My Quest To Get My 1st Project Started. All help Appreciated

Eventually got my 83 gti started but it blows loads of white smoke out, runs on three cylinders and wont tick over unless i rev it. The leads are new and all in the right order, new plugs too.

Its been stood approx 17 months

Any suggestions?

i had the same problem, try the fuel pump. :wink:

ans4r said

i had the same problem, try the fuel pump. :wink:

Fitted a new one last week

ok, what about the accumalator :dontknow:

ans4r said

ok, what about the accumalator :dontknow:

Didnt think about that, could that cause it to have these symptoms?


Its really struggling to start at all now

Sounds like head gasket to me.

White smokes antifreeze in the chamber.

Do a compression test or a hydrocarbon test on the coolant to be sure.

Cool, i'll go and buy a compression tester today….fingers crossed head gasket aint gone.

Just one thought tho, can you do a compression test when it doesnt start on can i do it simple by turning it over?

165psi….cyl 1
175psi…..cyl 2
165psi….cyl 3
135psi….cyl 4

Cylinder 4 spark plug looks like its not even been fitted, still shiney and bright…?

Do these results tell anybody anything?

Check that injector 4 is getting fuel. spark plug shiny suggests it not burning any fuel

pw20vt said

Check that injector 4 is getting fuel. spark plug shiny suggests it not burning any fuel

Just had 4th injector out and i get a nice cone shaped fuel spray…..

On the rare occasion it does start its not white smoke, its a little bit bluey but still on only three cylinders and wont idle.

Cylinder 4 is low over 30psi down at cranking pressure which is indicating an issue.
Could just be clean because its not firing.
The reason it may fire when you rev it hard tho is because the dynamic compression ratio goes up.
The fix here is to repair the fault thats creating the low static compression on that cylinder.

Procedure for a compression test is to pull all the plugs and disable the ignition.
Screw the tester in to no1 and press full throttle, cranking the engine until the gauge reads as high as it goes.
I usually watch the gauge as it goes up and count the number of deflections ( pressure spikes) and go the same number on all the other cylinders or near enough.
Just repeat the test on all the other cylinders and compare the readings you get.

Even when you rev it its still only runs on 4 cylinders tho too...

Even when you rev it its still only runs on 4 cylinders tho too…


Ive just replaced the sump plug and petrol came out, well a mixture of petrol and oil but def lots of petrol.

This aint right……any ideas?

Obviously its not firing on that cylinder.
You have a loss of compression on it, do you have a spark at the plug?
If theres fuel in the oil then thats not good and youll have bore washing in that cylinder.

You need to find out why the compressions so low for a start, also see if the plug has a spark to it.

Overboost said

Obviously its not firing on that cylinder.
You have a loss of compression on it, do you have a spark at the plug?
If theres fuel in the oil then thats not good and youll have bore washing in that cylinder.

You need to find out why the compressions so low for a start, also see if the plug has a spark to it.

Thanks, i sent the starter motor away for repair today so it might be a few days before i get it back

have you checked that none  of the injectors are leaking ?  maybe  no. 4 is leaking and letting petrol wash down the cylinder into the fuel.  i seem to remeber that a leaky injecter would cause trouble starting and then when it did start a cloud of smoke….
 might be worth pulling out each injecter and leave it to stand overnight in a  seperate pop bottlle over each one, then check the next day there sould be no fuel in any of the pop bottles,  i'm guessing number 4 will have some petrol in…

Cheers Jim, i'll try that

i.ve decided to put a new engine in. My friend is selling his 1.8 16v turbo engine so i.m putting that in. Run's at about 200 bhp so it aint gonna hang about! Time to get that welding and body work sorted now!  its a shame cos the original engine has only done 101k

It could be something as simple as piston rings on #4 and a head gasket, ?30 to ?40 quid for the parts.

Its only 1 cyl thats really causing a problem, seems a shame to throw away a fairly good 8v engine.  You may find the work involved in the 1.8 16v turbo engine install will probably be far more