Unexciting car with a bit of a problem... Diagnose
Discussion
I have a 1.6 litre Golf Driver.
It's done about 85k miles so is still pretty low mileage for a Golf built in 1990, but it's been having no end of trouble. I'll try and describe some of the symptoms.
Recently it devleoped a terrible misfire which got even worse in the rain. If left on the driveway to idle the car would initially tick over as per usual but the idle speed would then gradually increase over a period of about ten minutes to what sounded like 3000RPM! At this point the engine would be running way hotter than usual, of course. After another five minutes the idle speed and engine temp would settle down again graudally, although the car would misfire and splutter a bit as it did so. Any attempts to drive the car during this 15/20 minute period would result in huge misfires and more often than not the car would stall under anything but the slightest opening of the throttle. Incidentally, when starting from cold the throttle feels very 'thick' and not very responsive at all until the car gets settled.
Recently the dizzy, rotor arm and (probably carbon fouled) spark plugs have been replaced and the problem has lessened considerably. Never the less, the stodgy feel from the accelerator pedal remains, as does the misfiring (although it is less severe). The engine also sounds a bit ropey and never seems to actually settle down to a perfectly smooth idle...
I can't really give a better description than that I'm afraid. Is there any chance somebody could hazard a guess at what might be wrong so I can fix the damn thing and then sell it?
It's done about 85k miles so is still pretty low mileage for a Golf built in 1990, but it's been having no end of trouble. I'll try and describe some of the symptoms.
Recently it devleoped a terrible misfire which got even worse in the rain. If left on the driveway to idle the car would initially tick over as per usual but the idle speed would then gradually increase over a period of about ten minutes to what sounded like 3000RPM! At this point the engine would be running way hotter than usual, of course. After another five minutes the idle speed and engine temp would settle down again graudally, although the car would misfire and splutter a bit as it did so. Any attempts to drive the car during this 15/20 minute period would result in huge misfires and more often than not the car would stall under anything but the slightest opening of the throttle. Incidentally, when starting from cold the throttle feels very 'thick' and not very responsive at all until the car gets settled.
Recently the dizzy, rotor arm and (probably carbon fouled) spark plugs have been replaced and the problem has lessened considerably. Never the less, the stodgy feel from the accelerator pedal remains, as does the misfiring (although it is less severe). The engine also sounds a bit ropey and never seems to actually settle down to a perfectly smooth idle...
I can't really give a better description than that I'm afraid. Is there any chance somebody could hazard a guess at what might be wrong so I can fix the damn thing and then sell it?
I should have mentioned it's a carb engine. My mistake.
The oil has just been changed, I topped up with coolant recently too, so everything there should be fine.
By running hot, I mean the engine temperature gauge runs up to about 3/4 hot, as opposed to it's usual running temperature of 1/4 hot. It nthen setlles back to normal temperature after about 20 minutes.
I'm thinking it's choke-related but I know sod all about cold start systems. I hope it's not the carb!
The oil has just been changed, I topped up with coolant recently too, so everything there should be fine.
By running hot, I mean the engine temperature gauge runs up to about 3/4 hot, as opposed to it's usual running temperature of 1/4 hot. It nthen setlles back to normal temperature after about 20 minutes.
I'm thinking it's choke-related but I know sod all about cold start systems. I hope it's not the carb!
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