My gti idles at 1200 to 1500 rpm

Can anyone help.
My GTI was fitted with a high lift cam by the previous owner when he restored the car. It is very rough and lumpy when the engine is cold.
Once warmed up it idles at 1200 to 1500 revs. I constantly have to over rev it because it doesn't like low revs. The result is I am always having to down shift to keep from stalling. Draws some funny looks as people look at me like I'm a boy racer and its been a long time since I could be called that.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Frank

I would try and find out exactly what camshaft has been fitted, and go from there…. has the engine always been lumpy?

Sounds like it's a bit too racy for a road car, the only way forward would be to change it for a more sensible cam.

I think the cam is a red herring

It actually sounds like the mixture is off - when its off, weird things like flat spots, not idling properly, not returning properly to idle on overrun etc occur.

I dare say, he was able to fit the cam but unable to properly tune the car once it was fitted, it messed with the VE of the engine and he never got to the root cause of the issue.

Don't know which cam fitted but head was apparently rebuilt with new valves.
It does feel a bit like driving a racing car.
Before going down the road of changing tne cam who would I take the car to to get it tuned/analysed.
As in a specialist or a vw dealer.

thanks to you both for your thoughts and advice.

Frank

Yea, you would need to work through everything first before blaming the cam, that’s why I was asking if it’s always been lumpy…

The early golf specialists are easily findable, I don’t use one , i would suggest any good old school mechanic should be able to set / check through everything for you.
 But with a racey cam it’s always going to be lumpy, with a very racey cam you will need to keep revving it when stationary otherwise it will cut out, that’s how they are.

Strange you say the idle is high???


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Take the rocker cover off and you will see the cam shaft, then you will be able to see if it's a performance cam and possible what's fitted by the numbers stamped into the cam shaft.

Hot cams can course idle problems and loss of low down torque, they are fine it you are on track days and "reving the nuts of it" but can make the car a pain to drive around town…  

Thanks guys.

know a local mechanic who might be able to help. Thought I'd ask here first to find out if it would possibly be any easy fix. I know absolutely nothing about golfs ,never had a vw of any kind before. Bought this one as I always fancied owning one and this was a good buy. Aparg from being a pain to try and drive sensibly (lol).
will post results when I have a solution

thanks again

Frank

Highlift cams are always going to be a bit lumpy, raising the idle speed is a classic way to minimise the effects of a lumpy cam . Could be a number of other issues, faulty warm up reg, causing issues warming up to temp. Also sounds like there may be an air leak or something causing the stalling?

A rolling road session would be the best to diagnose if possible. Personally I would put a standard cam back in, much nicer to drive in everyday traffic.