i swear its trying to bleed me dry...!! :(

[-HellRaza-]

yo there,

                   i drive a silver 1991 1.3 mk2, 93,000 on the clock, no rust, and is completely mint  ... its been a great first car, really reliable, looks good, and is an alright drive...
NOW!, recently its been going through a few 'phases', the main one at the moment is the fact that it cant cope with driving for long periods of time (30mins-2hrs)... it seems to gradually decrease in power, and then switch to running on 3 cylinders!, then occasionally no cylinders... i stop the car, start it again and its fine... until it happens again! it also randomly goes from idling normally to conking out when im stopped (timing was done fairly recently)... which is a pain in the a!?e...

any ideas?!... i know i need a new alternator/fan belt, wud this solve it?! or cud there be more... the distributor, or the coil? dont really wanna spend huge amounts on fixing this thing as ive already spent too much (gearbox, clutch, 4 pistons, tyres, windscreen, brakes etc etc!!) and will be coming off the road soon to make way for my next car (hopefully an 8 valve  ), and so i can get it running properly in order to flog it...

                            any ideas wud be much appreciated!

                                           Alex

[benmk1]

have you done the basics?
new ht leads, rotor arm, cap, maybe the coil
checked the battery, all your earths, looked for dodgy/split wires

otherwise how long ago did ya get all that engine work done? it sould have some warranty

[KKK]

Hall sender in dizzy
Ignition amplifier
Carb flange gasket
Missing/faulty hot air feed to carb

All can give the symptoms you describe.  First three very difficult to trace, as fault is usually intermittent.

KKK

[1300mk2]

i would service the car. plugs plug leads dizzie cap rotor arm as it sounds like an ignition fault. if this doesn't solve it then replace the coil. out of interest why did you have to replace your pistons?

[-HellRaza-]

cheers guys, will have ago tomorrow, and report back...

                               

1300mk2 i had to replace the pistons after the cambelt decided to randomly disintergrate!... destroyed all 4  :'(!... expensive, but i just couldnt survive without the old girl so it had to be done...

[tinman]

try the above stuff - they are all very good ideas, especially the dist.

if that fails, check the coil. it is often overlooked.

[tobz.]

I would say you definately have problems with your carburettor. I've been reading up on the pierburg 2E3 recently in order to fix a niggly fault on my winter runabout. The general consensus is that the 2E3 is a great carb when properly setup but can be a pain in the @rse when things go wrong. The problem you describe is normally attributed to carb icing, you might wanna check the air temp sensor in the airbox, make sure the hot/cold air flap in the intake is operational, check the hot air intake to the exhaust manifold is intact, check all your vacuum lines for cracks/kinks.
While I was searching for info on a slightly different fault (poor cold running) with my 1.3 I came across this thread:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/?t=8799&v=f

It's centered on a slightly different fault but is a useful source of info about the carbs.
There is also stacks of info on these carbs on the VWmotoring mag technical forums:

http://www.vwmonline.co.uk/techforum/techform.asp

You probably need to search the archive though.

Hope this helps
Toby

[rubjonny]

Easy fix is to just wedge the flap half open with a screw, the flap is open 99.9% of the time anyway!

[JMallows]

When it stalls/you switch it off after longer periods of driving, how easy is it to start again? Mine is a bugger sometimes, then i tend to flood the engine a little  Also, are you driving along at lik 30 miles an hour average, or more lik 70? I find that if i drive at 65 it will start to do it after longer journrys, and if i floor it, it inda dies slowly, and really jerky. But if i dive at 30, it doesn't seem to do it as much, just at roundabouts where it stalls. If i'm gong along at 65, and i slow to 50 it does it then, but if i take it up to 80 slowly, it seems ok?

I'm thinknig of replacing the carb for manual choke, would solve all my problems!

Did they change the carb at some pint, cos u speak of the 2E3 carb, but i swear mine is a a 2E2 carb?

[tobz.]

I'm thinknig of replacing the carb for manual choke, would solve all my problems!

Did they change the carb at some pint, cos u speak of the 2E3 carb, but i swear mine is a a 2E2 carb?

The 2E2 is the carb that was fitted on 1.6 & 1.8 models it's a larger much more complicated beast of a carb. I'm sure the 2E2 was never used on the 1.3 if that's what you have on your car that may be the root of your problems.
The obvious fix is to stick a manual choke weber on but at ?200 it's a little bit pricey.
My girlfriend is currently experiencing a lot of trouble with the 2E2 on her 1.6 driver I have just bought her a reconditioned one from a guy on ebay for ?100. Now gotta fix the niggly problem with mine (choke pull down diaphragm) and swap hers over when the new one arrives.........ahh the joys of running an old dub