnt happen for a couple of weeks then all of a sudden i leave the car for a week then guess wot it happened again i think my next step is to drain the tank! have u resolved the problem yet? would much appreciate feedback as like you am hittin my head against a brick wall tryin to find out the source of it cheers chris.

what does the filler neck look like, if rusty bits of rust and water will probably have got into the fuel system which means drain tank clean out and replace filter & filler neck, blow out all fuel lines with an air line and you may even have to replace the fuel pump & accumulator, maybe metering head & more if it got past filter!

check the inlet pipe on the fuel pump as well, see if its full of rust & crud.

Hi there - I had almost exactly same symptoms… Cause was rust from filler neck - entered tank. All the bits get carried to the fuel uptake pipe - and block fuel flow. I had the garage take tank out and clean out rubbish. When put back in - goes like a train - perfect.

Garage advised to replace tank… I've not bothered, but I noticed over the weekend that symptons just coming back (stuttering with application of throttle - but ok with v light throttle. So - I'm going to find a tank and get garage to fit. Should then solve problem.

Clearly - your cause could be many, many thinks… but I put a post up on the forum and I got 6 replies all pointing to rust in tank. Perhaps you may be lucky - change tank - and you'll be good to go. Hope this helps.

Hi there - I had almost exactly same symptoms… Cause was rust from filler neck - entered tank. All the bits get carried to the fuel uptake pipe - and block fuel flow. I had the garage take tank out and clean out rubbish. When put back in - goes like a train - perfect.

Garage advised to replace tank… I've not bothered, but I noticed over the weekend that symptons just coming back (stuttering with application of throttle - but ok with v light throttle. So - I'm going to find a tank and get garage to fit. Should then solve problem.

Clearly - your cause could be many, many thinks… but I put a post up on the forum and I got 6 replies all pointing to rust in tank. Perhaps you may be lucky - change tank - and you'll be good to go. Hope this helps.