1457 cold weather starting tips?

I've just gone out in my GL for the first time in properly cold weather and there is something i'd like to know.

Starts first turn, sits at 2000 slowly increasing to 3000 where it sits unless I touch the throttle where it drops down to 1k-1.5k.

I brought the revs up to 2000 again to get slightly warmer quicker and that its bad apparently for an engine to idle (oil pressures).

Now if I then let go of the throttle, it drops back down and then stalls or goes down to 300/400 and then stalls. (This is with all electrical things on and off) also the light brightness dips at <1000 which Is probably normal.

I had to hold it at 1.5k-2k to stop it stalling for the first 5 mins or so.

Any ideas on how Im supposed to attempt cold weather starting?

Also the paper tube from the heat exchanger? to the carb has been crumpled slightly with a size-able hole but still air can get through, should I replace it?



Thanks for any replies.

CR.

Original carb or Weber replacement? Manual or auto choke? It sounds like your fuelling is out, or the carb is icing.

Original carb and its a automatic choke.

The engines done about 58k but its been in a garage for last 10 years pretty much with brief usage in 2001.

Once its been running for 10 mins or so its fine!! I can even (just) start off without touching the throttle. Its just when its cold.

Cheers

Sounds like a dodgy auto choke. I have a 1600 carb, but it has a Weber with a manual choke….. In theory, the auto choke is adjustable or fixable if its not working at all. But I'd seriously consider a manual choke conversion, or a Weber conversion.

ive got a GL 1457 with the pierburg auto choke on it,

to be honest, they are not the best at cold starting, mine idles at about 1200 before the choke kicks in and it goes up to 2000 rpm

3000 rpm does sound too high, what is the idle like on it?

As for the carb, if you want to keep it original i would use some carb cleaner on it, might icing like Paul said

Or the other thing to do is just sit there for a couple of minutes with the accelerator on at about 2000rpm

Not much help, but its what i do and the choke kicks in when the car moves

try the link below alot of stuff regarding the pierburg, including pictures of al parts and some diagnostics to try for poor cold running

http://www.vwgolfmk1.org.uk/modules.php?name=Forums&amp;file=viewtopic&amp;t=16405&amp;highlight=waxstat

Idle is about 800/900 when its warm.

I've got a Haynes manual off ebay.

When it arrives I'll do the steps on cleaning the choke/oiling it/doing whatever the manual says.

Also, how can the carb be iceing? Even tho its COLD out there it can't be *that* cold? Unless the low pressure in the carb causes condensation?

Cheers CR

 

Concorde_Rules said

Also, how can the carb be iceing? Even tho its COLD out there it can't be *that* cold? Unless the low pressure in the carb causes condensation?

A carb can 'ice' at an ambient temperature of 20?C, because carb icing is caused by the venturi effect in the carb which reduces the pressure, and this correspondingly reduces the temperature of the air.

correct starting procedure for an auto choke is:-
ignition key in turn to first click (with lights on dash) push accelerator firmly to the floor and release. in extreme cold do this twice. start engine you may need a small amount of thottle. allow engine to rev to around 4 thou it will hold it on the choke. if its really cold allow to run for 2 mins then blip the throttle to reduce the choke.

at least i think thats right. i will write it down word for word when i get home.

paul_c said

Concorde_Rules said

Also, how can the carb be iceing? Even tho its COLD out there it can't be *that* cold? Unless the low pressure in the carb causes condensation?

A carb can 'ice' at an ambient temperature of 20?C, because carb icing is caused by the venturi effect in the carb which reduces the pressure, and this correspondingly reduces the temperature of the air.

Ah i thought it would be along those lines.

So that paper tube that links the heater and the carp is important and I should at-least duck tape it up until I can replace it?

And I'll be going out in my car later so ill try it. Thanks.

carb icing normally happens when driving though as the cooling effect causes the droplets of fuel to fall out of the air/fuel mixture that is flowing into the engine.

This causes the fuel to puddle at the bottom of the inlet manifold. Most inlet manifolds have an electric pre-heater, make sure yours is working correctly.

Other manufacturers, in particular ford, ran a water channel through the inlet manifold, which helped the carb running in colder weather.
My old XR2 Turbo Technics used to ice up when on boost as the 'wind chill' factor from the intercooler was ridiculous. Covered the intercooler up and the icing almost stopped entirely.

PAUL

My 1457 was hard to start last winter despite lumenition and new leads/cap/plugs etc….
I treated it to a weber 36tlp this year with a manual choke and it's barely improved now the cold has returned. Local garage fiddled with it and improved it slightly but it's still a matter of luck if it goes or not.
Have checked all the ignition components (apart from ballast/coil voltage)
 
It also runs a bit weird on part choke, keeps stalling at junctions, either 2000rpm or stopped.

When properly warmed up it's fine reardless of outside temp.

I think old VW's just don't like the cold  

Well I received my Haynes manual but im finding it hard to find the engine code or the type of carb I have.

The number on the top is 055 129 620 which isn't in the manual :/ or the engine code FH/FP etc…

And started it this morning for fun.

Pressed accelerator down to max twice, took foot off accelerator and vroom shes off to 2k slowly increasing to 3k. I then touched the accelerator and it dropped to 1.5k then to idle…

Anyway I'd like to find out what code my thing relates too so I can find it in the manual. Cheers.

Carb should be a 1B3 on yours bud, same as mine and my friends mk1, have you got pics of carb?
It sounds like the auto choke needs replacing, or you can have the carb converted to a manual choke, there are places that do the conversion, but getting a replacement weber will sort the car out, especially a big difference in perfomance and no more chugging and high revs for lon periods of time in cold mornings, mk1 & mk2 carbs are well known for this, i have always replaced them with a weber asap.
I took a short video this morning of my mk1 running with a weber,  freezing this morning, i wouldn't get this smooth running if i still had the solex/pierburg on.
Pete :wink:

1B3 eh? Any ideas on what the code should be to let me find it in the haynes manual?

How difficult is it to change the carb? Few bolts or is a good days work with special tools? How much?

Cheers CR

Look at page 3.18 in your haynes, you will see the exploded diagram of your carb bud.
It's definitely a 1b3 even thou all i can see is the air filter box lol
If your 1st time, it can be very confusing to fit the weber, it confused me a little and i've fitted loads but it were 1st time fitting 1.5 version, but easy, if you want i will take pics of mine in clear for you and show you what goes where etc.
Depending where your based, bring her down and i'll do it for you bud free.
The place got mine were from a guy who's shop is fast roadcars or visit his site to get his number fastroadcars.co.uk, he'll have that carb in stock for you fella, i bought 2 one for me and my friend, came on 2nd day, fitted and running in 2 hours.
Looked at your mk1, an excellent example
Pete :wink:

Heh thanks.

Having a quick look at that site it seems quite alot?

It seems its something ill do in the future but not quite now (haven't passed + photography stuff to buy ;P).

How much is a kit for my engine? Ill think about one.

Went out and started it again, worked its way up to 3200ish and sat there until I hit the throttle and it didn't stall, yay. lol

Cheers

Kit? How do you mean
Pete :wink:

Well how much would it be for everything I need to change the carb to a weber?  

Everything comes with the weber, i paid ?225 each, well worth it in the long run bud
Also get yourself one of these, replaces the standard air filter and fits into the original air filter box http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VW-GOLF-SCIROCCO-1-6-1-8-WEBER-ALPHA-FILTER-ELEMENT-NEW_W0QQitemZ130151781254QQihZ003QQcategoryZ9889QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem
Pete :wink: