Can anyone help? I have a 1989 mk1 golf cabriolet and I have fitted a 1.8 20vt (ajq) It was all running well apart from a very quick splutter every now and again on start up and on quick throttle action I was at the point of getting it moted and it needed the main beam telltale sorting, I checked all the fuses in the fuse box etc then disconnected the wire behind the Speedo (previously joined) to check for power, there was power there but it sparked on the dash frame for less than a second, ever since then the car will turn over but won't run, it will cough and splutter but not run! Does anyone have any ideas where to look now? Fuel pump primes and there is fuel at the rail but only coming out of 1 injector, I tried a different fuel rail and injectors and fuel only came out of 3 All fuses look good No fault codes Will run and rev on a spray of brake cleaner straight into the intake Can anyone help? I'm so close to finally having this thing moted and on the road
hmm, thats just the main beam warning light, worst case it would have shorted and blown the fuse #9. cant see how it would affect the ecu so possibly a red herring I wonder if original issue is earthing, sometimes that will mess up the cluster. if it has MFA dash the earth for it runs to a male spade near the fusebox with brown and brown/white wires in, make sure you have an earth for that. the loom builder may have missed it as it originally went in engien loom to head, but you can just run an earth from the claw to it no problem. next check main earths for the car, you should have a fat brown coming in with the headlight loom ending at a white 4 way spade block. in the front of this you should have one chunky brown from engine loom white plug 'D', one brown from the main dash harness and another from the rear wiring loom. then out the back of it you have a smaller brown which goes off to earth at the claw https://clubgti.com/forums/index.php?threads/fusebox-faq.219775/
Thankyou, all earths including the earth to the dash are correct, nothing dislodged or disconnected etc, I’m really stumped now
if you're probing injectors just make sure you go from the live pin to battery/chassis earth as going across the plug pins will give incorrect results. plus you'll possibly have to bridge the fuel relay but it depends how the loom was made is there any sign of life from the engine at all? any noise from throttle, does it run fuel pump while cranking? check for power at your coilpacks while there actually, and look for damage to the insulation. the DBW looms are especially prone to insulation breakdown, so much so VW made a repair kit for it
Yes noise from throttle, fuel pump runs when cranking although nothing comes out of the return feed? Should it be returning fuel while cranking? I’ll double check coil packs then check over the wiring I suppose (I hate wiring)
Problem solved, i actually feel quite daft for being stumped for so long, turns out someone decided to steal my fuel, also my gauge reads just over 1/4 tank when it’s actually empty I probably should have checked the fuel situation properly to start with but Thankyou for your help. I guess the fuel i seen at the rail was what’s left in the pipes and not enough to build decent pressure
Don't feel bad about it ,thinking when I drained all the stale fuel from my Corrado then changed the fuel filter ,didn't put enough fuel back in and the pump was cycling and poor idle ...not hard to sort this one . Wish someone had stolen my old fuel as I couldn't get rid of the stink for a while ,nasty stuff, Good result besides.
