The Burd's MK1 Golf Rivage - Cleaned and Prepped for Use 01/05/25

[320touring]

A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, The Burd and I went to see the Skizzer to start getting a MK1 Golf Convertible that had been off the road for 10years..

After a couple of sessions in deepest darkest Wales , coupled with some sterling help and fettling by Skizzer himself, it was time for us to head down and bring the thing back up.

 

This went well:

New tyres were procured and fitted

The in-game tank pump was pulled out and a new filter fitted

 

Then I got in touch with my Inuit side, using brand new* magnets to undertake "tank shite" fishing

A full check over and a couple of test drives showed it fit to play.

We set off for sunny Oswestry, only to have both front calipers sticking after 120 miles. Some water and time to collect down saw them free off and cause no further problems.

 

Upon getting just past Tebay, it started running rough - nicking into Todhills rest area and luzzing in 10L of fuel had it running bang on for the next 70miles before it died.

This was the final scene on the way home.

I got to bed at 00:45, and left it to sit until today.

[chaseracer]

?

[320touring]

How it looks when it's not pissing it down

 

[320touring]

Today, I set to trying to figure out what was up..

Firstly, I approached carefully so as not to startle it

I opened the door and marvelled at the aroma - old convertible with a hint of damp and petrol.

 

these Rivage editions are an odd spec-

Hydraulic roof

1.8 GTi engine

Full leather interior Inc GTi dials/MFA

heated seats

Electric front windows

15" alloys 

 

But no power steering or central locking.

 

Despite appearances, it's a lovely place to sit, and should respond well to some cleaning.

[320touring]

The car started and idled, which meant I could turn it off, so I could put the hydraulic hood down.

This made getting to the new fuel tank that was on the back seat much easier.

Once again, a mega thanks to Skizzer Motors Inc - a wheen of parts were supplied to keep me occupied..

First port of call was to check the in tank pump and make sure there were no blockages.

This necessitated building tools to extract the filter - it popped off whilst wiggling the pump assembly through the tank

Eventually the pump was out and tested, no blockages and it seemed to be firing fine. Swapping over to the old in tank pump didn't yield any improvement either.

The external pump could be felt running.

Time to move up front.

[320touring]

At this point, shit got all fancy - k-jetronic with a super fangled fuel metering head.

In essence, the fuel enters into the metering head. There are 4 lines that Feed the injectors. 

The metering head has a pin inside it that moves up/down and regulates the fuelling to injectors - this is controlled by a plate on an arm that sits in the air intake.

When engine vacuum increases, the plate gets pulled up, moves the arm and forces the metering pin to move. (A bit like the boost referencing pinon a Bosch diesel fuel pump)

I don't have pictures, but imagine hell with stainless steel braided fuel lines and you'll not be far off.

 

[320touring]

I spent some time picking/prodding and cleaning, eventually getting it to idle and revert.

 

However the revs are not clean, and it missfires.

Vids below

 

At the moment, my thoughts are

1. Ignition side issue (sparkplugs are new)

2. Fuelling issue

3. The timing isn't right - possibly an issue with the dizzy or belt (belt was replaced in June)

 

Anyone any thoughts?

 

Cheers

[3VOM]

Where's the fuel filter? Certainly Mk3s have one under the car that never gets swapped in cheap services.

Have you got one of the rare ones with a cat?

Timing belt being out might fix everything when corrected. Which engine is it?

https://vwgolfmk1.org.uk/index.php?page=cedi&type=misc&id=27

I've always had one of these on my "eccentric millionaire" list, but with a 1.5 diesel engine.

[320touring]

Fuel filter is next to the metering head and is in the engine bay. It's also new.

 

Thanks for the link- will give it a look 

[hairnet]

Chips.or.cake.in the AFM

*runs

 

[Skizzer]

It’s the DX engine.

Timing is a possibility, though it wasn’t running any better before Alex did the belt (actually much worse, but at least partly for fuel-related reasons).

HT leads and dizzy cap?

[3VOM]

7 minutes ago, 320touring said:

Fuel filter is next to the metering head and is in the engine bay. It's also new.

I wondered if it was that but thought I'd better ask. I think I can also answer another question the engine is a DX?

Edit: Skizzer beat me to it.

[Skizzer]

My simple brain thinks if it's popping at the throttle body like in the first video then there must be fuel/air mix that’s not exploding inside the cylinder. Which suggests ignition rather than fuel.

[Skizzer]

Look at me, aren’t I the expert now it’s not mine to fix?

?

[Skizzer]

Oh by the way, I found the missing wheel centre cap.  It had rolled under the Victor.

I’ll chuck it in the post to you in the week.

[320touring]

7 minutes ago, Skizzer said:

It’s the DX engine.

Timing is a possibility, though it wasn’t running any better before Alex did the belt (actually much worse, but at least partly for fuel-related reasons).

HT leads and dizzy cap?

 

4 minutes ago, Skizzer said:

My simple brain thinks if it's popping at the throttle body like in the first video then there must be fuel/air mix that’s not exploding inside the cylinder. Which suggests ignition rather than fuel.

I think it may be ignition related as you say.

My plan going forward is check leads/new cap and arm and see what happens.

 

[Steviemillar]

It's worthwhile checking the engine/box to body earths too?

i did have running problems very similar to your Golfs with a Capri 2.8i with the K-Jet system a few years ago. It would idle no bother but would stall when trying to move away, the car had been laid up 4/5 years from memory. After much head scratching, it turned out that the metal return pipe at the fuel tank was almost completely clogged up, which was limiting any fuel coming back from the metering unit into the tank. Maybe worth a check.

 

[cort16]

The car looks great . It sounds like an ignition issue but weird it ran okay when you luzed more fuel in it.

[Matty]

23 hours ago, 320touring said:

How it looks when it's not pissing it down

 

Good looking  car that

[Vince70]

23 hours ago, 320touring said:

Today, I set to trying to figure out what was up..

Firstly, I approached carefully so as not to startle it

I opened the door and marvelled at the aroma - old convertible with a hint of damp and petrol.

 

these Rivage editions are an odd spec-

Hydraulic roof

1.8 GTi engine

Full leather interior Inc GTi dials/MFA

heated seats

Electric front windows

15" alloys 

 

But no power steering or central locking.

 

Despite appearances, it's a lovely place to sit, and should respond well to some cleaning.

You forgot to mention no brakes lol.

I had a lovely GTi CC edition in white and my father borrowed it for a week and said the thing never had any brakes but I did let him know that all convertible MK1s were like that.

I also bought a very cheap Mk2 GTi (£150) which ran like a dream and the plan was to do a rear disk conversion onto the cabriolet but I never got round to doing it but it did donate it’s head and gearbox to keep the cabriolet going.

Also mine ran like shite for about 6 months and would just randomly cut out and I spent a fortune trying to trace the problem with garages just throwing parts at it and in the end I found  out it was only the fuel hose getting kinked up when going over the bump on my drive.

[320touring]

As an E30 driver, I'm used to 80s German brakes..

 

This stops ok , but will be due a refresh once it is able to get up to speed

[EssDeeWon]

Hi 320.  Have you checked the condition of the fuel filler neck?  

[320touring]

2 minutes ago, EssDeeWon said:

Hi 320.  Have you checked the condition of the fuel filler neck?  

I know that Skizzer had it replaced - nice and shiny inside and out:)

[EssDeeWon]

Ok good.  These also suffer with rusty fuel lines.  

[bunglebus]

Nice looking Golf. Hope you get it sorted, K-Jetronic is fairly simple but they suffer with age. Think XR3Is etc used the system on the CVH.

[Skizzer]

29 minutes ago, EssDeeWon said:

Hi 320.  Have you checked the condition of the fuel filler neck?  

This says it all about the condition of the old filler neck:

On 8/17/2019 at 5:43 PM, 320touring said:

 

 

[320touring]

This morning, in a fit of productivity, I have been to the factors and ordered a new rotor arm and dizzy cap.

They arrive tomorrow. Assuming anything less than biblical rain and I'll try them tomorrow evening:)

[Timewaster]

16 hours ago, Vince70 said:

I had a lovely GTi CC edition in white and my father borrowed it for a week and said the thing never had any brakes but I did let him know that all 80s VWs were like that.

IMHO.

[big_al_granvia]

you replacing the ht leads too, if they are old.... jetronic was really common back in the 80's to mid 90's, ford used it a lot, as did vw, opel on the astra and manta... in fact anything with injection of that period was jetronic

[Tamworthbay]

From my joyous* experience with the related Bosch Motronic system, I would be looking at how the ecu knows where the throttle is. My best bit of advice is also the worst you can ever hear, you may just need to go through each and every component checking against the spec. I chased so many possible problems based on what ‘commonly’ goes wrong and the frustrating aspect was that often a part seemed to be at fault when actually it was just responding to incorrect information coming from the ecu due to a different problem that took a lot more finding. Once you understand them they aren’t tooooooo bad but it takes time if you have been groomed on carbs like wot I haz.