some kind of cut out going on???

[jooodge]

recently purchased my first Mk1 Cab and cant speak highly enough of it........  talk about feel and experience the drive as well as look the busniess at the same time!!! have stumbled accross this forum that has some quality info. have already done some work on the car to restore it including new outer roof and sandblasted the orginal alloys. I am wondering if any of you peops out there can help me with a slight prob i am encountering though. Basically i can be driving along at any speed and suddenly i will lose all power and throttle. breaks, steering and gear change all remain fine but i just lose all power even if i really work the throttle.. then suddenly after drifting down through the gears and slowly coming to a gradual halt the power seems to kick back in again sharply in an instant and i am back with full power blasting down the road. When i lose the power the battery light is on constantly until power resumes... i have heard that MK1 electrical faults are common but not sure if this is related... any advice well appreciated and keep up the quality forum...

[Madone_si]

that sounds to me like one of the relays is not working properly - does it happen when you are driving after a while - the car is warmed up or when it is from a cold start - say with-in first 15 minutes of driving?

Full details on relays and fuses are at - http://dana.ucc.nau.edu/~kaw5/electrical.htm

[gibby]

With madone on this, check your fuel  pump relay as this can cause problems. Can you start the car straight away when you've had this problem ? When I had this on mine I had to wait for five minutes or so for the relay to cool down before it would start again.  It's a bit dangerous when the damn thing cuts out while driving so I'd say it's deffo fuel related, maybe stating the obvious, but if it's not the relay then it could be the fuel pump. To know if the fuel pump and the relay is working, listen out for a whurr by the offside rear wheel that's where the fuel pump is. if it whurrs it should start, if it doesn't then it's probably the relay, try pulling it out and cleaning up the connections and see if that helps. 

[jooodge]

hey..thanks for yor replies, muchos appreciated..... its a real weird one cos the car starts straight afterwards and should be warm when it happens ie at the very least 10 mins of driving including moterway... is this is a simple thing to sort out guys?

[gibby]

Simple if it is the fuel relay switch, just take the old one out and replace with a new one, see the website in the previous post for which one it is. Try Euro Car Parts or German Swedish and French before VAG as they will sell the relays cheaper. You sound like you have a similar problem I had but not exactly, I had the car cut out on me while driving but it wouldn't start again straight away. Price up a new relay and change that, at least you can then take that out of the equation if the problem persists. 

[jooodge]

yeh nice one gibby makes sense..... there is a german swedish store near where i live... will check it out this weekend... shouldnt cost much for a relay switch.. hopefully it will sort it out cos i wanna go to stonor park meeting on sunday..

[gibby]

Let us know how you get on.  There's a few from here going to stoner park on Sunday, might be an ideal time to meet up with some of them, have a look in the shows and events section on this forum.  In the mean time though, why not try taking the old relay out and cleaning up the connections, that's all it might need. 

[jooodge]

will do that mate.... however, as an update i have just spoken to my local german swedish and the chap there reckons that the prob is with the fuel pipe... apparantly this is a common problem whereby the fuel pipe rusts near to the entrance and fragments of broken metal get into the system and start to infiltrate and cut off the injection system. looks like i might have to get a new pipe at £90!!! goddam!! i have checked and there is rust and would be a prob in the future but still not definately sure if this is a problem now and the cut out is instead due to fuel pump relay switch or fuel pump itself. this guy also said that i can check wether or not the fuel pump is broken by bridging relays 85 and 86. if it makes a noise its fine, if not then apprantly its gone!!!
in regards to sunday.. i think i am definately gonna try and make it. have any of you  guys got a contact or a rendezvous point if you wanted to meet up at all?

[gibby]

Aye rusty fuel filler necks are also a problem with mk1s, I need to change mine at some point.  Horney has sorted out the stoner park meet from this side and he replied to your thread in the shows and events section, PM him and meet up with him but you need 10 posts before you can read and send PMs so get posting.