Pulling Away Dead Spot?

hypojam · Post by **hypojam** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 7:49 pm

When i pull away at a junction the car almost dies, but then it saves itself and runs like normal, This is causing the car to kangaroo about every time i stop and try to pull away

My dad thinks its something to do with the accelerator pump, is the pump adjustable atall?

Anyone else have any ideas?

Any help is greatly appreciated

yolmol · Post by **yolmol** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:18 pm

could be a dodgy idle, or something sticking?

When i used to drive the mk2 every now and again i would blast some carb cleaner down the port, seems to make it run sweeter even if it doesnt fix ur problem!!

marktwo · Post by **marktwo** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 11:21 pm

Sounds like fuel starvation to me. When was the little fuel filter last replaced? The other possibility is that small rubber pipes can rot over a period of time. I had a Mk1 that did a similar thing , finally conked out when I was returning home with a Chinese takeaway about 1/2 mile from home! Turns out there was a small rubber hose under the carb that had rotted through, (the ones that are braided on the outside). Check the obvious also i.e the vacuum pipe from the distributor is on properly and that the coil connections are clean and inside distributor cap. Keep us posted, Mark.

hypojam · Post by **hypojam** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:04 am

The car runs superbly once its moving, just the initial pulling away from junctions in 1st it doesn't seem to agree with..

I think the whole carb could do with a proper service, but until then i will try some carb cleaner to see if that helps

omicron · Post by **omicron** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:43 am

Are we talking a dip in power as you bring the clutch up, or as you're driving?

hypojam · Post by **hypojam** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 7:42 am

omicron wrote:Are we talking a dip in power as you bring the clutch up, or as you're driving?

Yes, if i don't keep abnormally high revs when pulling away the car almost stalls...

Please tell me this ain't normal?

omicron · Post by **omicron** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 4:32 pm

Probably just needs a tune, worst case a set of plugs and leads and a carb rebuild. Have a look at your plug condition, if you're changing them, do the leads too. If that doesn't work, find a garage with someone who knows old cars and how to tickle a carb just right (probably be a little village garage with some old boy who's been working there for a 100 years) and get them to have a look.

The Formel E does have very tall gearing, so that could possibly be a factor, but I didn't think 1st was that high in them. Does your clutch feel ok?

hypojam · Post by **hypojam** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 6:59 pm

Problems have got worse!

Idle revs are very very rough, lots of misfiring, engine stops when i take the power off

Engine runs pretty well when i give it half or more throttle!

Ignition system is fine.. Is there any adjustments that can be made on the carb to fix this problem?

hypojam · Post by **hypojam** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 8:00 pm

The rubber block the carb sits on looked abit perished, would this cause these symptoms?

hypojam · Post by **hypojam** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 9:30 am

Found the problem, fuel mixture screw wasn't set properly causing the engine to burn super lean when idling

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 2:35 pm

its that bloody carburettor again

i wonder, it's not the automatic engine stopper/starter system playing you up, is it? one of the tricks VW engineered into the formel to save fuel. 23 year old electronics arent always the most reliable!
(same for the mix, i think? supposed to *slightly* lean, with a pretty stingy main jet, as it was an 'eco' car)

1st shouldn't be very much different from that on the regular car, but 4th is more like a regular 5th gear, with 2nd and 3rd stretched out to match.
(for that, ignore what i said about the rpms in the other post - they're well different for the formel E... about 14 or 15mph/1000 in 3rd and around 19-20 in top)

hypojam · Post by **hypojam** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 5:03 pm

Doesn't seem so 'eco' to me, I put Â£22 worth of fuel in the tank and two days(220miles) later it was all gone

Anyone know where to buy new carb jets from?

omicron · Post by **omicron** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 5:47 pm

Using ballpark figures, and not knowing what you pay for fuel, that's 50mpg, so not a bad figure. I think the basic concept of the Formel E was something that was more economical than the average Polo under city driving conditions. So If you're, for example, sitting in top at 70mph on a dual carriageway, there's no real reason it should be better than a normal 1.3, in fact, it's slightly restricted induction system may in fact make it a little worse.

Tahrey1043 wrote:its that bloody carburettor again

i wonder, it's not the automatic engine stopper/starter system playing you up, is it? one of the tricks VW engineered into the formel to save fuel. 23 year old electronics arent always the most reliable!
(same for the mix, i think? supposed to *slightly* lean, with a pretty stingy main jet, as it was an 'eco' car)

1st shouldn't be very much different from that on the regular car, but 4th is more like a regular 5th gear, with 2nd and 3rd stretched out to match.
(for that, ignore what i said about the rpms in the other post - they're well different for the formel E... about 14 or 15mph/1000 in 3rd and around 19-20 in top)

I may be wrong as I don't have any direct experience of these cars, but, I don't think the revised Mk2 Formel E had SSA. It was very much just a normal 1.3 with a slightly restricted induction system and tall gears.

As the 23 year old electronics goes, I'm pretty sure they're Bosch built, so they shouldn't be bad, vacuum systems on the other hand.... well, most of us have been there, so lets not talk about them

hypojam · Post by **hypojam** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 7:12 pm

Mine has SSA, MPG Gauge, Gear Change LED and the super long gears

omicron · Post by **omicron** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 8:47 pm

Nice