1.1 car stalling.

Hi!
This is my first post here, thank you for a great forum!

I have a 1975 golf with the small engine,
and an annoying problem- all of a sudden it just loses power,
starts spluttering and stalls. seems to happen only when warm,
and under load. almost always in 4th gear at speeds above 70 kph.
if i wait a minute it starts, and is driveable, until the next time it happens.


i?ll start from the beginnining.
last summer it happened the first time-
the fuel hose to the carb was very bad.
changed it the next day- and the car ran well.

Day after that. starts to run really bad. a manage to get it into a parking lot.
doesn?t start.
seems to be the carb, maybe dirt or something.
Took it home, cleaned it out.
it starts! yes!
Drove it around for a while. stops.
and ever since it has been like that.

Some days it is worse. some days i can drive without any problems.
What i did:

-Cleaned out the fuel pipes- the pipe leading to the engine was full of   black-ish goo. no improvement.
-checked the bottom of the tank for smudge and rust. seems ok.
-fuel filler neck is rust-free.
-replaced all fuel hoses.
-replaced fuel filter.
-replaced the mechanic fuel pump. after that it ran for two whole days,
now the problem is back, worse than ever.
-replaced the condencer and breaker points. set point gap.
-set valve clearance.
-replaced distributor cap and rotor arm.
- tried a different coil.
- other plugs
- other HT leads.


Nothing helps!!!
 
Right now i am going through and checking all the earth/ground points in the engine, could that have anything to do with my sypmtoms?

Could it be the carb? should i give it a good clean with compressed air?
is it possible for a carb to show these "intermittent" problems?
i only cleaned it out "by hand" the first time i did it.
it?s the solex carb.

Should i do a compression check?
could that have anything to do with it?

Is there supposed to be a thermal flange between the engine and
fuel pump? it never was on this one, even when it ran well

oh yeah, checked for vacuum leaks. seems solid.



Best
Stefan
( i?m from sweden by the way)

What carb have you got on there? is it the Pireburg? if it is then that is probabley your problem! a re build or replacement (with the webber version) is probabley the best course of action, i had a similar problem on mine, but it would just cut out all the time and wouldnt idle

Yep, it?s the pierburg… and i am taking it apart tonight.
Cleaning/renewing earth-points didn?t help. but it solved a few other issues.
Can?t be anything else than the carb now, right???

i even cleaned out the fuel pipes, again! looked clean.

i also took apart the dizzy, cleaned it and greased the centrifugal parts
and the breaker plate, now it actually moves as it should.
What a difference!! it really runs better than ever now.
except… that it loses power and stalls every now and then. :wink:

Oh another symptom- whenever it does that and i start it up again,
it idles ok but as soon as i touch the gas it dies.

Anyway, i?m off to take the carb apart. any advice?

Cheers/
Stefan

could just be the carb mount rubber plate is shot and leaking air. just a thought.

really its either a fuel, air or ingintion problem.  as you have sorted the fuel system then its not that and sorting the ignition out too means its likely to be the carb-

Crazy Quiffs do a refurb kit for 35 quid and also do replacements -

don't usually come in here so excuse the question.
does the small block have a charcoal filter on it?

novocaine said

don't usually come in here so excuse the question.
does the small block have a charcoal filter on it?

Paper In-Line type

let me put that in a bit better shall i.
does the small block have a vapour seperator?

no then, novo it doesn't.

Clean your breather, not had a small block for years, thats the only thing I can remember ever being a problem.

no then, novo it doesn't.

Clean your breather, not had a small block for years, thats the only thing I can remember ever being a problem. Smile

And with that do you mean the crankase breather?

i recently did that: there is a hose from the crankcase to a big plastic thing,
and from there another small black plasticthing that seems to be a one way valve of some sort, and then it?s mounted to the airintake.

i noticed you can blow air through it both ways, but if i put some liquid in there i can only pour it out one way.

the way it is connected is so liquid can pass from crankcase to air intake, but not the other way around. this seems wrong to me,
but i put it back the same way, not beeing sure about it?s function.

anyway-
i have problem with oil coming from the crankcase, the intake has a lot of it, and it runs down into the airfilter and also in to the carb.

Should i reverse the valve thing?
could this be my problem?

UPDATE:

I just put in a different carb-
Problem NOT solved.

i seem to be getting pieces of black things in my fuel filter,
changed it twice and it goes pretty fast until it?s dirty again.
it?s not completely clogged, but there are these obvious pieces.

Could be from the rotten hose between the fuel filler neck and fuel tank,
that i changed half a year ago.

Starting to think i should clean out my tank-
can?t think of anything else to do now :dontknow:

Ideas are highly appreciated.

i would open up in fuel tank inspection port under the back seats and look in the tank to see if there is any rust particles in there. if you replaced the kneck it cant be that - although that is the usual case.

it is some kind of fuel line corrosion if not.

hope that helps.

The neck seems fine,
and i THOUGHT the tank was clean enough but…
i am opening it up and cleaning it this weekend.

Hmmm… Fuel lines seem to have rusted a bit though.
time to replace them? guess so…

Cheers

Hi!It maybe be a compression problem….
Bye.

Hi!It maybe be a compression problem….
Bye.

Hi!

Can it? Wouldnt the car run kinda poor all the time then? because it runs great
when it runs. Or?

Cheers

probably have a rusty fuel tank

update!
Took down the tank, cleaned it thoroughly
and removed the fuel lines.

the fuel lines was extremely rusty on the inside as well as the outside,
so i replaced them. also put a filter inside the tank to be extra sure.

it works!!! has been running well for three days!

thank you everybody for your help.


Best

Try bypassing the fuel vapour trap/regulator on the side of the carb.

Check the tank for water.

TT

hi pall i think this may be my problem how ever mine seems to have a clean inline filter is your car still running well? gonna do a tank filler filer to tank and lines i think!
cheers

ebo said

hi pall i think this may be my problem how ever mine seems to have a clean inline filter is your car still running well? gonna do a tank filler filer to tank and lines i think!
cheers

Yes, it?s running well! there never was alot of dirt in the fuel filter,

probably got stuck in the fuellines.

if in doubt, change them. mine didn?t look that rusty on the outside. but they were on the inside.

if you take em down and flush them with WD40 youll see it in the brown color…

Cheers
Stefan

I had the same problem mate with my 1.1, i just ditched the pierberg and got a weber and its never put a foot wrong.