1.3 running rough, absolutley clueless! lol

bought a 5 door mk1 golf the other day, fully knowing it ran rough, its had fitted by the previous owner - new coil, condensor, plugs, points and dizzy cap, i have no clue on these engines, as i have come from a mini back ground, i removed the air filter and housing to generally have a nose around and see whats what, im totally stumped! really would like to get the engine right before starting on anything else! can anyone help me?

when its running it sounds like it could be running on 3 cylinders, and a whiff of petrol can be smelt at the exhaust. when pulling the ht leads while running, it still runs the same when 2 leads are off, all the ht leads are in the correct position from the start, and it doesnt want to rev at all, it will idle very irratic, and any throttle will have little to no effect (this was all tried before removing the air filter and housing if that makes any difference)

any ideas? would a video of it running help?

cheers

lewis

A video won't help, but a compression check will. By any chance, are the 2 cylinders which don't alter the running when their leads are pulled, adjacent?

Had a similar problem with my 1.1 not too long ago, I would say take the inlet manifold off and check the gasket between that and the engine block. Mine had disintegrated around one cylinder, because of that was drawing in too much air in the cylinder and wasnt burning the fuel at all.

ill try that mate, cheers!

took the carb and inlet off today, gave it a good clean up, checked the gaskets etc and all are ok, resealed with instant gasket, put carb and inlet back on the engine, connected everything up, turned the key and still nothing, checked for a spark, VERY weak, might just take it to the local garage and get them to sort it as im stumped once its running right, i can cack on with the rest

Sorry to hear that dude hope you can get it sorted!