Car runs from cold for 30 seconds then dies from then on..

Hi all,  Thought I'd start a thread in case my troubles help anyone..

  My 1.6 Mk1 auto convertible has had the odd problem in the past where it would suddenly begin to stall and you'd have to pull over and rev it a little until it sorted itself out.

  Recently it did it more terminally, with no recovery - driving home like that is a right laugh! Having to pull up slowly at junctions on the handbrake so you can rev the engine in neutral and then give it a well timed blast as you put it into drive to pull off.. can't have the done the auto box much good.

  So, the current situation is that when I first start the car, it runs ok for 30 seconds or so and during those seconds, the idle slowly increases to nearly 2k and then back down to 1500 and shortly after just peaters out (it has always idled up to 2k on cold start but then would drop back to something nearer normal). From that point on, you need to open the throttle a fair bit to keep it running and even then, keeping the throttle at a certain point doesn't keep constant revs, sometimes begins to die and then responds with a lag when you catch it mid fail and revs up high.

  I intitial assumed it was dirty fuel, blocking lines temporarilly and then clearing themselves. Later, the symptoms seemed to corrolate with the blocked o-ring thing.

  Current repair state and noticed problems:

• • • • Have changed the coolant channel o-ring! I passed my innitiation I think..
      • Replaced all vacuum hoses on the carb itself.
      • Replaced HT from coil to dizzy.

   
   Whilst changing the o-ring I found the following things:

• • • • Completely corroded HT lead from dizzy cap to coil (replaced). I moved it and it fell off..!
      • A crack in the top of the outlet manifold, looks like corrosion. Have assumed that won't effect my problem… might account for the excessively noisy engine note on last MOT.
      • No lead to the part throttle channel heating element - has corroded and never been connected whilst I've known it.
      • Almost fully corroded lead from alternator to battery - perhaps battery is not providing enough juice?
      • The heater in the inlet manifold rattled, like a loose bit of metal in there. between the back plate and the element. can't open that up. Measures 0.9ohms between it and negative battery terminal so presume it works at least a bit.

    
    So, which way do I turn now? Could it be electrical or problem with fuel delivery or carb problems? Which should I check out first?

    My next steps are:

• • • • change the rest of the HT leads in case they are corroded too.
      • visually check the dizzy.
      • try bypassing the vapour seperator as I have read elsewhere on here.
      • check the fuel tank for gunk and corrosion.

  Are there other things I should try or check first?

check over everythign as per my 2e2 guide, start at the top and check everything! also check the airbox:
http://www.clubgti.com/showthread.php?144497

Do I need to ensure fuel delivery and spark are good first?

P.S.

Thanks for the link but their security question for registering is rediculous and I can't register… And your link requires me to register.

"What year was Club GTI formed?"

 Well how the hell am I supposed to bloody know?! I'm not even a member yet!

It doesn't say anywhere on the forum that I can see and even the contact form to ask the Administrator requires the same question answered! Seems like either they don't want new members or are a bit stupid..

a little research helps

http://www.clubgti.com/content.php?8-sponsorship

and yeah you want to ensure the ignition system is all good first, i getmy bits here:
AVS Car Parts - [The VW - Audi - Seat - Skoda Parts Specialist]

Aha… so "Club GTI" is a real club? Never heard of it..

They're not asking when Club GTI website/forum was founded then?

You might expect it say say somewhere on the Club GTI forum FAQ which is where I looked (to see when the Club GTI forum was founded).

Even the Home page doesn't tell you and the home page has the same title "Club GTI" as the link in the box to the left that first hints at it, so you'd expect that link to lead you to the very same page and so you wouldn't bother to click on it.

A good old 'What is 2 + two?' should be enough to stop bot registration.

Shall I stop moaning now?

rubjonny said

and yeah you want to ensure the ignition system is all good first, i getmy bits here:
AVS Car Parts - [The VW - Audi - Seat - Skoda Parts Specialist]

I guess my coil is in a different place to normal (attached to the bulkhead) as all the sets include a short lead from the dizzy cap that doesn't reach - I have replaced that one though for £3 from my local friendly motorfactors.

After delivery, seems Halfords is a similar price, £30 for a set of leads (which I bought last night).

the ones in that link will fit as long as your coil is where it should be, beru too so oem quality

rubjonny said

 beru too so oem quality

I'm not too hot on my Latin

Well, I got it running!

I spent some time cleaning the corrosion out of the end of the coil from the corroded lead and cleaned up the old ones a little.

Mainly though, as per other cars, I was running it without the airbox on but thanks to the thread you pointed me to I realise now that, especially at this time of year,  it helps everything run by providing warm air. When I first started sorting out this problem, the vacuum hose to the airbox wasn't connected so either the garage it was last at didn't reconnect it or it has never been connected..

With it on, it ran more smoothly and was more responsive to the throttle but still died. So I tweaked the throttle cable position to raise the idle speed and it is now running of its own accord. There was a few good squirts of carb cleaner in there somewhere too.

From memory, it feels like it's running more smoothly and is more responsive after having changed the o-ring and the vacuum pipes. There's still a bit of burbling which I put down to it needing the valve clearances and timing sorting out and a tank clean (it has stalled before after running low on fuel). Those are the next tasks, presuming it passes it's MOT.

Many thanks for your help and the links. They're all stuffed full of helpful info.

badabing!

Badabing!

I often read people asking about how to change their idle speed  but could they acheive what they want by adjusting the throttle cable?

I must admit, I couldn't get it to change much myself so didn't think the adjustment was there until I took it to the extreme short position and then worked it back until I was happy.

that isnt the right way to do it, theres a 13mm nut on the back of the 3/4 point unit you can adjust but usually that doesnt need to be touched, what you sometimes have to do is bend the metal lever near the 3/4 point unit with the grub screw thru it to adjust the idle.

the best thign to do is check the entire carb over fully, as usually if it wont idle something is out of adjustment or broken.  see my sig for the haynes 2e2 manual, it has more advanced checking and adjustment procedures which can help you reset all the complex linkages in the carby