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'91 Golf no go

(sorry if this is a re-post) This was written by my dad, but I made some changes (the driver):

I just picked up a 1991 Golf GL. 127K miles, great shape, clean engine, no reported problems nor none seen in about a weeks worth of driving. This weekend I cleaned the engine with Simple Green on the low-pressure side of a power washer. I was reasonably careful with the water spray. After cleaning, it would start but then cut out in about

4 to 6 seconds of labored running. It would easily restart but would keep cutting out. I was able to get it in the garage for the rest of the cleanup. I just assumed I had gotten some water in a connection or the distributor. This has happened on other cars and I have learned to let it dry out before I worry about it. When I tried to start it two days later it was the exact same scenario. Easy to start but would cut out. After about the 5th try it kept running. I assumed whatever the problem was cleared itself out. I've always likes self-healing cars. Two days later I take it out assuming everything is OK. It idled rough, but ran.

When starting out from a complete stop, the power I had felt as if I was in fourth and not first. This powerless situation continued: even on a flat open road, in fourth and floored it was just barely making

50mph.

I drove on for about 15 miles since I had an appointment. After the appointment, the same thing. I disconnected the battery for a minute thinking the electronic module somehow got confused because of possible water shorting.

It started up fine, then repeatedly cut out after 4 to 6 seconds. After about the fifth try and idling it at about 3000rpms it was fine.

I drove 55-60 mph all the way home. I stopped at a store for a minute. The car restarted, but when I drove, the engine wanted to buck and it was spewing black smoke. After 1 mile the smoke cleared up again, but the car continued to bounce.

Once home I checked the engine. Nothing looked out of place or disconnected. The distributor was dry as were all of the connections I checked around the fuel rail. As I mentioned, this engine is almost showroom clean but I cleaned and reattached the chassis ground point coming off the battery thinking it's possibly an intermittent connection. I started it up and took it around the block. It runs like there was never anything wrong.

Does anyone have any thoughts as to what the problem may have been or possibly still is?

-matt

Reply to
mrat
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Carefully disconnect every electrical connection and spray with ether or WD40 or something. In particular, it sounds like the O2 sensor plug may have water in it.

Darryl.

Reply to
Darryl

Use proper electrical contact cleaner... WD40 miraculously is conductive I suppose, but it's not really the right chemical... Contact cleaner and some anti-oxidant works better.

Reply to
Rob Guenther

There is also a product on the market called Stabilant 22A. It is avilable from Volkswagen, and they recommend putting it on all electrical connections (except the O2 sensor). Stabilant enhances conductivity on electrical connections but doesn't conduct electricity between two terminals in a multi-pin connection.

I have used it on almost all electrical connections on my 1990 Jetta, and it has made a noticeable difference.

Reply to
Peter Cressman

I'd check (a) Blue CTS--next time the car acts like a PITA, turn it off and unplug the CTS. If the problem doesn't come back when you turn the car back on, then putting it into limp mode prevents whatever issue you've got going on. (b) O2 sensor--even if (a) seems to partially alleviate the problem, try running the car with the O2 sensor unplugged and the CTS plugged in. If it works better with the CTS plugged in and the O2 sensor unplugged, triple-check the O2 sensor wiring and then replace the O2 sensor if necessary (i.e. if the wiring seems OK). If it works better with the CTS unplugged and O2 plugged in, replace the CTS (which is cheap anyhow). (c) Plug condition--you didn't mention checking to see if the plugs were fouled or whatnot. I ran into a problem a bit back where even after the initial problem (CTS) was fixed, I was still having running issues; the failed CTS had resulted in running rather rich, which in turn fouled the daylights out of the plugs. Cleaning the plugs helped a bit, and replacing them made life much better.

As another poster suggested, checking for water in ignition- related connectors, particularly the O2 sensor, is probably a good idea.

Reply to
Kevin 'Sparty' Broderick

Check your distributor cap. Make certain that it is still clipped into place and that the cap was not rotated by the pressure washer. I don't think that water is your problem, I think that the engine's timing may have been "percussion adjusted" by causing the distributor cap to move from being blasted with high-pressure spray from a pressure washer. Disconnecting and reseating/re-connecting the main engine harness connector wouldn't be a bad idea too.

Reply to
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