mk1 1988 Clipper 1.8 Carb Running Issue

I have just recently noticed that when i do my normal journey to work in the morning, the temperature gauge does not seem to go above the starting mark very much, it does a little when sitting in town for a little but once its out on the open road it drops right down, when i took the car into the garage it was running too hot and they topped the coolant up. Also the car get jump as if something is blocked at the very end of my journey and the revs gradually drop until i have to stop the car, upon stopping the car if i wait till a few mins it starts fine and runs fine again ? any ideas ?

Forgot to mention the heaters are putting out fairly warm air as well

The exact same thing happened to my 89 clipper. I found that i had a leak from my water flange facing you under the bonnet. It has 3 electrical connectors attached. The o ring sealing the t piece onto the block was leaking so mine was leaking water slowly. The leaking water was running onto the electrical block under the t piece which happens to be the temp sender to the dash.

Shortly after this my car started cutting out the same as you described and i still havnt found the problem. What are your symptoms when cutting out?

It does not actually cut out, the engine keeps running when i pull over but its as if something is restricting the revs

Has been fine for the last 2 days driving  

The temperature has only been like this since the garage "topped" up the coolant

My 89 Clipper started to get the same running issues yesterday. Starts normally, drives ok for about 5-10 mins then just as it starts to warm up i get problems. Whenever I pull up at a junction or traffic lights the revs just drop off and the engine dies.

Is this the same symptoms?

Car is going into garge tommorrow so i will keep you posted.

yea same here tim, think i may have the same problem, im gonna look into my carb saturday, will let you know what i find

Is there a specialist you know of? I am in Bournemouth and just take it to my local garage

no ive just been taking mine to my local garage, i dont know of any specialists. Some of these guys on here will def know tho. Do you do any work yourself?

Simple stuff only, this problem is a bit over my head

Took my golf to the garage today. Although the garage could not be certain that they had fixed he car, the guy did say that he thought it was running very cold. When driven down the dual carriage way the temp gauge would almost drop off the scale. Usually about this time that i get running issues.

Anyone else have this experience?

Coud a faulty thermostat cause the running problems?

This is exactly the same as my clipper 1.8 1988, how did he fix the problem ? does your car start dropping revs and seem like its chocked ?

Taking mine to the garage to get them to give it a quick look over

It used to run hot till the garage topped up the coolant ?

I changed the thermostat at the weekend (cost ?4.50) car now runs at a half decent temperature (in the middle of the scale after about 10mins driving) this seems to have resolved some of the running issues, but we have'nt had a really cold morning to test it out yet.

Mine was fine this morning (got stuck in town so it got chance to warm up)

Is the Thermostat easy to replace ?

Pretty easy, it sits inside the water pump, just drain down the radiator and unbold where the lower radiator tube goes into the water pump. The thermostat pops straight out. Shold take about half an hour.

new thermostat fixed it

Thanks for all the help peeps

thats weird!! has anyone got any idea why a thermostat inside the water pump would make an engine cut out??? on the 1.8 clipper carb especially!!!???

i may have a reson why, due to the cold weather and your clipper running cold the carb could be freezing up, iknow it sounds crazy but i know this because mine was doing it and i noticed surface ice on the outside of the carb and when i removed the air cleaner i found ice over the atomiser for the idler and main jet

hi everyone had simlar problems with my clipper 1800 nwas also carb related i changed inlet washer and gasket also stuck a weber on and made my own warm air return to prevent carb icing which is so easy all fine now and is lovely now

just noticed now that when i a driving in town the temp gauge goes just a tiny bit after the centre mark, is this ok ? it does not go any further

yeah thats ok as only a little half way nemore ideas ?mine still cuts out randomly but alot beta now fixed the air leaks