fuel system mystery

hi
iv had my golf gti cabrio in and out of the garage for the last six months and cant seem to get rid of this problem. it will run fine for ages, then once in a while the engine dies and refuses to come back to life for around 20 minutes. it usually happens when im in or have been driving in heavy traffic. iv had the distributer cap, distributer arm, coil and all the leads changed and my mechanic assures me its running fine and then it comes back. he says he has changed everything on the electrics side and now its just a case of going through the fuel system until we find the problem. i dont think my poor wallet can take any more of a beating.
can anyone help
cheers
p

It could be an intermittent blockage in the fuel system. Have you had a look inside the tank to see what condition it's in? Also, what condition is your filler neck in? And when did you last replace your fuel filter?

HTH

Rich

i was told the filler neck had been replaced before i bought it and it crumbled in the guys hands as he removed it. i had the fuel filter replaced not long ago and the guy said it was pretty clean. how would i get a look at my tank. could i do that myself without damaging myself or the car
cheers

Have a look at this thread - the pics in it are a good step by step guide.

Obviously no smoking! And if you can, try and use a wooden drift as opposed to a metal one when twisting the fuel lift pump out of the tank, to minimise the risk of sparks.

As the previous filler neck was rotten the filter inside the tank will be clogged with rust, but you'll be able to confirm by taking a look.

Post back with some pics and people will be able to help you further with flushing the tank (if needs be)

HTH

Rich

thanks very much

hi
just got the sender unit out there and the filter looks a little rusty.

any thoughts
cheers

I heard of someone who had a problem with similar symptoms to yours and it turned out to be the ignition module wasn't making a good contact with the heat sink, its worth a look.

thats what the tank looks like

cheers man
is there any way of checking that its faulty

in fact i just found a reciept in my wallet for an ignition module. dont know how i forgot about that, it was 75 quid lol

I think it would be worth flushing your tank to get rid of all that rust. I'd also replace your fuel filter, just to be on the safe side. That should hopefully cure your intermittent running problem.

There are various theories on how to flush the tank - you can do it with clean fuel, or with water or steam as long as you can get it thoroughly dry. People have experimented with putting speaker magnets on the outside of the tank near the inspection hole, to collect all the debris together, and then using a magnet on a string to lift it out through the inspection hole.

As a lot of the debris in your tank is visible from inside the car, I'd try a magnet on a string first and see how successful that is. If you need to flush it any other way, you'll have to remove the tank, which involves dropping the rear axle (a few hours work).

Obviously no smoking etc 8O

HTH

Rich

thanks very much for your help. id love to be able to do it all myself but i think im gonna have to find someone who knows what they are doing to keep me right if i go to take the axel off. it sounds scary 8O

It was a friend of my brothers that had the problem with the ignition and as far as I can remember he bought some compound from the likes of RS to seat the ignition module on the heat sink.