Quick question about a golf engine bay
Discussion
My neighbour's mk2 golf has been sat in more or less the same place for a few months. Anyhow, I charged the battery up for her last night and started the engine this morning. Its not running too smoothly, the exhaust 'phuts' every so often, and sometimes when revving you get a bit of a pop from the exhaust.
I noticed in the engine bay that a couple of pipes appear to be missing from around the air filter:
Can somebody who knows about this engine please confirm that there are indeed 2 pipes missing?
>>> Edited by parrot of doom on Tuesday 19th April 11:37
I noticed in the engine bay that a couple of pipes appear to be missing from around the air filter:
Can somebody who knows about this engine please confirm that there are indeed 2 pipes missing?
>>> Edited by parrot of doom on Tuesday 19th April 11:37
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=9873&item=4543484644&rd=1
I think thats the same car. The 'phutting' isn't a massive problem, the engine seems to idle and rev smoothly enough. I'll get my mate to service it for her, she hardly uses it anyway. I told her to drive it at least once a week to stop the battery going flat again.
I think thats the same car. The 'phutting' isn't a massive problem, the engine seems to idle and rev smoothly enough. I'll get my mate to service it for her, she hardly uses it anyway. I told her to drive it at least once a week to stop the battery going flat again.
deltafox said:
Yup. The missing pipes are just a cold feed from under the wing and a hot feed piped from around the exhaust.
Dont really need em as it dosent usually get cold enough in this country.
I see you have the old Pierburg carb fitted too. Yuk!
Your bums out the window with this one DF!!
This looks like a 1600 Driver engine; the Pierburg's a great carb, beautifully designed and lasts forever if you look after it.
The trick is to keep it clean, inside and out, and to ensure that ALL equipment around it is properly maintained and installed.
The two broken and missing hoses from the air filter are VITAL, even in the summer!!
The first is the pre-heat pipe that runs from the exhaust manifold heat exchanger to the air filter vacuum housing. (Four quid from GSF)
The second is the ambient air pipe that runs from the same housing but to an adaptor with a small air trumpet that improves airflow to the carb, particularly at high revs.
The carb is jetted up to run with an accurately controlled air inlet temperature; it won't do so with these pipes removed, and in actual fact will ice up in winter and stop the engine!
The fast idle control units and the choke butterfly are also designed to respond to temperature so these are also affected.
There are various small vacuum pipes on the carb and air filter assembly that MUST be correctly fitted and air tight; there should be a wee diagram on the underside of the bonnet showing you the routing for the pipes. Chack that this is correct and they're OK.
If the above is carried out properly, your wee Golf will run like a sweety!
towman said:I've often heard of this carb icing up problem but can say I've never suffered it on either my carbed RS125 bike or my twin Webered Tiger. Both were driven through winter and in sub zero temperatures and neither suffered the problem
Spot on. Number of motorway breakdowns I`ve attended where it "just cut out" and then starts first time when I get there. Doesn`t even have to be really cold because of the wind chill factor.
towman said:
and in actual fact will ice up in winter and stop the engine!
Spot on. Number of motorway breakdowns I`ve attended where it "just cut out" and then starts first time when I get there. Doesn`t even have to be really cold because of the wind chill factor.
Happens more when it is just above freezing but with plenty of moisture in the air, just like a British summer.
Man, all you people talking about sheared manifold bolts etc need to read the first post. Its been sat unused in the same place for a couple of months. Its hardly surprising its not running spot on but I hardly think that thats the place to start! clean plugs + a spot of carb cleaner would probably see it right again.
KITT said:
Spot on. Number of motorway breakdowns I`ve attended where it "just cut out" and then starts first time when I get there. Doesn`t even have to be really cold because of the wind chill factor.
I've often heard of this carb icing up problem but can say I've never suffered it on either my carbed RS125 bike or my twin Webered Tiger. Both were driven through winter and in sub zero temperatures and neither suffered the problem
My seven is forever suffering from iced carbs - I quite often seal up the bonnet bulge to stop it from happening if the weather is a bit chilly. It one of the reasons I want to move to fuel injection.
Kingr
lanciachris said:
Man, all you people talking about sheared manifold bolts etc need to read the first post. Its been sat unused in the same place for a couple of months. Its hardly surprising its not running spot on but I hardly think that thats the place to start! clean plugs + a spot of carb cleaner would probably see it right again.
I was refering to the crackle in the exhaust, on bog standard car engines this is usually caused by a small air leak on the exhaust side. The reason I know this is because the wife had a VW Jetta many years ago, which had similarly been butchered by a hammer mechanic and also had sheared bolts on the exhaust manifold.
That said, with regards to general running, you're probably right, it isnt the place to start.
xm5er said:
Man, all you people talking about sheared manifold bolts etc need to read the first post. Its been sat unused in the same place for a couple of months. Its hardly surprising its not running spot on but I hardly think that thats the place to start! clean plugs + a spot of carb cleaner would probably see it right again.
I was refering to the crackle in the exhaust, on bog standard car engines this is usually caused by a small air leak on the exhaust side. The reason I know this is because the wife had a VW Jetta many years ago, which had similarly been butchered by a hammer mechanic and also had sheared bolts on the exhaust manifold.
That said, with regards to general running, you're probably right, it isnt the place to start.
Sorry lads, I forgot to deal with this point.
This engine looks like it's a '90 model so it will have a "clipped" front pipe; i.e. there are two large, very strong clips that secure the front pipe to the manifold so that it can pivot on a spherical seal as the engine moves on it's mountings.
These come loose or the seal leaks causing the exhaust noise. But remember, on a carb engine it cannot compensate for discrepancies the way that injection can.
So everything has to be correct, including the whole exhaust system, otherwise the backpressure in the system is affected; the nearer the manifold that the leak is, the worse the effect of the leak on the state of tune of the engine.
So it IS important that the exhaust is right!
Just to put you in the picture about carb freezing.
Towman is quite right about the wind chill factor, although there is no actual wind inside the engine bay, there is increased air speed.
There are two problems directly associated with this; the humidity on the day and the speed of the vehicle.
As Towman also said, he is doing these sort of breakdowns on the motorway, but that's not just because the vehicle is travelling faster. To do so it requires a great deal more air through the carb.
If the humidity level is high then the moisture is carried into the mouth of the carb where the air speed is instantly and dramatically increased due to the narrowing of the inlet chamber, therefore the mass is increased and the vapour in the air instantly freezes, closing off the fuel jets and stopping the engine.
You can drive in Canada in January at 20 below and your carb won't ice up coz there's absolutely no humidity; it's bone dry!
So that's why there is so much discrepancy in when the carb(s) will ice up.
You also tend to find that carbs with a smaller venturi are more prone to icing.
The Golf carb is a twin choke with the primary choke being small to encourage good economy and low speed emissions, and the secondary being much larger for performance past half throttle.
But let me emphasise again that when these engines are properly set up they drive perfectly anywhere in all weathers and with absolute reliability.
parrot of doom said:
Well I've just spoken to a mate of mine with more than 40 years experience fixing cars. He said not to worry about the pipes, and if the exhaust is faulty its probably cheaper to scrap the car.
So thats that
Now you know why I left the motor trade!
Good God Almighty!! Another "expert"!
Hes been a mechanic for a living, for that length of time, and hes also repaired most of the cars in his neighbourhood and in his community, hes the kind of mechanic that repairs parts rather than binning them. He most certainly knows his stuff, and I trust him more than any high street garage you could care to mention.
So, forgive me for being blunt, but I'll take his recommendation any day.
So, forgive me for being blunt, but I'll take his recommendation any day.
parrot of doom said:
Hes been a mechanic for a living, for that length of time, and hes also repaired most of the cars in his neighbourhood and in his community, hes the kind of mechanic that repairs parts rather than binning them. He most certainly knows his stuff, and I trust him more than any high street garage you could care to mention.
So, forgive me for being blunt, but I'll take his recommendation any day.
Well, I'll tell you what we'll do "Parrot", on this public forum for the whole world to read, let's contact VWs technical department in Germany; that's right, the same company that I did all the relevant courses with that helped to accrue my 35 years experience.
We'll put it to them that some mechanic in England, backed up by his faithful customers are prepared to argue with a qualified engineer and the whole of the VW design team who are obviously incompetent tossers, because they don't need pre-heat pipes on a Golf.
If the carb freezes in winter all you have to do is get your trusty Zippo out and stick the flame under the carb fuel chamber and that'll thaw it out.
Then if you and the trusty customer happen to survive the incident by some divine intervention, your mechanic can always hit the same "trusty customer" with a huge call out and tow charge!
Aha!! That's why he leaves the pre-heat pipes off!!!
For God's sake, waken up man!
parrot of doom said:
Well I've just spoken to a mate of mine with more than 40 years experience fixing cars. He said not to worry about the pipes, and if the exhaust is faulty its probably cheaper to scrap the car.
So thats that
Scrap it??
Ok the cool air & warm air pipes, only pence anyway, & not a cause for odd running in current aimient temps, & if it needs a exhaust manifold its not big dosh down the scrappers anyway, & not sure if a GTi manifold fit, but if it will I'll flog you one of mine for a tenner! even if you have to pay some one else to fit it for you it they shoudlnt charge you more than an hours labour max (sheared bolts encountered aside that is)
If he ment inlet manifold- they should be equally cheap at a scrappers & far easer to fit.
Anyway I reckon a darn good service inc- geting the tining checked, plugs, rotor arm & cap, (do they have points on those engines? I think not but can't remember) air filter- if it needs it, fuel filter, maybe a set of leads & a tin of carb cleaner sprayed in the carb while shes running & it'll be top banana.
Oh Coils are not always the greatest on old VWs either, but not sure its ya issue this time- sounds more air leak/electrical miss/timing issue.
>> Edited by iguana on Thursday 21st April 02:12
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