Ill try and keep brief.. Car carb fed CVH, fuel level half a tank and (thats true as just added it), good spark on all 4 plugs..

Has a loss of back pressure done some damage?

End of last week, the rear silencer decided to part company with the mid section thanks to tin worn.. The car's been run for a week(covering 120miles) whilst a new system was sourced and time was set to sort it..bar the increase in noise the car had no power loss, infact it had more and was still starting fine each day/evening.

However yesterday afternoon when coming home from work the car started to kangaroo, splutter and eventually die at the road side. fired up straight away but was banging and had sod all power. eventually it seemed to clear and with some adjusment of the choke and left foot braking managed to limp it home where it died on the drive and wouldn't fire.

cut to today and it fired up, but had no power, (not even enough to drag it up onto the ramps) to get under to fit the exhaust. Eventually it limped up but under serious protest.. between me and me old man we get the new system on and try to turn it over to check for leaks.. but its running that poor we carn't tell. eventually it clear enough to get a bottle of redex and blows all manor of shite out the back, so decided to take it for a run to the petrol station to see if it'd picked up any gunge form the tank, however once it got hot it was all over the show, no pick up at all, cutting out at every stop etc etc.. It now runs so poor it wont even idle even on full choke..

so has the change in back pressure done some damage, either to the carb?, could it have blown a gasket or is it something else entirly?.. Need the car for work on monday

 

100% you haven't put diesel in it..?
Got the receipt..?

 

100%.. it had a tenner worth of unleaded in it friday morning, and Ł15 quid in it now.. got both receipt's.. It blown a cloud of white smoke as just stuck some more redex down it's neck picked up for a min and then died and now wont start without full throttle and wont hold idle (idle valve is attached and working to)

 

I very much doubt the exhaust has killed it. I would guess at carb or something fuel related

 

blocked fuel filter or shit in the carb perhaps

What carb is it using?

 

unlikly exhaust agree with others fuel problem most likely,turn engine over and spray carb cleaner in intake,if it tries to run you have not enough fuel.pump?lines/filter.it is possible to gravity feed the carb via the fuel inlet pipe as a more accurate test,small funnel on inlet withfuel can lid of fuel ,becareful of spitback and keep excess ful away as fires can start,if it not fuel its spark or timing ie belt slip...good luck phil 07957617548

 

The original fuel filter on the carb' MK3 is in the tank attached to the pickup line it is very small and if there is rust or debris in the tank it blocks very quickly. The best way to solve this or to check is to remove it from the tank and fit an in-line filter in the flexible hose within the engine bay (a clear one to see fuel flow easily will be few pounds from a motor factor).

Try cleaning the cone shaped crank-case breather filter under the air filter box or remove it to see if it helps it run smoother. Cannot be fully sure but the breathers can cause similar issues to those you describe.

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Another thing that happened to me was something like a loss of oil pressure - I think - this happened during a long run where the engine just shook for a period then lost power (preventing tappets pump up (?) leading to loud tapping from the top end). It resulted in a new engine. Though not entirely sure whether it could have been a head gasket failure (I was a novice mechanic at the time).

Let us know how you get on.

 

cheers for the replies. the car has long since gone to the breakers in the sky.. turns out one of the jets was blocked with rubber from a perishing fuel hose