Re-commissioning 83 Campaign - k Jet Problem In East Central Scotland

Hi

My '83 Campaign is in a local garage to be re-commissioned after a long period in storage. They are struggling  with the k-jet fuel injection. To date a new fuel pump and a good second hand accumulator unit have been installed.

Now the car will start first time and then immediately dies. They are not k-jet experts and are trying to solve the problem without fuel pressure gauges. I know that this is not the best approach but finding a K-Jet specialist or even anyone with pressure gauges in Central Scotland is proving difficult.

The garage seems to think it is a metering head issue but I am not convinced that they have the knowledge to work on this. Equally they have not tested the injectors as mentioned in various posts on this forum.

On the horns of the dilemma as I will have to pay for transport if I move the car but as stated earlier I can't find a k-jet expert in Central Scotland to move it to. Alternatively is there is any quick tests that I can suggest to narrow down the area of search for the instant start/ immediate dying symptoms?

Any help would be great !

   

The instant start and then dying means its probably starting on the 5th injector fitted to the inlet manifold plenum. This operates under cranking when the engine is cold.
It means you have at least fuel and some pressure to the metering head.
What condition was the car in during storage?
Usual problem is for rust to accumulate in the lines and then not cleaned out before attempting to start which promptly ruins the injection system. These cars suffered with fuel filler necks rotting which exasperates the problem as water and road debris ends up in the tank which then if the car is put into storage amplifies the rusting of the internals.
There is a unit on the front of the block with 2 braided hoses coming off it. This is the warm up regulator (WUR). There is a gauze on the inlet side  behind one of the banjo bolts. Check this isn't blocked otherwise the control pressure will be high making the system think the engine is already warm. The control pressure varies depending on how warm or cold the engine is and acts on the plunger and air flap in the metering head assembly. The metering head plunger maybe seized up as well. Before going any further you need to make sure your system is completely clear of foreign bodies. If fuel hasn't yet reached the main injectors you may not have damaged them if it is suffering from rust.

Thanks for the reply.

Car was mostly dry stored. When it was used it did have the dreaded rusty fuel neck which was replaced with a Stainless Autocavan neck with the tank cleared at the same time. So was running alright before storage.

Agree it would worth blowing through the lines if they haven't already wrecked the system. Equally WUR cleaning is worthwhile and I then thought doing the injector check would tell if fuel was getting through or not.

Really need a local expert as not sure the garage is capable of anything other than trial and error replacing. Likely to get a very expensive hit or miss game!

Get them to pull the injectors out and check if fuel is spraying from them, there's a guide in the Haynes manual if they don't know what they are doing.
Also petrol goes off after about 12 months so if they can drain the tank and fill with fresh petrol or if they don't want to drain it add some fresh petrol to the tank.
How long has the car been sat and when was it last started?

This is uncanny. My 83 Campagin has just gone into my garage for the exact same reason. It's been in dry storage for around two years but was run regularly. At some point late last year it stopped starting and it was lacking the buzzer for fuel pressure. We got it running last Friday and it was running rather smoothly but come Monday it was dead as a dodo again. I'm supposed to be going to Oulton park next week so all this advice is appreciated.

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Wasn't letting me post then they all came through at once. My bad.  

Hi, I agree with what Yomp and Mark1gls are saying. I am currently going through a similar thing with mine and it is a can of worms, especially if you don't know the history behind the vehicle before it was taken off the road! My thread is about 5 below yours at present if you want to read it, although it does sound, as Yomp said, it's starting off the 5th injector.

I would go careful letting them replace anything without following the procedures in the Haynes or Bentley manual as you could end up replacing parts that weren't needed and still end up with the same fault or worse, damaging new parts because there is still dirt in the fuel lines! It sounds like they are blaming the metering head because they can be troublesome without working through the other possible faults first.

I have checked every component on mine now apart from the metering head, which I intend to do this week hopefully. Apart from cleaning everything through, I have replaced everything on the ignition side bar the coil and also found numerous vacuum leaks, not to mention settings that have been tampered with to compensate for other faults ( one example was the accelerator cable adjusted too tight so that the butterflies were open slightly to help it idle!)

Good luck with your car, I hope you get it sorted soon.

Thanks for all of the comments.

Fuel is fresh and it was running well before its lay up.

I agree with the comments around expensive hit or miss replacements along with the possibility of damaging good parts.

Think the only way forward is to beg/borrow/steal/buy a fuel pressure tester.
Any suggestion of a good source to buy a fuel pressure  tester?
 

I made my pressure tester fairly cheaply. The connections on the car are m12x1.5 and you'll need one male and one female. I got ones with a 1/4" hose tail and used cotton braided hose. I'm not sure how much a new one would cost but I spent about £15 on fittings but I acquired a gauge and valve from work and I had some fuel hose and jubilee clips lying about in the garage!

You definitely need to run the pressure and quantity tests before changing any more parts. I was lucky to buy a test kit from another club member. You can get kits on ebay for less than £50 - make sure it has the k-jet fittings, the very cheap ones only have the modern schrader fittings.

Give mclaren Vw specialist in Motherwell a bash. They've been working on v dubs for over 30 years and are very knowledgeable.

2 brothers, Alan and Alex mclaren

I'd  guess the flap in the    metering head  has  stuck over time,   search  how to  test  it  by  lifting the flap  ,  I'm  sure there's a  guide on  here somewhere