MK2 GTI 16V ENGINE TROUBLE PLEASE HELP

[sidecarphil]

yeah and the silly sod had it for sale 

[DarnPB]

yeah and the silly sod had it for sale 

Only to replace it with a Porsche 911 though. Justifiable change me thinks! Still gonna happen, but not just yet.

[rubjonny]

yeah that sounds like you have a wiring fault to the coil and/or dizzy... I do indeed have a 16v, unfortunatly I'm busy this weekend though
I'd start by poping off the plug to the ignition controller and TCI thingy under the plastic cover at the very top of the engine bay, driver side.  make sure the pins on these are free of any corrosion.  then look at the coil which is the round thing where the middle spark plug wire from the distributor goes to, check all the wires here are in good nick.  Then look at all the wiring to the side/rear of the head itself, look at any earth cables brown or brown white, and check any sensor wires for damage.

[shaunmk2gti]

Put jump leads off my van to golf this morning as still waiting for my mechanic to collect it. It started straight away ticked over nicely for about 10 seconds rev counter dropped to zero then cut out. After this it wouldnt start again. F

[shaunmk2gti]

Fuel pump is buzzing when i turn the ignition on so dont think its that so it must be an ignition or electrical problem. Going to check plugs and leads dizzy looks ago as it wasnt put on long ago 

[rubjonny]

is it buzzing loudly?

[shaunmk2gti]

Yeah mate really loud you could hear it outside the car when it was running

[rubjonny]

ah, sounds like its about to die and/or the lifter pump has packed in so its starved of fuel.  Pull the electrical plug off it and turn the key 1 click, you should hear the in-tank lifter pump prime.

[shaunmk2gti]

Okay mate will have a look so do you reckon its letting a little bit of fuel through thats why it started again for a few seconds then cut out. I hope thats the problem as want to get it fixed.

[rubjonny]

yeah k-jet needs a very high pressure before fuel will even get past the injectors (around 5 bar)  If the main is damaged or starved of fuel it wont be able to maintain this pressure.  I had similar symptoms but in my case it was a blocked fuel filter, so its worth swapping that for a cheap and quick fix!
Its also possible for the lift pump to make a noise but still be bust, so my test above isnt conclusive (woo big scientific soundy word ) unless the pump doesnt make any noise at all!