Scirocco Register

got the roc yesterday and was brilliant on the motorway, drove 210 miles without it missing a beat. then today i was driving along put my foot down on a B-road in 3rd and the car jolted a bit like it was mis-firing and then slowed down gradually as if i wasn't putting power on anymore, i pressed and lifted off the accelerator with no effect and its just kept slowing down, so i pulled over and as i put the clutch in the engine died, i turned the ignition off and took the key out, put it back in and tried starting it and wouldn't start, then tried again and it started second time, it's happened a few times now but generally only when i accelerate hard but then may happen again in the same journey.
any ideas what this could be?

cheers

bump as its started happening again, i've replaced the leads and plugs and made sure the gaps were right. i thought it might be fuel as it was fine after i filled the tank up but when i got down to about three quarters of a tank it started doing it again, not sure if this was due to a long drive or accelerating and hard cornering though? My piller pipe isn't connected to the breather pipe(the one coming off it in the wheel arch) as the connection seems to have rusted away and there is a cm or two gap between them. could it be a blocked fuel filter or is it likely to be something more electrical?

oh sorry but also it doesn't always cut out, it misfires when im putting it under load in 4th and 5th and loses power but not smoothly. when i pull over it will idle nicely and rev in neutral perfectly most of the time and i start off in 1st, 2nd and 3rd fine. I had to nurse it home on the motorway last night going about 65 on the flats and trying to pick up a bit of speed very gently on the downhills but had to nearly lift off on the uphills as it would just start misfiring and losing power if i tried to gain speed or even stay at the same speed.

any help appreciated.
andy

Mine was playing up like that the other day.

I popped the airbox off and sprayed a load of carb cleaner into the carb and run it up a few times, changed the fuel and air filters. I also chucked a whole bottle of redex in with half a tank of 98ron Tesco super unleaded or whatever it is.

The above seemed to have solved the problem, shes runnning pretty smooth now.

Andy
I thought you put this down to the imobilizer getting wet?? MIght still be playing up?
Chaps

it's still cutting out and the immboiliser and alarm has been completely removed, the only electrical part i could think is the dizzy as its fine starting up.
what exactly does the coil do?

it's still cutting out and the immboiliser and alarm has been completely removed, the only electrical part i could think is the dizzy as its fine starting up.
what exactly does the coil do?

The coil sends electicity to your dizzy cap to be distributed to each spark plug for ignition in the cylinders.

It is more likely that the coil is breaking down rather than the actual distributer because that it just a mechanical part of the ignition system.

Also have all the leads been push onto the dizzy cap and onto the plugs until you feel or hear a click as this could also be you problem.

I had a similar problem with my rocco and this worked.

Rich

Try taking the carb off, and giving it a good clean andy with carb cleaner. check all vacuum lines aswel.
Might be the coil, but if its working ok in 1,2 & 3rd i dont see why it would do. Does it Rev all the way round in the lower gears??
Sounds like a nightmare mate, hope you get it sorted.

yeha it revs fine up to 4th but will misfire about 3500 rpm in 4th most of the time although sometimes its fine, especially when its cold, it seems to be when its hot that it cuts out most.

captainwow15 wrote:i've replaced the leads and plugs and made sure the gaps were right

what brand did you fit? did you replace all 5 leads?

As the guys above have said there can only really be a few culprets for this.

1) The Distributor

I had a similar thing a few times with my old distributor. The locating peg on the distributor arm had cracked so when the engine was under load the arm would spin on the shaft and i'd lose power. Doesn't sound too likely but worth a check.

2) The fuel tank

I would open the inspection hole on the top of the tank and check that the lifter is still at the bottom of the tank. Usually these engines have a mechanical pump at the engine so you just need to make sure the collection hoses are in the fuel. Just don't check with a lit match

3) The carb

It could be dirty. I agree with Chaps that you should try taking it off. I have done this before for a very rough idle. Check all the connections and devices are working correctly. There is an accelerator pump on the front of the 2E2 which squirts extra fuel in when needed. If this is partially split the car won't be getting enough fuel. If you do break the carb down you "can" get away without replacing the gaskets if you are very careful but it may be advantageous to replace them anyway.

4) The choke

Again, if you have a carb there is an auto choke on the side of it. This is controlled by a bi-metal strip which is heated by coolant from the engine. If this is stuck open it may cause the problem you are seeing when the engine is under load.

Its a pain in the ass because its the only time you really can't check under a car. Try not to get too stressed about it like I did. The cause will show itself eventually.

Hyperdrinky

To me it sounds like you are getting fuel starvation that is most noticeable when under a high load for a longish time. Simply the fuel pump can't draw enough fuel through to the engine to keep up with demand and it drains the float chamber in the carb and swirl pot then the engine dies off.

If you take the fuel sender out the tank you'll probably find that the pick up in there is mostly clogged with bits of rust, if that is the case then it would also be worth changing the inline fuel filter to the carb and possibly having a couple of spares.

I had this issue on mine years ago and it always felt like an ignition issue and was very intermittent when i pulled the sender out all but 4 of the fuel pickup holes were clogged with bits of rust from the filler neck.

check the fuel lines as mine was doing this because it was sucking air in through the pipes so being starved of fuel.

Deffinately check all the fuel lines and the fuel filter in the engine bay...I replaced a load of bits on mine for it to turn out to be a kinky in the fuel pipe...It was just being starved when accelerating.