I recently purchased a 1981 Rabbit diesel with 91,000 miles. It ran good until this morning when it wouldn't hardly hit 55 on flat ground and slowed going up hill.
The engine was not missing or running porly just no power. The temp was 47 and the car was in the garage.
Any help would be appreciated
Check the accelerator cable, make sure it pulls the arm on the pump the whole way to the stop screw with the go pedal to the floor...
Then start with your basics, fuel and air filter.. Did you recently fill up? Bad fuel is possible.. Check for air leaks too, watch the clear line from the filter to the IP for bubbles....
Thanks I was wondering about the fuel filter stopped up or full of water. The car was stored from 1987 until 2007 and they only drove it 3,000 miles since it was brought down off blocks.
It ran fine yesterday but that was the first time I drove it.
Wow it has been sitting a long time, that thing is darn near factory fresh!!! I think some pics may be in order!
If you have the means dump your filter into a clean container and see what the fuel looks like.. If it has a bunch of black crap in it there could be some bacteria in the fuel.. Luckily there is an additive to take care of that.. May not hurt to completely drain the tank if what is in there is in question.. Some fresh fuel and diesel purge can do wonders...
Totally unrelated, but something else to consider if you haven;t already would be a new timing belt & tensioner.. If the one on there has been sitting around that long it's most certainly suffered some dry rot.. And on these engines, if the belt breaks it's not pretty...
The person who pulled it out did quite a bit of work to it but I don't know what all was done.
Spoke with the mechanic yesterday who did all the work on the car. He said they put on new struts, all belts and hoses also completly redid the brakes. In his opinion the car needed nothing at all done to it.
Checked the aftermarket prefilter installed on he car and the clear bowl shows about an inch of crud in the bottom. Was thinking about replacing the factory filter and removing the prefilter. What do you think?
How do I post pictures?
Definitely replace the fuel filter and change out the prefilter if possible. You probably have all sorts of critters living in that fuel tank. You may have to do this several times over the next few months depending on how much fuel you put through the pump and how much contamination is present.
Take the previous advice seriously to change the timing belt and idler. Most mechanics don't touch these unless requested because of the shop time involved. If the timing belt breaks you can't afford to pay someone to do the work to repair the top end. The car will be junk unless you are very handy or have a friend that will work for nothing.
How do I post pictures?
The FAQ has the instructions.
