# 86 Jetta GLI CIS-E issues -- need help asap please!



## cdnvwnut (Jun 26, 2003)

I need some help here with my nephews' car. He bought this car about 2 months ago. It was running & driving but had a really rough idle & was running rich. Dude he bought it from says it had some head work done, a performance cam, new main fuel pump & a "new" used fuel distributor put on to give it more power. Maybe a week after he got it it quit running -- he was driving it over to get the safety done & it basically flooded out & wouldn't restart. I took a quick peek, realized it was flooded, pulled the pump relay to clear it out & tried to start it. It would fire & die instantly. The only way to keep it running was to keep pulling the relay in & out rapidly. He took it to a local VW guy who said he needed a fuel distributor to fix it. He put that on, set it up & said it was fixed. I took the car for a drive & less than 20 minutes later it quit running again! Same symptoms, appears to flood itself out & won't run at all. Got it towed back to the same guy who now says there were a couple loose wires that he fixed & the "knock computer" is NFG. Now you can drive the car for about 10 or 15 minutes before it quits & won't restart. If you leave it overnight & pull the pump relay it will start & stall then you put the relay in & it fires & runs good for about 10 or 15 minutes. I am going to start checking this out myself starting at the timing belt & going through the Bentley manual to set everything back to VW spec. Does anyone have any suggestions, ideas or experience with this sort of problem? I've had a few CIS & CIS-E VWs over the years & none had any problems like this one. Any help would be appreciated.


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## GTIspirit (Dec 13, 2002)

I don't know if this will end up being your problem or not, but at least start with checking the DPR current to make sure it is to spec. I know from personal experience that if it is adjusted too low then there are idle problems and that the engine can and will stall. Think of the DPR as a fuel trim to the mechanical distributor. In my case the DPR was adjusted too low, around 2mA, and so the KE-Jetronic brain had limited adjustment to pull fuel out for closed loop idle. As it tried to trim the fueling back it would shut off flow to the injectors and the engine would stall.

Since the fuel distributor was replaced, twice, these things aren't cheap and don't grow on trees!, it is likely that the DPR current is not correct. Go directly to this section in the Bentley and make sure this is correct before looking elsewhere. And while you're at it, double check that the O2 sensor is ok.

Doubtful that it's the knock box, as that only controls spark timing, so unless the car is running rich from lack of spark then this is likely not the culprit.

Good luck.


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## cdnvwnut (Jun 26, 2003)

So I finally got around to checking this car out. Went through all the tests & setup procedures in the Bentley. Adjusted the DPR as it was very rich -- someone was in it before me as the cover screw wasn't tight. After that everything checked out okay till I got to the knock sensor wiring. While fixing a damaged terminal in that harness I noticed that the picture in the manual showed a distributor with vacuum advance on it for CIS & one without vacuum adv for CIS-E. This car had one with vac adv. I called the local VW dealer, they couldn't tell me if that was correct, tried a couple local shops with no luck. A friend of a friend is selling an 85 GTI thats fairly original so I asked him if I could see how the ignition is set up. His car had a non-vac dist. He had a spare one so I put it on, reset timing & took it for a road test. It now runs great, pulls hard to rev limiter & didn't stall in over an hour of hard, abusive driving. I guess I should have pulled out the Bentley sooner!


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## WaterWheels (Aug 14, 2005)

I would say that this one is "a keeper" as far as posts to remember go. Someone before you really replaced a knock sensor distributor with a non-knock sensor one  That of course would explain a lot, but just why someone would do that is way beyond anything I could guess. Was the vacuum port connected? You would think that even though they don't look the same, having to attach a vacuum line would clue you in that it was not a "replacement part".


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## cdnvwnut (Jun 26, 2003)

Everything was hoked up like it was supposed to be there. The think that was bugging me was the fact that they had put a tee in the vac line to the dist & that little vac sensor. I kept looking at it & it just didn't seem right. When I checked out the other engine & saw the dist in it I knew I was right & that the problem was too much advance making it stall & then not restart due to that. I'm not sure what size or brand of cam dude put in this engine but it really dosen't start working good till around 2,500 to 3,000 rpm. Below that it is a little rough but my nephew like it because it pulls pretty hard right up to rev limiter. This is why you should never let anyone else under the hood of your VW -- if they don't know much about them they just jam them back together so they sorts run & you get to sort out the puzzle after you buy. Thanks to everyone who gave me tips to fix this.


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## Glegor (Mar 31, 2008)

the GLI and GTI should have same dizzys. they run cis-e. not cis-L.. cis-L runs vac advance..


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## cdnvwnut (Jun 26, 2003)

Well, we have some more problems with this car. It was running ok, but missing a little under hard acceleration, then the problem got worse & worse till it stalled & wouldn't restart. We changed the plugs as they were totally black & misfiring. Rechecked the timing belt & it was 1 tooth out on the cam so I put it back to spec. now the car won't start & when it does it will only run if you hold the pedal at least halfway down. The thing I am wondering is if maybe we still have the wrong dist? I think the one we have in it now was from a 92 GTI which means it is for digifant. Not sure where to go with this one now...


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## Glegor (Mar 31, 2008)

sounds almost like you didnt have the dizzy hold down all the way tight and it retarded its self to the point it wont run anymore..


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