My trusty (up to now!) 1987 Mk2 Golf GTi 8v 1800cc has given excellent service and is now on 217000 miles. It has developed an intermittent misfire which I thought was ignition so replaced the usual plugs/HT leads/Dist cap/rotor arm.
But no change, the car would misfire, in fact cutout but instantaneously come back to life meaning the car lurches for a few seconds then seems to recover. The fuel pump has been noisy for years but the misfire/cutouts seem to be related to when the noisy fuel pump whirr becomes an bit irregular. OK I thought, could be the fuel filter so changed that, then the fuel pump relay but still the same problem.
Tonight driving back from work the problem occurred whenever I went round a right hand bend, and was pretty repeatable.
Any ideas?? Is this likely to be a straightforward pump problem?? Any ideas gratefully received...
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I would change fuel pump before doing anything else. If it happens after that. look elsewhere..Ps is it original pump?
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Was mech1
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Yes it is the original pump, still confused as to why RH bends cause the problem. Thought maybe there could be some debris in the tank but I am sure that would not cause such repeatable misfires?..
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Fuel pressure (and hence the pump) is critical to the K-Jetronic system. If the pumps sounds like a wasps' nest them change it.
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I would bet on the fuel pump. Perhaps a dodgy electrical connection at the pump affected by right hand bends is causing the fault.
Anyhow, my friend used to have a 1984 Scirocco 1.8 GTI with a noisy pump you could hear buzzing at idle. He had constant problems with fuel starvation at higher revs and on the motorway, eventually cured by swapping the pump.
Great cars though, love the flexible 1.8 engine.
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On this model there are two fuel pumps one is a supply pump in the tank,the other is a pressure pump externally located.If the in tank pump is weak the pressure pump becomes noisy.I'd suggest examining the in tank pump.
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New one on me? as far as I remember only one pump is used.where is second pump?.Though I dont recall any motor has 2 pumps?.correct if wrong though doubt it
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Was mech1
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Check the rubber isolator gasket below the throttle body this often gives you this problem and a flat spot when pulling away as the engine movment open the gasket up and allows air in. Changed one a couple of weeks ago on a MKII Just ease the throttle body back at tick over and you may see the problem. MKII third party supplier MkII main dealer at £48 plus vat. Regards Peter
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Throttle body isolator gasker split and allows air in due to engine movement. Common fault. Regards Peter
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Sorry got an error message then I posted so thought I had lost the reply. however 200,000 is a lot for a poor old little pump. I have changed pumps on MKIII that seemed to fail on bends for reasons unknown. Previuos to changing the Pump an AA guy who was called out declared the distributor was to blame. and the owner had it changed only to find himself with a whole in the pocket and the same fault. Check the Gasket first then consider the the body to engine cable harness and the earth straps then the pump. Regards Peter
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IIRC these pumps are very close to the base of the tank .They use to partially come apart , thus sucking air from the top of the pump momentarily instead of fuel . Sounds like your problem to me .
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On the 16v there are deffinately two pumps. One draws the fuel up from the tank. It is accessed via the boot. There is a round plastic cover, remove that and pull the assembly out.
The main pump is under the car, its a big thing, and they are not cheap. I replaced both on my 16v at the same time when the main pump failed. I still have the lift pump i beleive, you can have it if you want, i dont think there is anything wrong with it, might help with trouble shooting?
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I had a nightmare problem of a mini cutting out on left hand bends many years ago.
Took me a year to sort it out. Had changed everything obvious, leads, rotor arm, dizzy cap, no change, stripped the carb and clraned it and it got slightly better. A refurbished carb made no change and niether did a new distributor.
Eventually tracked it down to number 1 spark plug going short circuit. The problem used to reappear every six months or so, but once I knew about it, it only cost me one new plug, instead of the fortune that I had spent previously searching for the fault.
Good luck with the search for your problem, I hope its easier to solve than mine was.
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I read often, only post occasionally
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Many thanks for the replies. I have eliminated the electrical system (although have not changed the coil) and think it is the fuel system due to the noisy pump and change in tone when the car is playing up. I will change the fuel pump this week and if no good will take Ben up on his offer to change the in-tank lift pump. The Haynes manual does not mention this in-tank pump but it is listed for all GTis in VW dealers lists and is sold by Euro Car Parts (or is it GSF?) for £20, as opposed to £90 for the main pump, so it is definitely there!
I had a surf and a couple of GTi sites mentioned possible faulty relays, notably the voltage control relay 109, and ECU relay 30, anyone have any thoughts on the possibility of these causing the symptons??
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Possible, but i dont think so. If it was the relay at fault i would expect it to cut out over big bumps in the road as well as right hand bends.
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