Hi,

My dad has a m reg 1.3 petrol forman pickup, which hes had for 6 months now, and has run OK, he then had the heather matrix replaced, and a few weeks down the line it cut out, and wouldnt start on a wet day. The next day i arrived at my dads, and it started but spluttery for a few seconds, then ran well! It now transpires that its done the same thing, and cut out and wouldnt start. Any help would be much appreciated. Please bare in mind, that the leads plugs and dizzy cap are all newish, and are in good nick.

the coil is quite prone to cracking the insulation inside it and arcing when damp, also could be the crank sensor,, (edit you say M reg but its prob still on a carb am i right?)

if carb check the white small swirl pot that is on the nsf of the carb these used to crack and would allow the fuel to leak instead of filling the carb.

could be the auto choke mechinism not working

or the distributer itself were prone to breaking down for no reason (hall effect dizzy)

the coil is quite prone to cracking the insulation inside it and arcing when damp, also could be the crank sensor,, (edit you say M reg but its prob still on a carb am i right?)

if carb check the white small swirl pot that is on the nsf of the carb these used to crack and would allow the fuel to leak instead of filling the carb.

could be the auto choke mechinism not working

or the distributer itself were prone to breaking down for no reason (hall effect dizzy)

Thanks pal! I will relay the info to my dad....thanks :-)

Thanks pal! I will relay the info to my dad....thanks :-)

I just spoke to my brother-in-law, who said, when it broke down last, he wiggled the small pack that is on the drivers side wing, which has the ht lead, which goes to the middle plug on the dizzy cap, and after a wiggle on the plug (pack end) it started, could it be that this small pack thingy is faulty? if so, are they a lot to buy new, if you can still get them? :-)

ok sounds like a monomotronic type coil then yes these do play up, if its like a cube with the main ign lead coming out and a plug with 3 wires in it , it is the same unit as fitted to most vw's from 1995 onwards so easily findable in a scrapyard

ok sounds like a monomotronic type coil then yes these do play up, if its like a cube with the main ign lead coming out and a plug with 3 wires in it , it is the same unit as fitted to most vw's from 1995 onwards so easily findable in a scrapyard

Great stuff, I will start with getting another and see what happens..process of elimination and all that. :-)

It now seems like it might not be the coil. It starts for a minute or so, then revs high, and irratic like the fuels about to run out, although the gauge reads 1/4 of a tank, then it cuts out. the fuel pump sounds lik its working fine, any ideas guys?

Brother-in-law looked at the spark plugs that arnt all that old, and they were black and sooty, so the mixture is out, he put new ones in and it ran OK for about ten mins idoling, then it started idoling erratically. Any ideas, is it a new ecu job, as you cant adjust the mixtyre on these can you?

Any help would be much appreciated. :-)

Temperature sensor? Thermostat? Fuel Pressure Regulator?

check the wiring to the ecu temp sensor which is screwed into the rear of th inlet manifold (no not the one on the thermostat housing) sometimes the wires break to the sensor causing a reading of -49

check the wiring to the ecu temp sensor which is screwed into the rear of th inlet manifold (no not the one on the thermostat housing) sometimes the wires break to the sensor causing a reading of -49

Thanks will do.

It has now had the ecu changed, and it still goes dead when engine is running at normal tempreture. It can go for a an hour OK, then the engine will cut out, and wont start till the next day. the only other thing I should add, is that we changed the head gasket on it a while back when we first put it back on the road, but didnt reskim the head, which looked pitted and channeled, could it be the head gasket doing it, but its not using any water.

Edited 12 April, 201016 yr by Raven1973

Thanks will do.

It has now had the ecu changed, and it still goes dead when engine is running at normal tempreture. It can go for a an hour OK, then the engine will cut out, and wont start till the next day. the only other thing I should add, is that we changed the head gasket on it a while back when we first put it back on the road, but didnt reskim the head, which looked pitted and channeled, could it be the head gasket doing it, but its not using any water.

Well, we thought it was the coil pack, but we have ruled this out. Its leaking water from the thermostat housing, and it is also now running too lean. We drove it until it got hot, and it went to cut out a couple of times. We did the tappets, as they were rattley, and its not so noisy. We were wondering if it can have anything to do with the black cylinder shaped unit next to the battery, it looks like some kind of vancum air box filter type thing, which was making some funny noises. what we did notice was when we took off the fuel cap, there seemed to be no noise, like there was no vacum. If it is the mixture, is there a screw on the carb that can be adjusted?

That black box thing is the charcoal canister. It is supposed to make funny clicking noises. It turns the unburnt fuel vapur into liquid and feeds it back into the tank from what I understand so doubt that is your problem.

To me it sounds like it could be the temp sender. If this is faulty it will give faulse temperature readings to the ECU and cause the ECU to run on "default" values (I.e. Cold!) and inject too much fuel.

I would also try things like replacing the HT leads if not already done ( I had some terrible running/stalling problems until I replaced these).

Wouldn't hurth giving the throttle body a clean (carefully!) and then reset the throttle body (leave battery disconnected overnight then re-connect, turn ignition on and leave for a minute).

I think like you say it is just a process of illimination tbh!

Has the fuel filter ever been changed?

Phil

Well, we thought it was the coil pack, but we have ruled this out. Its leaking water from the thermostat housing, and it is also now running too lean. We drove it until it got hot, and it went to cut out a couple of times. We did the tappets, as they were rattley, and its not so noisy. We were wondering if it can have anything to do with the black cylinder shaped unit next to the battery, it looks like some kind of vancum air box filter type thing, which was making some funny noises. what we did notice was when we took off the fuel cap, there seemed to be no noise, like there was no vacum. If it is the mixture, is there a screw on the carb that can be adjusted?

Thanks for the info Phil, without sounding really stupid, is the tempreture sensor the one on the radiator?

You confused me just then as just realised you mentioned a carb in your last post. The electronic fuel injection engines don't have a carb btw!

The temperature sender is on top of the thermostat housing. See here for details:

Third post down, second picture:

Temp sender

Edited 20 April, 201016 yr by philje123

You confused me just then as just realised you mentioned a carb in your last post. The electronic fuel injection engines don't have a carb btw!

The temperature sender is on top of the thermostat housing. See here for details:

Third post down, second picture:

Temp sender

Great stuff, I really appreciate your help on this. Its really annoying, as my poor old dad, is starting to get down hearted. It starts from a £250 pickup, and is now nearly standing him £700 in parts and stuff. Its just so frustrating that we dont know what it is, the plus is that its a simple engine, so it cant be much. Will sort that water leak out on the thermostat housing, as that might help, and do as you say, and see what happens..fingers crossed. :-)