Club 80-90 Forums

Morning all,

Can anybody help with ideas or past experiences of the same or similar problem, I bought a 1988 Caravelle GL Auto with a 2.1i DJ WBX engine from a guy up near Watford at the beginning of July who said it had sat in a lock up for the past 3 years and had hardly been used.
The night I picked it up and drove it back home round the M25 (about 40 miles) it drove well and I was impressed with it.

However the next day taking my new toy to work it was cutting out on me when I pulled up at traffic lights and junctions, it immediately restarts and drives and pulls well until the next time you stop and it is ticking over when it will stall again.
It ticks over about 900rpm but it does sound lumpy at tick over like it is intermittently miss firing but anything after 1500rpm it is smooth and ok.

So far I have been replacing parts as process of elimination, I have:


Cleaned all the earth points in the engine bay and put a new earth strap from the engine to engine bay wall.

I have serviced it, changing the oil, spark plugs, air filter, new dizzy cap and rotor arm and a new coil (did order new silicone HT leads but were the wrong lengths!!! so am waiting for the correct ones to come)

Cleaned the idle stabilisation valve with carb cleaner

Taken the throttle body housing off and cleaned it and adjusted the micro switch so that it clicks on and off

It has also had a new idle control box that sits behind the rear brake light and a new idle stabilisation unit

None of these have made a difference so I am thinking it is fuel starvation now, I have renewed the fuel pressure regulator the other night and waiting for a new fuel pump and fuel filter to come to replace them. I did notice the other night that the fuel filter seems to be on the wrong way round (the arrow is pointing towards the pump and fuel tank) I presume it should be the direction of flow!!!

Could the fuel filter being the wrong way round put strain on the pump and cause it to stall? this is my next job to install when it comes, the new filter the correct way round. Also being that the filter is the wrong way round does this mean it not filtering and could have put grud up into the fuel pipes and injectors and also surely it affects the pressure in the fuel injection system?

As you can see I’ve been chucking money at it, but am running out of ideas now!

Temp 2 sensor is a common fault it seems, incorrect reading means its running rich ( a bit like a choke being on)
you are on the right track, doing the right things, process of elimination.

if it runs well at high revs unlikely to be fuel supply imo but filter needs changing anyway.

Check for air leaks around plenum rubber joiners and check all the vac pipes are in place.

Have you checked ignition timing and checked vac advance retard moves?

itchyfeet wrote:Temp 2 sensor is a common fault it seems, incorrect reading means its running rich ( a bit like a choke being on)
you are on the right track, doing the right things, process of elimination.

if it runs well at high revs unlikely to be fuel supply imo but filter needs changing anyway.

Check for air leaks around plenum rubber joiners and check all the vac pipes are in place.

Have you checked ignition timing and checked vac advance retard moves?

Thank you, Yes sorry didn’t list it but I have put a new blue temp 2 sensor in the thermostat housing and have replaced all the vacuum hoses from the dizzy, fuel regulator and throttle body.

I have got a Brickwerks plenum silicone kit which I will fit and try.

It has been suggested to me that being that it has apparently been sat for 3 years doing nothing that It would help to change the starter battery as it might be on its way out and have been told at tick over the alternator is producing its lowest voltage so might affect running at tick over if the battery isn’t holding its charge. So I think thats another thing on my list to replace.

I haven’t checked the timing.

Although i have renewed the vacuum hoses I was thinking of a getting a new vacuum can for the side of the dizzy as mine is very rusty and seen better days. i have seen a new one on Ebay with the correct advance and retard lines on it which mine has.

Check battery voltage when idling, should be 13.5 to 14V if so, thats not the problem.

you can check if the dizzy vac unit is working, remove dizzy cap, rotar arm and dust cover, suck on vac pipe and you should see mechanism move inside, if so thats not your problem.

Be careful not to swap lots of genuine qualityVW quality parts with ebay $h1t, you may be better off refitting some origional parts if the replacementsdon't fix it because they are old but better quality, fuel pump for example.

Did you drain the old fuel and replace? fuel goes off after 3 years

itchyfeet wrote:Did you drain the old fuel and replace? fuel goes off after 3 years

No, but the night I picked it up it was nearly empty so I filled it up before the drive home.

Finally sorted!!!

Got home last night and my Brickwerks order of a new fuel pump and fuel filter had arrived as well as my order of a Throttle Position Switch from GoWesty.com.

Fitted them late last night and finished the job before it got dark, then took it for a good run with lots of stop starts at traffic lights and junctions and BINGO she didn’t cut out once and tick over is nice and smooth now.

So I don’t actually know which actually solved the problem as I fitted all three at the same time before test driving each individually but my gut feeling is, it was the new Throttle Position Switch.

Fair play - all sorted quickly
Buying from Brickwerks is always the sensible thing to do - done once - done right