1985 - Audi 80 GL - PROBLEMS!

[Sie!]

Hi there lads,

This is my first post on the forum, I have been browsing the place for a few weeks now, and have been looking for a suiteable topic to start with, yesterday sadly brought the perfect place to start.

I have a 1985 Audi 80 GL (Type85) with the 1781 engine, DS fitted with a Pierberg 1B3 Carb.

The problem occured yesterday whilst queueing in traffic up the motoway. The car started first time and drove as sweetly as ever for the first 45 minutes, through towns and A roads with not a problem, peforming as well as ever. Then we went up the motoway, again same as ever, that is until we hit a traffic jam. We queued for about 20 minutes again without a problem, then all of a sudden as we started to creep in traffic, she stalled. It was after I accelerated and then came to a stop once again (Yeah, the typical Christmas traffic!), after engaging the clutch to let the engine return to idle, she just gave up!

We proceeded to restart the car three times, started again first time each, but everytime I lifted my foot off the accelerator, again instead of returning to idle, she stalls. The only way of keeping the engine from stalling was to keep my foot on the accelerator.

I called The AA to see if they could help, the guy was very helpful, got the engine restarted and we were fine, ubntil we tried to move again. Now, during the time between breaking down and the AA arriving, the engine went cold. This obveously meant that restarting made the choke kick-in again, which seemed all well and good, the car got warm and we were on our way, but then when the choke cut out the car returned to stalling instead of idle, so everytime I changed gear or left my clutch pressed for any length of time, she stalled.

The only way of keeping the car going was by keeping the accelerator depressed.

Does anyone know what maybe at fault?


The AA seem to think it was either a fuel pump problem or a problem of some sort with the carburettor (Wich is the original Pierburg 1B3).

Now today after leaving the car overnight, she started again this morning without a problem, kept going for about 20 minutes without a problem. The chock cut-off and again no problem, you could rev the engine and she returned to idle not a problem, moved her up and down the drive again with no problem, everything is normal again.

Whats wrong baffles me! Any ideas?

Many thanks for your help in advance guys,



Simon A. Baskerville (Sie!)


Ps. I will post a few photos of her next time I am online, see what you think of her!

[TheTwelveQuidKid]

It could be the auto choke sticking on and flooding the engine when it's warmed up. Pressing the accelerator will open up the secondary barrel and keep the engine running. With the engine warmed up, you could take off the air filter cover and see if the choke butterfly is closed or partially closed.

Could be a blocked idle jet in the bottom of the carb float chamber. Or maybe the idle air cut off valve. They're usually very reliable but the power connection to them can get dirty or damaged. If it's not connected or not working, the car will stall unless you keep the accelerator depressed. You can test it by disconnecting and reconnecting it with the ignition switch on, and see if you can hear it click.

Has yours got a the mechanical fuel pump on the side of the engine block and a see through fuel filter or is it an electric pump ?
If it's the mechanical one, you might be able to see if there's fuel in the filter if it does it again.

If it's running at all, I'd be more inclined to look for carb problems rather than at the pump, although they do eventually fail, often when the car is run low on petrol. If they're sufficiently worn, they can't prime themselves if they empty, but if that happens the car doesn't usually start again without encouragement in the form of fuel being poured down the pipe into the pump to get it circulating again.

[pimpdriver]

try a good dose of carb cleaner through it (get it from £1 shops, don't pay £4.99 from Halfrauds).

And use WD40 or similar on all the pivots.

Check your vacuum hoses too.

If this fails, bin it and fit a Weber (but read the instructions and remove the bit off the Pierturd you need to - a heater block of some sort).

Cheers,

Steve

[Sie!]

Thanks for the tips fellas, took her carb off, cleaned it up, put her a new fuel filter and she goes as good as ever!

Must get some photos uploaded to show her off a little.


Thanks!



Sie!

[wayno]

Great to hear the good news keep the four ringer goin