Club 80-90 Forums

Morning
After some advice.
I have an ’87 2.1i motor which has run faultlessly for the few years I’ve had the van. Now after very little use this last 12 months the engine has developed a stutter.

It will start and drive fine for a period, could be half an hour or could be five minutes. Then it will stutter as if its missing on one cylinder. This will be intermittent and it can occasionally run ok for a bit, but usually once its started, it continues to stutter with only a second or two of normal running thrown in.

Motor doesn’t stall, will idle but lumpy and is down on power when affected.

We have changed the distributer cap and the plug leads. The plugs didn’t look that old so we left them in. Any idea what this could be and how to address it?
Alastair

2.1 MV with CAT? could be the lambda probe (oxygen sensor) going faulty....(mine was intermittant like this for nearly a year) easy to diagnose by pulling the plug apart on the harness when the fault occurs, (engine off of course) just follow the harness inside the engine bay, it is usually joined somewhere at the back. Restart.. If the misfire has disapeared and doesn't return it's a faulty sensor.

Martin

2.1 DJ ? , TCI unit probably
also check coil

got a used TCI here came off a 1.9 but they are the same, it ran, but I never drove it, new ones from Brickie, if you want to try this one as a swap out for diagnostic, actually may have one that came off a 2.1 syncro too, just have to look in boxes of bits

Aidan wrote:2.1 DJ ? , TCI unit probably
also check coil

got a used TCI here came off a 1.9 but they are the same, it ran, but I never drove it, new ones from Brickie, if you want to try this one as a swap out for diagnostic, actually may have one that came off a 2.1 syncro too, just have to look in boxes of bits

Whats a TCI?
Thanks

also try the temp2 sensor cheap to change but expect to get wet. when faulty it over fuels the engine at temp and causes the lumpy running.

mark

TCI is I think transistorised contactless ignition

it's the 2" squareish black electronic dooobry attached to a heatsink on the front left of the engine bay between the coil and the junction box

starts fine and then when hot goes iffy, gets worse, eventually fails, common to all VW carb and fuel injection with vacuum advance of that period, basically takes the signal from the hall sender in the dizzy and then flashes the coil to produce spark, replaced the old points in the dizzy

can't be tested afaik, they either work properly or not, they require a good earth and often the corrosion on the inside of the wheel arch behind where they are screwed to the body leads to poor earth which seems to induce failure, as does the constant heat cycle

Aidan wrote:TCI is I think transistorised contactless ignition

it's the 2" squareish black electronic dooobry attached to a heatsink on the front left of the engine bay between the coil and the junction box

starts fine and then when hot goes iffy, gets worse, eventually fails, common to all VW carb and fuel injection with vacuum advance of that period, basically takes the signal from the hall sender in the dizzy and then flashes the coil to produce spark, replaced the old points in the dizzy

can't be tested afaik, they either work properly or not, they require a good earth and often the corrosion on the inside of the wheel arch behind where they are screwed to the body leads to poor earth which seems to induce failure, as does the constant heat cycle

Applying a heat transfer paste for good thermal contact to the body is also advisable.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-1G-WHITE-TH ... 2eba3a29c3

Martin

Thanks for the input guys. Swapping the TCI unit seems to have done the trick, I'll have a look at that paste stuff. Cheers