Hi guys! The car won't start, and I'm a bit lost. Hoping for the collective wisdom of you guys (again) or advice on how to make something "look like an accident"... Car is a 1992 mk2 Golf Engine is a 1986 mk2 Golf 1.8 16v KR Apart from stainless headers and exhaust, and K&N replacement filter (so the one that goes in the OEM airbox), the engine is stock. Wiring has had some issues, but afaik it is all good now. The car has been mine for about 15-20 years now, and it's been called a project-car for at least most of that time, haha. Meaning, I didn't do shit to it, and it just sat there, being broken. Drove her for a few months last year, before she was parked due to brakelines needing to be replaced. Picked the car up a month ago, and apart from having to jump-start, she started and drove just fine. Back home after a stop for 50 litres of gas and a 10 minute drive, I shut her off, and had to jump-start again to drive her back into the garage. Started working on her, needed to replace a ton of small things along with the brakelines and -hoses, so with ordering and waiting for parts, the car was only done two days ago. In the meantime, she fired up a few times up until about three weeks ago just fine. Kept her on the drip-charger all the time. After the lines and all was done, we bled the lines. Buddy in the car pumping the pedal, me at the bleeder valves opening and shutting them. The brakes in the end turned out perfectly. Took the car off the jackstands yesterday, and planned on taking her for a little testdrive. She turned over just fine, but would not fire up (or do anything that resembled that or gave the impression shewas about to). Checked the fuses, and two were broken. They have nothing to do with ignition though, but of course still replaced them. Checked them all with a multimeter on resistance, not by eye. Tested the starter with a direct wire to the battery. Turned, but also did not fire. Jump started the engine several times, just to make sure. Turned, but didn't start. Swapped out the ignition coil with another one, but nothing happened.Swapped the left two fuel-lines in the head with each other, and the right two, just to make sure, but from what I know, it doesn't really matter which goes where. Sparkplugs are new since last year. Did not check them yet though (loaned out the key, didn't get it back) Sparkplug wires are new since this year. Dizzy cap is new since last year, When I took it off, there seemed to be some powder on the contacts, so I gently sanded that off. There doesn't seem to be any excessive wear on them though. The rotor is new, installed it together with the cap, and looks just fine. Checked the wires on the coil, to make sure nothing got messed up while installing the brake lines. The rubber gaskets / plugs for the brakefluid reservoir are new. Brakelines and -hoses are all brand new. Lines are copper ones I bent myself, hoses are stainless braided hoses. Calipers have been overhauled by me with new parts before they were installed last year. Braked fluid is Bosch DOT4. Between 0.5 and 1.0 litres went in after having the system completely empty. Bled them by pumping the pedal, and opening and closing the bleeder valves with pedal pushed in several times. First the furthest caliper, last the closest one to the MC. The Bias valve is new, by Brembo. I have not calibrated it correctly yet. Wanted to do that after the drive. Spring is on, and has some tension though. Exhaust has been off, everything apart from the 4-2-1 collector. When I was under the car, I saw that the top two screws holding the first and the second part of the collector together were a bit loose. The spring was still tensioned though, but tightened them a bit more anyway. While checking for problems, I saw some of the vac lines were disconnected. Can't say if those already were like that or not, so reconnected them again. The ends were a bit worn, so cut those parts of. They are airtight again now. Two are blocked off, but have been as long as I can remember, and that didn't stop the car from ever driving. It's one of the two on the brakebooster vac line, and the one on the throttle body. I put about 50 litres of fuel in a month ago, and drove it about 10 minutes ever since, and let it idle a total time of way less than an hour. The fuelpump under the car is new since last year, after the previous one broke (sprung a leak). Now today, I again checked the fuel gage on the Digifiz, and that says 54 litres. Which would line up with the fuel I put in a few weeks ago. put in some fuel anyway though, just to make sure. Tried firing her up, but the same issue: engine would turn, but wouldn't fire up. For some reason, the fuel pump under the car still every now and then leaks a few drops of fuel. But it's not flowing out like it did before. I ordered the seals for the screws on it, so waiting for them to arrive. For this reason, I put the fuel in, despite the gage showing 54 litres being present (the fuelpump is installed / lined up correctly >< ). Right after this, I remembered I still had a new rotor on the shelve, and I remembered I put a new dizzy house on, but there still was a as good as new rotor in it, that did not get changed out last year. So, I did that after not getting results after putting fuel in. The car fired up straight away! So, I found the issue, I thought. Cleared out the garage to be able to roll out the car and take her for a spin. Took a shower, went back in to the garage, turned the key, and she fired up straight away again. After driving a few hundred meters, after a corner, she started running roughly though. Holding back a lot when I pushed the gaspedal in a bit more. Then she started sputtering, and finally died around the second corner. Tried firing her back up, but again, same issue as before: engine would turn just fine, but doesn't give the slightest sign of firing up. Walked back home. Drove back to the car with a buddy o mine, taking jumper cables and a jerry with me. Hooked the wires up, same thing, turning without firing. Put more fuel in, about 2 to 3 litres, same result. Wiggled the dizzy cap a bit, took it off, removed the rotor, put it back together, turned the adjuster screw on the TB a bit back, and got back in the car. Turned the key, and she fired back up, but ran very roughly. Heard some exhaust pops, and felt them in the air filter box too. The car ran, but kept choking / stalling when I turned open the TB a bit, with exhaust pops sounding There was no torque at all. The moment you release the clutch just a little, you could feel the car dying. After a bit, she died, and would not start for another minute or 2. Then she fired back up, ran like she has asthma, and eventually died again with the slightest bit of load. We pushed her home eventually.... while cursing. I am now checking how well the car and garage are covered for fire damage , but honestly I hope there is an easier, more satisfying and more constructive solution for this though. Anyone? You will win the internet for not just today, but for the entire rest of this year.
This is a tricky one - you principally worked on the brake system before all this kicked off and I don't see how the brake work would stop the car from starting up. I would go back to basics and start checking the following - first of all and granted I know it was running ok before, check the fuel/air mix - is it running too rich/lean, are the throttle micro-switches and wiring in good condition and in the proper position. You said the fuel pump is new - is the filter new as well? If it is great, if not get the old filter out and install a new one just to rule it out in case the recent fill of fuel has dislodged some of the sediment from the tank and now it's trying to make it's way through the fuel system. You said the spark plugs are new - I would just pull one out and check the condition - they could be a bit fouled up and if they are looking black/dirty this would also be an indication that the car's mixture is out of whack. Is there any chance that you dislodged anything whilst working on the brakes? I installed a front strut brace on my old 16V and accidently moved/dislodged the plastic piping/shroud near the metering head - car just would turn not start and was perfect prior to installing the brace. I had to call a VW mechanic who found it in about 5 minutes, much to my embarrassment. There are bigger VW brains than me on here so expect a shout from of them as well but I would start with that - they generally don't have a problem starting and I don't think this is something too major - it's just finding the bugger Hope this helps Robert
have a read: https://clubgti.com/forums/index.ph...air-and-tune-your-mk2-corrado-1-8-16v.195423/ the over-run valve may be one to look at
Okay, maybe I found the problem. While pushing the car back into the garage, I turned the steeringwheel all the way in, and when it reached the end, suddenly the fuelpump under the car went off and back on. Tried it several times, and every time with the same result... When I shut the hood yesterday, the same happened, but I didn't really saw anything behind it, cause that was when the car started again... until it didn't anymore. So, back under the hood. When I touched the intake mani, the same happened. Fuel pump buzzed back up. I tapped the throttle body, same result. I wiggled some wires, same. When I tapped the starter module, same. Then I touched one of the wires on the coil, and I got zapped. With the ground wire removed from the coil, it seems to not do any of this anymore. So I'm guessing I broke one or more of the wires to or from the coil. Since the same happens when I turn the wheel, it's most likely there's something wrong with a wire between the ign. switch and the coil. So gonna look into that now. I recon it's the 15 wire on here:
by ground wire do you mean the braided earth between the coil mounting bracket and rocker cover? the voltage to the coil is very small so you shouldn't get a shock due to the coil wiring, more likely an issue with ignition leads or the coil itself is bad. get someone to spin the wheel while you look around under the bonnet for anything moving or catching, the main earth from battery to gearbox is worth a look. possibly you have 2 issues here, something is causing the coil wiring to power up when you tap/touch/steer which will also trigger the ecu as it powered from coil live and triggers the pump. and you have an issue with the coil or king lead which allowed you to get a shock from the HT side of the system ignition wiring is the first place alarm installers will bodge the hell out of, so definitly worth a look
I meant the black wire that goes on the "- connection" of the coil. There is no braided line between the mounting bracket and the rocker cover, nor between it and anything else. This was a shock like the one you get from a bad sparkplug wire. On my own for the rest of the day here. But switched out the coil with another one, and nothing happens anymore now when turning the wheel or tapping anything in the engine bay whatsoever... I swear, this car is haunted and making fun of me. Which wire you mean exactly by coil or king lead? There hasn't been any alarm in this thing. I installed the wiringloom myself, after testing it all outside the car first, and fixing what needed to be fixing.
the black wires are ignition live from the fusebox and power out to ecu/spark module, the negative side is the red/black wire side. you should have the black wires to +/15 side and red/black to -/1 on coil if you've pulled the black wire fusebox off the coil and ecu wont power up any more so that would explain why no more kick or fuel pump anyway. the braided line isnt required for the car to run, it was added on mk2 for extra radio interference suppression as far as I can tell. it was missing on mine for years, added it back and no noticeable difference. MK1 never had it I'm thinking you have/had a bad coil and/or king lead allowing you to get a shock from the HT side of it, the fusebox power feed alone wouldnt be able to give you a kick like that
I have that. I have one big plug on the - / 1 side with two connections. One has a green wire in it, the other a couple red and black. The other side, the + / 15 has a couple plugs with both black wires. From these wires, a - / 1 red and black wire, along with a + / 15 black wire goes to a wiringloom. The green wire from - / 1 and the other + / 15 black wire go to the starter module. Then there is another red and black wire coming from the big plug on the - / 1 side that only is a few centimeters long, and goes nowhere. Is this supposed to be connected to something to make it run properly? It wasn't connected when I drove it yesterday either, but it also didn't run properly yesterday, nor long. Which fusebox you mean? Okay, not bothering with that one for now then. Put the old coil back to check, and same as with the replacement one: no more kick, no fuelpump buzzing when I steer or touch something. -_-
ok coil wiring is good, the extra wire you mention should go to a spade plug this is for the ISV controller assuming you have one. as its a conversion this may have been missed during the install, its inside the car behind the centre console. bit of a tricky one, hopefully was just a loose connection at the coil which has now been sorted... does the fuel pump prime with ignition and run while cranking now? if so move on to the checks in my 16v troubleshooting guide
Could this cause my issue? This is the wire that's loose... PS, I know it looks like nothing is wrong, but that wire and plug actually are only a drawing. #profix
the ghost of wires past the extra red/black wire to that spade is the rev counter signal to the ISV controller, so it would affect the idle. it wouldn't stop the engine from running if floating free but if that wire is from the coil side and if the bare copper shorts to ground anywhere this will immediately kill the spark with it unplugged the isv controller will be in setup mode all the time, if the ignition was on when you were spinning the wheel about/fiddling and that wire could intermittently short to earth that would trigger a single spark from the coil which the ecu might also pickup and trigger the pump. or if you have the 8v fuel relay still that triggers the pump whenever it sees a rev counter signal so that would definitely trigger the pump every time you earth the red/black. might be a combo of events, degraded king lead/bad coil, red/black goes to ground either via shell or your hand, trigger spark and kick to hand
Nope. I thought it did, but no result yet. I reconnected the two wires, but the car kept running bad, to not at all. Seems like cold it wants to run, but without load. The moment I give it a little gas, or the car is running for a while, it dies. Haven't had much time to work on it these past days, probably will be something for after the holidays. But I will keep the thread updated.
Today got the chance to start crossing stuff off the list. WIth all the symptoms pointing towards a broken Hall Sender, I started checking the ignition. Measured the wires to see if there was something wrong there, and it all seemed fine. So went on to check for the ignition. While doing that, I just got a hunch to re-check the wires anyways, not with the multimeter, but by removing the covers, and bingo. The power-wire was torn and broken, and was sometimes making connection, and sometimes not. Explaining why it would start sometimes, and sometimes it wouldn't. After making a few stupid mistakes, that made me think I hadn't found the problelm yet, it turned out this broken tiny wire was in fact the reason. The car is purring like a kitty again! Thanks a lot you guys!
Not really, haha. Fuel pump started leaking now. So, replaced that, put it back, and had to replace a few lines. There is a new leak, so I'm hoping that's coming fromt he filter (10 bucks), and not the accumulator (200 somethings bucks). Guess at this age, and after this long of a standstill, everything just breaks at once. (Same goes for the car )
Yep 100% correct - they need to be driven but honestly if you were to let newer cars sit idle for any significant amount of time, they are even more of a nightmare. All those bloody electronics would make the car (and you) go completely ape sh!t when you try to resurrect them.
