MK1 Golf Clipper 1.8 with Weber 32/34 fitted - refuses to idle and possibly blue smoke

Hi Guys, very long time lurker here but actually my first time of posting. Just wondering if anyone can help as reading through a ton of posts there are some very knowledgeable people on the forum and i'm sure the issues i'm having will have been previously resolved many times over the years.

Ok heres the car from one or two favourable angles, doesn't look too bad for a car of its age but the lacquer has peeled off from a large proportion of the bonnet and top of the wings so will need a bit of a respray at some point. Also needs a new mohair roof but i just wanted to make sure everything was mechanically sound before i proceeded.

I've owned the car for the last 13 years but it has been parked up for the last 3 years only occassionally being started up and driven a few yards up and down the driveway. The car normally won't start after being left for more than a few days and has always needed a bit of fuel poured directly in to the carb. Once this is done the car will then start without any issue and the manual choke keeps the engine revving at around 1500 rpm then once warmed up and choke off it will sit around 1000 rpm and runs fine. Mileage is around 130,000.

I started the car up around two weeks ago and it was running really rough, wouldn't idle and you had to keep gently revving it to try and keep revs between 1500 and 2000 rpm otherwise it would instantly cut outand when running it sounded like it was misfiring. The manual choke had no effect and actually made things worse. I checked the choke cable and it was connected fine and moving the butterfly on the weber carb. Weber carb replaced the original pierburg carb many years ago although it was secondhand when installed but has worked fine since. The car also seems to be blowing a bit of either white or blue smoke when running, i'm not sure which.

I checked the distribution cap and also rotor arm, cap terminals were all pitted on inspection and rotor arm looked very tired so i replaced both of these but it made very little difference. I then replaced the spark plugs and the HT leads again with not too much difference.

The new spark plugs look very sooty considering the car has not actually made any journeys with them in, is this normal? The original spark plugs taken out looked the same type of sooty.

I thought it may have then been a fuel problem so I've replaced the clear in-line fuel filters as the originals did look quite dirty and i have also tried bypassing the fuel seperator can so that the fuel pump goes directly to the carb but again has made no difference. I have put around £10 of fresh fuel in and the car was very low so i don't think there is any water contamination of the fuel.  I collected fuel coming straight from the fuel pump and it looks fine.

I've used a compression tester on the engine and all the first 3 cylinders are showing 170 psi and cylinder No. 4 is 165 psi. This does sound OK doesn't it? I actually have two copies of the brown Haynes Manual but can't find either of them, ha ha thats what happens when you let your daughter tidy up in the house, can never find a thing afterwards.

Is the blue/white smoke likely to be caused by worn stem valves?

I'm also thinking of removing the carb and trying to give it a good clean whilst removed from the car, do you think this would help seeing as the choke no longer seems to work as it had done previouly?

Sorry for so much information in one go but thought it might all be relevant.

Here is a video of the car starting up and running whilst being gently revved, please turn down your volume as there is a terrible screech from the fan belt for a good few seconds. I need to order one as this has always happened and they are generally replaced every year or so.



MK1 Golf Rough Running - YouTube


Thanks
Joe

Webber carb rebuild kits are about £20 so it may be worth taking it off and giving it a good clean out.
Normal for plugs to soot up if not being driving and left to idle but your do look black but running the car on the choke will make it run rich.

Check the rubber flange which the carb sits on as they can spilt with age and the car does not run well as extra air is getting in.

I spent ages getting the timing set up correctly when I changed the belt.
Also found the car floods really easily if you pump the pedal but not seen soot?
I'd like to take my carb apart and clean it maybe sand blast it but not too sure how difficult it is? Haven't seen this £20 cleaning kit before tho?

Don't sand blast the carb, if you have any grit left behind it will go into your engine!
Spray Carb cleaner works well.

Webber service kit.

http://www.fastroadcars.co.uk/shop/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=91

 Hi Guys, thanks for the advice.

I removed the carb from the car and give it a good thorough clean with carb cleaner and gunk degreaser. I cleaned the internal fuel inlet filter and cleaned the internal and external of the throttle body. I probably spent an hour or so on cleaning it. I then put the carb back on the car and it ran like a dream, started up first time and the tickover sounded perfect. I couldn't quite believe it so i took the car for a quick spin up and down the road, it was running great. I turned it off and restarted it several times without issue. Unfortunately after about 30 minutes the car started struggling to idle. It then went back to how it was before i cleaned the carb. Please note that i hadn't replaced any gaskets or used the carb service kit.

When i was initially removing the carb i found a few problems with the way it had been installed in the past. The Weber carb has been in this state since being installed around 8 years so I wouldn't have thought these would be the cause of the current problem but i thought i'd best get them fixed whilst it was off the car anyway. The main fault is that the installer must have snapped the 6mm/8mm stud that holds the carb to the flange when doing the install. He has then decided to put a dollop of sealant on the nut to stop it spinning and try to hide the issue.






OK so i've now bought a new carb flange and the 6mm/8mm stud but i'm not sure if there should be a gasket between the carb flange and the manifold, should there be one as there didn't look like it when i removed the current carb flange




I've also bought a new gasket part no. 99901168 but i'm unsure if it needs to go on the top of the base plate as there appears to be a rubber gasket on the bottom of the carb itself




Any help appreciated,

Thanks
Joe