My car farts!

Hey all!  I've had my '85(C) GTi for a few days now.   The thing I've noticed (even before changing backbox) is that when the car is engine braking or come off the gas while in gear, the exhaust pops a lot and sounds like it needs the toilet.  I have an aftermarket backbox which is quite loud, but this occured on the older exhaust too.

Being a non-mechanically minded sort, I was thinking that it could be the ignition system being dirty or timing out?  Or is it (please say yes) something as simple as needing new air filters and HT leads?  If it is the timing, how much would it roughly cost to have this sorted?

does it have a centre silencer not a major problem you could get the timing checked out  :wink:

yes… yes, yes yes yes :y:

its most likely ignition mate, so before replacing anything;

check inside your dizzy cap (check ther contacts for wear n tear)
check your rotar arm on the outside edge (you'll see wear again)
if the HT leads look out and feel rigid, they're worth changing
and lastly, spark plugs… whip'em out and see what condition they're in, might get away with cleaning them with a wire brush for now but probably worth replacing the whole lot if its looking a tad old

usually every or every other service the whole lot gets replaced (some people even replace every 6 months or so)

but yep, your assumption is the most obvious cause of you car flactulance  :wink:

and as ben said, timing to (all related)  :wink:

alot of the "older" cars tend to pop dropping through the revs, its just burning off unburnt fuel, you'll find tuned/highly tuned cars do this alot… and ALOT louder to (running richer fuel and advanced timing) and aftermarket exhausts tend to exargerate this the noise to

gurgle gurgle, splutter, pop BANG! (n sometimes with a flame!)

i miss my MG  :cry:  teehee

Thanks for the heads up, guys, will check it out tomorrow IF that big hot thing in the sky still works.

Phatts… Flames? The child inside me thinks "hmmm, fun" where as the tight git inside me thinks "1.16 a litre for gas…."  I take it fire coming from the back of a 23 yr old standardish car is normally a bad thing!

i hear ya, weather here started off not to bad but then turned rrrrrrRUBBISH!

not the 23 year old car (that did it to, ashley exhausts are rrubbish!)… but nah, my Midgets 39yrs old!!! 1275 cooper engine, twins SU's as standard and rear wheel drive…oooh yeah, so much fun!  :mrgreen:

and yep, she's cammed nothing to special yet but big old flames coming down through the revs, sometimes between gears to (but thats when i used to take the old girl over 7.5k revs)… she loved it! i think?! lol bit rusty now though, she getting stripped n new metal put on her (long term proj with my dad)

Bit of an update:

Rain pretty much stopped play totally today, only thing I could get done was a quick alternator adjustment with new fan belt, and a very quick peek at the dizzy rotor arm.  No sign of rubbing or wear, so prodded it a bit with my finger (missus was watching, so wanted it to look like I knew my stuff!) and replaced it.  Car runs quite a bit better already!

If I get a dry 30 mins tomorrow, I shall out the plugs and leads and see what the score is.