Hallo My mark 1 broke down last tuesday on her way to the garage for her MOT last tuesday... She had been a bit hard to start the previous couple of days so I used Bradex and didn't think too much of it as we have had lots of driving rain and just thought the damp had affected her. Anyway, the garage came and towed her for me, we were just round the corner, and although they haven't worked on her b4 they were pretty helpful so I was happy to let them take a look. The car had just lost power, and although you can start the engine, when you press the throttle it dies. When she does run she sounds spluttery. Their diagnostics aren't great though, and they still haven't worked out what's wrong. The dizzy cap was a bit manky so that's been changed and also the HT leads. They thought the timing was out but that's okay. Not really very reassured at all about this. Have rung and spoken to the boss who has explained what they've done and why, but I am a bit puzzled as to why the problem is taking so long to identify. I looked at some previous threads on here and think it might be the fuel injection system from what I've read but I am no expert, and the last thing I want to do is insult the mechanics by spouting rubbish at them. However, I am very worried about the cost of all this investigation that's going on. If anyone has any suggestions, that'd be great.
have you noticed your filler neck is rusty? they're prone for going here and this allows rust and water into the fuel. once it gets in it plays havoc with the fuel system, the fuel pump gets fuel direct from the bottom of the tank so any rust goes straight into it! If you pop off the feed pipe to it some pumps have an inline mesh filter, check it isnt clogged up. Be carefull though, the L shaped hose is no longer available and sourcing a replacement is not easy! Plus have something to block the fuel hose otherwise the tank will drain very quickly
Thank u for replying. ^ Very helpful advice and appreciated. The filler neck seems fine. It's weird as had some friends round last nite and they said the same thing. The garage mechanic rang this morning and advised that it is the distributor that is the problem. He quoted me 180 for a new one, but luckily he didn't mind me sourcing my own parts. Got a reconditioned one from Volkswagen Spares (Volks Apart) for 50 inc delivery which I was really pleased about. Let's hope that does the trick. Already have a new cap and HT leads. I wonder why the distributor failed in the first place, could that be symptomatic that something else is up the spout or do they just die with age? Been pretty lucky with everything else on the car fortunately. She has been very reliable indeed since this problem.
If it has electronic ignitnio (i.e. not points) usually its the hall sensor in them that dies, could explain the symptoms if it was starting to break down! The vacuum advance can sometimes go too but that wont stop it from starting, just makes it a bit sluggish. Worth doing the TCI-H unit if the dizzy dont fix it (its the metal thing in the rain tray with 7 wires to it) again only fitted to models with electronic ign. These units are easy to source 2nd hand pretty much all VWs from the 80s to the early 90s have them.
