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MII Golf GTi 8V Engine problems

I have a 1990 MII Golf GTi 8v (with 136,000 miles) which has been having a few minor problems of late and I'd appreciate any input that would help me resolve them.

Low power at 2000rpm and less, to the point where if in 2nd and trying to pull off from a rolling start, I need to stop and put it in 1st and rev it before releasing the clutch.

Problems starting in mornings during frosty weather: The car is (was) normally a good starter, one quick zap of the starter motor and it'd start in all weathers, but in the v cold mornings of late, it almost catches the

1st time I try and start it, then dies. Then I have to floor the accelerator pedal and give it at least a 10 sec turn of the starter motor. When it manages to start, I have to keep the accelerator hard to the floor to keep it going, but it takes 30sec to a minute to run properly where it will actually rev over 800rpm and run on it's own.

Thirdly, when pulling off after leaving the car standing for a few hours, when I 1st brake (like at the end of driveway), the brakes are terrible, the pedal goes extremely firm and I have to use extreme force to get the car to stop. If I rev the car hard it's not so bad, and after pulling away normally up the road, the brakes are back to normal. It seems as if there is a problem with the brake servo, but only 1st thing!!

With normal driving, the car seems fine, albeit less power at 3000rpm and below that there ought to be. If I give the car a bit of a thrash, it goes well! But, there has been a general decrease in the fuel economy too. I used to get over 300miles out of a tank of petrol, now I only get 250 max.

I don't know if these things are related, or not, but any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Jon.

Reply to
J
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Sounds like a potential vacuum problem, have a look at

Both your brakes and the engine are controlled by vacuum, a leak somewhere on the system could affect both, leaks to the servo are apparently rare but as yours are suffering I would take a look at that. My car had recently been suffering problems similar to yours, but not quite as severe, partially caused by a vacuum hose splitting which caused terrible running problems (it wouldn't idle full stop once it had split in two). It was also running low on power, flat spots in various parts of the rev range which have since been cured by replacing the lift pump and associated filter in the petrol tank.

Reply to
Jon B

As Jon B suggested, both problems are probably vacuum related. Between the intake manifold and the brake booster there is a check valve (one way valve). Since your brake booster is loosing vacuum when sitting over night, you must have a leak either on the brake booster side of the check valve or in the check valve itself.

As you stand >

Reply to
Randolph

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