golf gti 8v help

[Chris5044]

hi guys... i know theres a few vw entusiasts on ere....
Need help... its for my mum's car its a 1991 and the problem is
it cuts out all the time (seems like it struggles to run then dies)...
then u cant start it
need to jump it ... then the same happens again a little further on

renewed items: Alternator, battery, had a full service recently too

It has an alarm but i didnt think thatd drain the battery

dunno if fuel pump? or somig else draining battery( from what i can c: off battery there is negative = an earth lead + neg lead
postive = a pos feed and something else (dunno what my guess is alarm)

any help would be grateful cause this is an on going pain in the a**

[towerhurst]

will it run ok if the jump leads are still attatch?

[Chris5044]

yes it does.... just got some more info....
mum reckons she might of left the lights on when she went shopping (25mins)
car needed 3x jump starts
then she left it running to charge battery...
after 10mins it died

i had a look at all fuses and engine seems ok
started it
it ran for about 2mins then died on me
now its dead

what u reckon?

[towerhurst]

sounds like an alternator fault ,even if the battery had a problem the car should still run

[Chris M]

If you can get hold of a multi-meter to test it, start the car and switch all the lights on with heater and fans on etc, and measure the voltage at the battery, should be more than 12volts.

Although saying that, i had a problem with one of my golfs. Changed everything and it still wouldn't drive for more than 2 mins. Check the condition of all the wiring too and from the alternator to the battery etc. One of mine was corroded and green and that was the problem. Could also be a bad earth somewhere, check those too.

HTH,

Cheers,
Chris

[quattronutter]

the blue sender on top water hose into head will cause similar running problems,as this tells the ecu how to fuel the engine,worth changing as its only a few quid..

[quattronutter]

is the battery light still working?

[caterpillar]

have the multimeter on the batt poles,with lights on,an fan on,you should hav 14,4-14,7 VOLTS ON THE BATTERY!!! check the earth wires,and contackpoint by the coil(!!!).the alternator charge the battery over the STARTER +cabel,ckeck that they dont got loose at the starter.

[WabTheKing]

8v's have ecu's?

[BRY]

8v's have ecu's?

Later ones have

[S2 Ant]

Def check the connections to the alternator and the earth strap from the battery to the gearbox.
Poor connections will cause it not to charge properly.

[jameswkr]

Even K Jetronic cars have ECUs ( fuelling only ).

[Chris5044]

thx will let u know the results

[90quattrocoupe]

My kid jetta had the same problem, always around the time it rained. The hose to the fuel tank from the filler was loose. Allowed water into the tank from the fender.. Would start, running a while then quit. Hard to get restarted and ran poorly for a while.

Drained the tank, fixed the hose, replaced the filter, and no problems in a year.

Greg W.