My Golf that I bought a month ago is due for the MOT and when I changed the plugs it was apparent from looking in the Haynes manual that the fuel mixture is too rich. Also, even when it is warmed up and the choke put in the engine seems to be running a bit fast.
I just phoned a local garage about getting the carburettor adjusted and the timing done and was told there isn't much hope for an old Golf. He said the carburettors used for those were a problem and could not be adjusted. He also said that would be an MOT failure if the fuel mixture was too rich.
The car has done 100,000 miles and since passing the MOT last year has only done about 3,000 miles. I'm wondering is this guy just guessing. The only trouble with the exhaust fumes was a bit of black smoke when I had my foot down to the floor and my dad had to stand behind the car when stationary even to notice that.
Is this potentially a costly job and what are the chances that it is something apart from the Carb given that it passed the emissions test only 3,000 miles ago?
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Absolute nonsense. These cars can be adjusted. They use the Pierburg carb which is difficult to set up correctly but can be done.
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The garage is talking rubbish.
The carb is fully adjustable, but can be diificult to set up for somebody who does not understand them. Find another garage who specialises in VW older models.
A replacement Weber carb is often said to be the best solution, but based on experience you should be able to set up the carb adequately to pass the MoT. Look in this forum for a lot of advice and links - do a search on Pierburg.
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pmh (was peter)
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May be worth doing an Italian tune up once it's fixed and before the MOT to get rid of the inevitable internal build up from rich running? Not sure, a tech will advise soon :-)
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I've just read the original post again and I am now confused. You mention that when it is warmed up and the choke put in the engine seems to be running a bit fast. But IIRC, these Pierburgs were always automatic chokes. So either someone has converted it to a manual choke or maybe the original Pierburg has already been replaced with another make of carb that cannot be adjusted.
I can't think of any carbs that can't be adjusted and if it is a Pierburg on there, the garage is certainly talking nonsense.
If you remove the air cleaner, you will see 'Pierburg' written on it.
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Sorry guys, I think I explained things badly in my post. Just to confirm it is a manual choke, but I don't know if that is the original one.
He didn't say that it couldn't be adjusted as in there being no adjustment on the carb. He was saying that because these carbs in old Golf's are prone to problems adjusting the carb wouldn't really solve the problem. Although he did mention that if the carb had been changed at some point it might be a matter of adjusting it. I haven't brought the car into him yet.
I hope he isn't talking nonsense. Someone recommended him to me as a dead honest bloke. I think I explained myself badly above. My issue is the car being fine for the last MOT then possibly the idling and emissions being a failure point because of a rich fuel mixture under 3,000 miles later.
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"If you remove the air cleaner, you will see 'Pierburg' written on it."
Yeah m8, I just done that and it is a Pierburg which I presume means it is the original one, despite being a manual choke. I suppose then there is no point in trying to adjust it??
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franco,
Take your car somewhere else.
A car which goes from running well to badly in a short space of time is almost never going to be fixed properly by an adjustment. Something else is wrong, and merely adjusting the carb will, at best, mask the original fault.
The something wrong may be quite trivial - a piece of dirt blocking the air bleed for the idling circuit - for example. By the way, on your car, the idling circuit is just that; adjusting the idle mixture does nothing for the rest of the operating range of the carb.
In my experience, I have never needed to replace an entire carburettor. They can usually be fixed - even horrors like the Ford VV! Yes, I have seen some carbs with worn throttle spindles, but, at that stage, the whole of the rest of the car is past it too, and worn spindles have their greatest effect at tick over, so aren't hyper-important.
Often, a good way to see if you have fixed the fault is when you start the car up, if you need to back the idle speed adjuster off to slow the car down, you have done some good.
Number_Cruncher
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Thanks for that, Number Cruncher. I'll keep that in mind when I get it looked at ;)
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