1987 Caddy 1.6, Pierburg carb woes

Hi, new guy from Norway here! I have a 1987 Caddy 1.6 with the Pierburg carb, which recently has been giving me a lot of problems. I know there are many threads on these carbs, and I've also read the comprehensive "how to" here. I haven't found anyone with the exact same problem as me, and I really don't know where to start looking. I was hoping to avoid a total carb rebuild so I'm basically looking for pointers to what the problem might be. So, here goes:

I bought the car last year, it had then been parked for a long time and it didn't run very well, so I barely made it home. At home I cleaned the tank and changed the fuel and air filter and some other stuff to pass the MOT. The tank was full of rust, so I expected it to run better after being cleaned. It did, but after a while I noticed that the engine wouldn't idle when it got warm. It would die when going into a roundabout or intersection, mostly when I quickly let go of the pedal. I suspected some kind of vacuum leak, but it wasn't a very big problem so I let it be.

A couple of weeks ago the engine started to hesitate under load, sputter and just run poorly. Typical fuel pump issues I thought, so I ordered a new one. The same day the pump arrived the car completely died when I was driving, and would NOT start again. I replaced the pump, but to my disappointment it didn't help at all.  DOH!

I checked the pump and the fuel lines, it works and pumps fuel to the carb. I noticed that the fuel filter was full of rust again and that the vacuum line going to the green reservoir had sheared. After replacing both and cranking the engine for a while, it actually started, but only for a second. If I pushed the pedal to the floor, the car would start again after a while, but sputter and cough and not idle at all. It died promptly with less than 2-3000 RPM.

Today I removed the carb and checked all the vacuum lines, not being able to find any leaks. I removed the intake and replaced the coolant O-ring which actually looked pretty bad, hoping this would help. Upon refitting I noticed that one of the electrical wires had come loose (big circle).



I reattached it as best I could, but it seemed to be held in place with silicone behind some copper and I don't know if I fitted it correctly. Well, after reassembly the problem was still there. The car starts after a lot of cranking and with full throttle, but only for a second. I can keep it going 15-30 seconds on a high RPM, but not on full throttle or idle, I have to balance around 2-4000 RPM. I don't know what the wire is for, maybe it has something to do with the problems?

Obviously this is really frustrating and I'm grateful for any and all tips and hints. Sorry for the long post, just trying to be thorough 

the circled wire is for the throttle heater, it wont cause starting issues but it might cause it to conk out when warm due to carb icing. have a look at the flange under the carb, these like to split and cause an air leak.

look at the throttle lever 3, and the 3/4 point unit 2. check 3/4 point unit plunger as per my faq thread, and look at the throttle lever to see if the 3/4 is actually doing anything with it.

also check the operation of the pull down unit, all covered in the faq thread

basically though, you want to check EVERYTHING in my faq thread top to bottom. once everythign checks out then you can look at making adjustments to the carb. if you check my sig there are 2 2e2 documents in there, but its down at the moment google are messign about with it right now.

once its back up these cover the more complex things such as adjustment and resetting of the linkages inside the carb.

I found one of the manuals here:
http://ebookbrowse.com/pierburg-2e2-service-manual-pdf-d295239564

Thanks for the reply! I was afraid of this, but I guess there is no other option than to go over everything…

Anyways, out of curiosity I tried to start the car today. It started immediately, but ran for only one second. I also tried to bypass the reservoir, but of course this didn't help.

So I guess I have some work to do this weekend…  

maybe pull the feed pipe off the pump and pijt in a bucket, then crank it over to ensure you see good strong spurts of fuel

i assume you have done the fuel filter, if so and its bad then that would suggest the fuel pump. doing the above helped our old 1.3 carb as it would conk out sometimes, crank it till fuel came out the refit and off we would go. i dont know exactly what the problem was as I was around 10 at the time

Yes, I have tried that. I even replaced the fuel pump without any change… But at least now I have two working fuel pumps!

It's so strange, because it ran ok (except for the carb icing) until it suddenly didn't. So I don't think anything is poorly adjusted or anything, something must have broke suddenly, or got blocked.

Could it be something else, like the distributor? Or wouldn't that have these symptoms? Could the rust in the petrol mess up something badly?

Anyways, I'll go through the checklist this weekend!

yeah certainly it could be an ignition fault, hall sender, coil and tci worth looking at. mk2 golf use compatible tci and its easy to swap in a spare so worth a go. coil could be mk1 or mk2 type depending on age of cab, check inside the hole on the sparky lead connection. if there is pin its later mk2 type, if not its mk1 and early mk2.

worth a look at the wiring between hall sender and dizzy, peel the rubber boot back so you can check the ends. take the plug off and look at the pins too, make sure they arnt loose or bent out of shape.

Thanks for all the help so far. I'll check these things as well this weekend and let you know how it goes!

Hi, sorry to bother you again…

I've done most of the things on the checklist, but since I'm working alone and the engine won't run long enough there are a few things I'm not able to check.  I've checked all the vacuum lines and couldn't find any leaks or cracks, and there is voltage.

I opened up the carb and removed some crud and rust from the bowl, I also cleaned all the needles with air. This helped a little bit, it now starts a little bit easier, but still dies quickly. I made a video to capture the sound of what's happening. Maybe this could shed some light? If not I'll try to get a mate to help me to keep it running… Thanks again!