Any ideas what may be causing this?

[daschmoo]

Hi Guys

1985 2l petrol not sure of any other engine specifics!

Over the last couple of weeks a few things have changed with how the old van has been performing. She used to start 1st, 2nd (or 3rd) time depending how damp it was... I'm now struggling to get her going after 8 or 9 times (1 year old battery fully charged) and even then she splutters into action rather than roaring as she used to. I'm also finding that she will die all of a sudden when left idling (after a few minutes running at increased revs - foot on throttle) What also happens is that if I hear it begin to peeter out and apply a little pressure to throttle at that point it's like a kiss of death and the engine stalls instantly. Once the engine seems to get to normal running temp (just under half way on my gauge) she runs as normal... apart from the other day when I had a backfire incident and thought I'd been shot at! Obviously something is very wrong somewhere and she will need to be seen by a professional... just wondering if anyone could give me a heads up on what to tell the garage to check out? Also does anyone know a good garage in Tamworth as we've just moved here and don't know any places to try?

Muchos thanks in advance for any pointers

Vic

[lambrettalee]

check the cheapest options 1st , distributor cab , rotor arm , leads ,plugs etc,

[Cafnod]

As Lee says try general service items first; New plugs sre always good, a set of leads if you dont know the age of the ones you have. Inspect the rotor arm and distributor cap and replace if nec. After that its a little more complex but still done at home; Electronic ignition diagnostics, poss replacement of parts and perhaps a carb clean and rebuild.
A decent in dependant garage would probably charge in the region of £100 for a full service plus any more specialist jobs like a carb rebuild and the associated consumables. Perhpas someone local to you can reccomend a good place if you dont feel up to doing it yourself.
HTH

[orangebooboobearcrew]

Hi Vic

At last, a fellow Tamworthian in the club!! Hoorah!

We live in Two Gates - where abouts are you based?

In terms of garages in the area, we have used in the past Custom Retro & Race who were based at Tolsen Mill in Fazeley. The guy who runs it is Griff - top bloke, really helpful and genuine and knows VW's inside out. That said, we have had some reservations about the quality of some of the work that's been done for us Also, I know he stopped opening on a Saturday sometime last year making it impractical for us most of the time. I happened to pop round there just to have a look the other Saturday and the unit was open but seems to have changed name to Aprilla Racing so whether he has stopped trading or just decided to concentrate on the bikes I don't know.

We have also struggled to find local VW specialists so I tend to have a go myself now with the brilliant help of everyone on here! If you are stuck and are fairly local and I'm free - I would be happy to help if I can...Alternatively, we are looking at using Johnson Autoworks who are in Leicester but are highly recommended on here...

Cheers,

Chris