Pick ya brains on Golf fueling

[LowStandards]

My mates just bought a mk1 golf, 1.6 carb engined, the problem is you can drive it 2-3 miles then it will cut out, open the bonnet and the fuel filter is dry, but the weird thing is, if you leave it a minute it fills back up again (without cranking engine over etc) and then the car will start and do another 2-3 miles, until it cuts out the engine runs and sounds fine...

Just had a new fuel pump, the only thing I can see is a lot of fuel going down the return to the tank, maybe the carb aint pulling enough through, but then why would it run dry?

Also you can rock the carb from side to side, should it be solidly mounted or is it on some kind of rubber damper?

Any ideas, i'm scratching my head here.

[CR500Dom]

There wont be a return to the tank on a carb motor

What there will be is a tank breather......... which is blocked

Loosen the filler cap and see if it still does the same thing - if it doesnt then you have found the problem ;D

[LowStandards]

Done that, it still died! though more fuel and less bubble were drawn through the filter!

Its def got a return to the tank, the mech fuel pump drags fuel from the tank, then into another unit which splits to the carb and the return feed. Maybe its single point injection? I only looked briefly by the side of the M1

[CR500Dom]

Take off the feed pipe and blow back down it with an airline....

MK1`s are notorious for rotting filler necks that deposit loads of curse word in the tank, sounds like if its not the breather it could have curse word in the bottom of the tank or fuel lines....

I had a transit that had the same problem, change filters often and blow back into the tank every now and then seemed to keep it clear

HTH
Dom

[LowStandards]

Cheers will give it a go and see what it does!

[Stu]

I'd agree with Dom, sounds like a problem with the fuel feed pipe from the tank, blow it out from the engine bay end to clear it. Also, make sure there's plenty of petrol in the tank as there'll most likely be all types of debris in the bottom of the tank to suck up.

Once you get it running I would hold it on a fast idle and drop some redex in the top of the carb, it will cause the exhaust to smoke a bit but will clean out the carb. Also you can undo a little fixing on the side of the carb and withdraw the main jet and drain the float chamber as there can be cr@p stuck in there too.

The carb shouldn't rock around too much, that will generally indicate a knackered gasket that will cause an air leak, what type of carb is it?

[LowStandards]

Its def a carb jobbie, but its def got a return to the tank! Is anyone else thinking its a bit of a mismatch affair? Should i take the feed straight from the pump to the carb?

[Dez]

plenty of carb cars have returns to the tanks, especially german stuff. i know stacklight mercs do, and the pinto in my wagon had had one originally too, so i assume some fords do.

the problem is more than likely it sucking curse word from the tank though, as has been said. when the engine cuts out the suction stops, then the debris fall off the end of the pipe and its clear again. to sort it properly, remove the tank, wash it out, then tankliner it. or just get another tank.

[ezzysi]

Just had the exact same problem with my other halfs mk1 1.8 carb golf.
As others said this turned out to be a rusty fuel filler pipe depositing curse word in the tank which in turn fouls up the pickup pipe, car stalls, no more suction in pipe so curse word falls back out and car will restart.... repeat until you get quite pi**ed off!

Put a new vw pipe in (a mere £140 bargain) but you can get repro ones that don't quite fit so well.
Then clear as much curse word out the tank with a magnet etc through the fuel sender hole located under the back seat, might have to pull tank out to clean properly and bang a decent inline filter in the engine bay.
Good luck mate.