1990 Golf II, 1.3 NZ engine. OK, just to give a little history on the problem. I've had the issue I'm about to describe about a month ago, I'm not sure how I did it, but i started messing with the connectors under the hood, checking for a loos connection somewhere, and it appeared to sort itself out. The car started behaving badly on the way home one night, kept sputtering while driving, and cutting out. My wife was able to get it home, but then it wouldn't stay running at all after that. Most of the time, it wouldn't even try to kick. When it would start, it would start and run perfectly normal for about 5-10 seconds, and then immediately cut out, and not want to start again. Well, the car has been running perfect since then, without so much as a hiccup, and then I went and changed the alternator today, and I go to start the car afterwards...cranks, but won't start, just like before. I go under the hood and check the connectors again, re-seat them, wiggle some stuff, and it starts, and then cuts out again after about 5-10 seconds. Now when I say "cut out", I mean it's like I'm turning the ignition off. No coughing, rough running, or any of that. Just... OFF. I've checked all the connectors under the hood, and they all seem fine, and I can't get it to start at all now.... Only issue I can see is a group of solid black wires in the rear of the engine, by the throttle body. It is a splice of 3 wires (bodge?) all are black, one goes to the connector for the lambda, the other goes into the wiring harness, and the other goes to earth on a bracket by the throttle body... If anybody knows which one I'm talking about, please post a picture of what that connection is SUPPOSED to look like, because it looks like the PO bodge-fixed this at some point. I grounded the coil wire on the engine, and it appears I'm not getting spark.... but aside from that, I'm not sure where to go with this....
Nevermind, I don't know what I did, but the thing runs again! All I did is leave the battery disconnected overnight, went out today and hooked it back up, and it started right up! Anyone have any speculations as to what could have caused it to stop running/start running again?
If it comes back i'd suggest the Hall sender, so dizzy or the TCI-H.. both pretty easy to find to replace. Really havnt seen too many mk2 1.3's with the NZ's!
That sucks, since I just scrapped my old '86, and it had a 1.3 MH in it, with an identical dizzy.... Funny you should mention it "coming back", because I didn't get very far yesterday....lol. Pulled up to a light at a 3-lane intersection, and it cut out again, and I was at the head of the line. (right in front of a VW dealer...could the car be trying to tell me something?) Anyway, I was digging around in the car today, trying to find that blasted water leak.... I've narrowed it down to either the drivers side (LHD) firewall/rain tray, or the windshield, just gotta pull the dash and have a look. Also found this...... The fuse box is sopping wet...and corroded... Looks like this leak has been present for quite a bit, and with the recent rain (constant for almost 2 weeks) it finally soaked the fuse box.... Not pictured: I also found some leads with broken insulation, and corrosion, so I'm sure this is the main root of some of the other electrical gremilns that I've been experiencing. (thank god that I'm not scared of wiring harnesses....) Gonna source out a dizzy and TCI-H module, clean up/dry out the wiring, and hopefully have this heap back on the road tomorrow... Any suggestions on how to clean the corrosion out of the harness connectors without damage?
Yeah, that won't help. You might get away with cleaning it up with a brush and electrical contact cleaner, taping the damaged wires, and making sure that water can't get back into the car. Any cracks in the rain tray will cause leaks into the interior. It's also worth checking the bulkhead grommets aren't split or out of place.
OK, having difficulty sourcing a used distributor... Apparently the NZ engine isn't very common.... It uses the same type of vacuum advance distributor that the older 1.3 engines use, but according to the parts places, they are different. Is the distributor on the NZ engine interchangeable with one from an older, carb model. (MH, etc...)
Don't know much on the small engines, I'm afraid. I'd imagine they're similar... I'd be looking at polos maybe. PM Danster and ask if he's got one in his shed
You're in the same boat I am, mate. This is only my 2nd small block MKII, so I'm still learning too. (Speaking of which...UGH! The MKIII I just bought my wife is a 1.6 small block....)
looking at etka, NZ is indeed a unique dizzy wasnt fitted to anything else, just golf/polo nz part numbers: 030 905 205 D -> 030 905 205 N -> 030 905 205 S -> 030 905 237 FX its probably just the hall sensor thats gone which is swappable from more common 1.3 dizzys according to ETKA. 030 905 205 D & 030 905 205 N: 030 998 065 - hall sender with mounting parts - 148.67 030 905 205 S: 030 998 065 B - hall sender with mounting parts - 167.68 gsf do it cheaper: 923VG0160 HALL SENDER G2 1.05 & 1.3 8/85 > 34.50
That's great. I always thought the hall sender wasn't available as a separate piece. I just snagged a used 1.3 dizzy off of ebay.de for 12 euros, so I'll dig into it and see about swapping out the sender. Gonna tear that one apart before I dig into the NZ dizzy, as not to screw anything up.
if its same shape as your dizzy just fit it complete before you take it apart, the very worst thing that will happen is the advance curve for the ignition wont be quite right. if the car fires then you know its worth stripping it down and swapping the hall sensor over and/or anything else inside thats bust
