1.3 not running right

hey everyone, had a little hiccup with the car. Filled it up and fuel started leaking everywhere from a slit pipe. I think it is that return pipe from the fuel filler neck. replaced the pipe and its fine now but either it was coincidence or actually is caused by filing the tank up the car now is definetly not running right.

very sluggish, sounds like it is running on 3 cylinders and a big loss of power. ideas on what to check please?

thanks

could be rust in the tank from the filler neck
you can check by look in the tank from underneth the rear seats throught the hole

would be worth cleaning the tank filter out while your there

can you get access to the actual inside of the tank from that hole under the seats? wont it be a bit difficult to clean the filter when the tank is full?

yea can gain access from this point

the filter puls out

i'd just take a look an see if theres any bits floating around in the tank, and check the filler neck is solid

Just noticed that the fuel level on the in-line filter near the carb is a bit low so this could confirm that now enough fuel is getting to the cylinders...

Ok another update.

did this The Mk1 Golf Owners Club

and when I got to this stage

 

to my amazement there was nothing there. no swirl pot or filter or anything, looked everywhere through the hole and found nothing but clear fuel, no flakes of rust or anything…

ideas?

by the way, does this model have a mechanical fuel pump? what else should I check?

Ok, so for everyone else's benefit here's what I learned today:

- My petrol tank seems pretty clean and there no sign of rust, dust or flakieness on the inside, good.
- The 1.3 does have a mechanical fuel pump and it is driven from the camshaf. it can be found near the camshaft pulley.
- Unlike the GTI, as said before, the pump is not electric or placed on the tank. Also because of this is works mainly in suction, and the pickup and return points are on the fuel level sensor assembly.
- My problem is not related to fuel starvation.

So, after much fiddling with the fuel system i had the "brilliant" idea of unplugging the spark leads one by one… dohhh…
Yes, it turns out that i was(is) really only running on 3 cylinders. Cylinder number 4 for some reason is not firing. Also more intrieguing is the fact that if I remove the no4 lead and leave it close to the spark plug the spark will actually jump the gap and the engine will run/sound "fine".

So its a contact problem I suppose. I looked down the lead and inside everything seems normal. any ideas on how to improve the contact between the two? I'm actually quite happy that it seems to be a simple problem.

another update yet again. tried the pulling the lead trick once again and this time having different results. there was a clicking noise when i pulled it out rather that spark and normal engine running. only noticed after a couple of times but there was this great big spark jumping across the ignition coil, from the main dizzy lead to one of the other small terminals. stopped the engine, pushed the cover on the end of the lead all the way into the coil and hey presto it runs fine now. wierd.