Acceleration hesitation / Will no longer start

[InsightMusic]

Hi all,

Driving a 91 Mk2 Golf GL 1.8 carb.

Had an issue late last year where the car would struggle to accelerate (would often stall when applying the accelerator) but I got that fixed, well for 6 months anyway.

It happened again today, but this time it completely killed the car, had to be towed home by the RAC.

I knew it was going to happen, it's been absolutely fine but then today when I was on the A1 there was a real lack of power, accelerating hard was stalling the car.

Made it to a car park before boom, it died and wouldn't start. Ignition was turning over but there was nothing.

The RAC guy couldn't find the fault. The fuel pump was fine, spark plugs were fine, starter motor was fine, in fact everything was working well which is why we were so confused.

The issue last time was the fuel filter, but it's not the case this time. The carb is a Weber that is only 12 months old.

Does this sound like an ignition issue? I can't get my head around it. My car always stinks of fuel however, so I initially thought the pump had gone, but fuel is making its way fine to the carb.

Sorry for the essay!

Thanks.

[lemski]

Theres a mechanical pump on the engine. On a mates scirroco it just died but next morning fired straight up.

Other thing to check is the rubber carb mount. Im sure it would let it run and idle if split though.

And lastly ign amplifier in the scuttle but thatll cause a no spark issue

[InsightMusic]

I've noticed that I must have had a pretty substantial oil leak yesterday at some point as my oil level today is seriously low.

I'm not sure how a mechanical fuel pump works, but I know it's fitted into the front of the engine block. Would the lack of oil refuse a car to start up, or have the fuel pump not work correctly?

[lemski]

Wouldnt have thought. But i know the heat can cause problems on mechanical pump.
Have you tried to start today?

[InsightMusic]

Strangely yes, we got the car running, but it baffled me even more.

The timing was way out, we changed the leads around on top of the dizzy and lined them up with the timing belt. Then like that it fired up first time, with the engine turning over well. The only difference were the revs were sitting a little lower than usual.

At least it runs now. I have a replacement engine were fitting later this year, it's in a lot cleaner condition with less miles. My cylinder head has become filthy, so I'm kinda looking forward to switching that out.