I have golf 1.3, 1988.
Causing me trouble is an intermittent fault with the engine spark.
I could be driving along and suddenly the engine will stop, other times it wont start in the morning when it cold, sometimes I could stop the car for five mins when the engine is hot and it may not start again. Neither does it matter if the weather is wet or dry.
I know what the problem is, but not the remedy.
When this happens the car has no spark, so every time when this happens I disconnect the HT lead from the distributor and earth that end of the lead to the engine block.
I leave the other end connected to the coil and turn the ignition key to see if there is a spark produced by the coil. (note I don't turn the engine over I just turn the ignition on and off) to see if there is any current coming from the coil.
When I do see a spark then I reconect the HT lead and the car will start first time.
I have changed these parts individually to find out what the problem could be.
The (ignition coil, the ignition switch, and the ignition module) (the one near to the windscreen motor).
I have also cleaned all the earths I can find.
Sometime there is no problem for 2 or 3 days and suddenly its back again.
I do have one idea left and that is it may be the ht lead itself the one from the coil to the distributor.
Does anyone else have an idea; has anyone else had a similar problem and solved it?
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After 1.5 seconds of not seeing the engine moving, the ignition stop making sparks, so your ignition prognosis could be unjustified. Have you considered carb icing? Or new HT leads?
Mark
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Ht stops when the engine stops as the hall effect sensor stops seeing rotation. This fault sounds like the Hall effect sensor quite common. How can you have carb icing when starting from cold. Regards Peter
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I don't see any need for that last comment TBQFH....It's entirely possible with this type of car and the current weather conditions that damp starting and carb icing problems have started silmutaniously.
nelson: it might be worth getting the car running on tickover and wobbling all the ignition (LT, not HT) cables to try and reproduce the fault to locate a cable break. With some early hall senders there are some fragile exposed cables within the hall sender body which can give problems.
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Is this not the ABD engine with Monotronic injection and a 'hedgehog' heater These throttle bodies do not suffer icing and as I said 'not from cold' They only ice up if the hedgehog heater has failed, possible, and the airflow and humidity are just right. This car was bred in Bavaria where the winters are fairly severe. From memory the heater should measure about 2 to 3 ohms. Regards Peter
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Either fuel pump (very cheap) or hall sender (bit more costly). Both common faults on these.
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... They only ice up if the hedgehog heater has failed, possible, and the airflow and humidity are just right....
This is not true. The warm air feed from the exhaust manifold is a much more important part of the anti-icing system. The Hedgehog is only operated for the warm up period on most models, so is no defence at all. Also, Steve Cresswell of C&R Enterprises has suggested in a VW motoring magazine that the warm air feed from the exhaust is so important that it doesn't work effectivly enough if you replace the original VW insulated pipe with uninsulated plain aluminium pipe.
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The OP states "When this happens the car has no spark, so every time when this happens I disconnect the HT lead from the distributor and earth that end of the lead to the engine block."
So we have an ignition problem. The Hall effect sensor could be the cause of this. If all power feeds and wiring is all OK then this needs checking out. The last one I fixed I only proved it was the sensor by fitting a brek out connector and running the car from cold with a scope hooked up to the sensor output and sure enough the car stopped and on cranking there was no output from the sensor. I assume that when the car starts it runs straight away as though nothing had been wrong. I as this as is it is the sensor that there will not be any fuel being injected. however if it is the coil, amp or the wiring then the car when restarted would be rich and lumpy for a few seconds. Regards Peter
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Thank you all for your help, It ended up being the hall sender, all is well now, thx again.
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Were you able to buy a new sensor. I heard of some people being told that they no longer sell just the sensor a new dizzy was the only way. Glad your running again. Regards Peter
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