My first gasser. And my other junk

[RabbitJockey]

Forget about fuel injection, Slap a carb on it

if this were a cis car with multiple issues i certainly would, ive heard nothing but good things about the kit bfi sells.  this cars starting to shape up, i got the radiator fan working today, turned out the problem was that some doofus put a 10amp fuse in where a 30 amp goes. the ac shares the same fuse, so i got excited thinking that would work now too but it didn't, i have a few cans in my basement tho i can try out come spring time.  still has a rough idle tho, hopefully i can get that worked out, and well see what kind of mileage i get since the tuneup.

sorry, but i gotta play devils advocate on this one..

CIS is an AMAZING fuel system.. bloody tough as hell, provided you keep clean fuel and clean air/fuel filters in it, and keep the water out of your fuel system.

CIS is pretty bulletproof, as long as its in good working order, and maintained.. the most reliable car i have ever owned, has a CIS-Lambda fuel system.

have you replaced the injector o-rings yet? basically every single CIS car ive owned, has needed o-rings.. have you checked the high idle valve? is the mixture adjustment plug still in the fuel distributor?

i vote that you fix the CIS, rather than go carb'd..

CIS is a timeless marvel..

i actually don't own any cars that have cis, never have either i think u read my post wrong.  My brother has a 16v scirocco and my sister had a cis fox, i would agree its a great system so long as it works.  even digifant 2 is nice imo, its just annoying there is no scan por, but thats not so bad because there only seems to be 4 potential problems, bad cts, bad o2 sensor, bad grounds, or vacuum leaks.  i think the carb thing is because american backyard mechanics already understood carbs and the mechanics of cars which didn't change much for about 50 years, and also because race car.

[srgtlord]

Or the computer for digifant can suddenly die...had that happen on my cabriolet.....Naturally thought the carb swap would be the answer. The carb swap was not the issue, had it running after 10 minutes.  The  10 minute carb swap has turned into 3 years of trying to redeem its previous owners lack of mantainance. And so it sits waiting for an exhaust. I miss my diesel golf. Maybe in a few years after the automatic transmission blows up Ill swap the golf' sengine into it.

[RabbitJockey]

Or the computer for digifant can suddenly die...had that happen on my cabriolet.....Naturally thought the carb swap would be the answer. The carb swap was not the issue, had it running after 10 minutes.  The  10 minute carb swap has turned into 3 years of trying to redeem its previous owners lack of mantainance. And so it sits waiting for an exhaust. I miss my diesel golf. Maybe in a few years after the automatic transmission blows up Ill swap the golf' sengine into it.

i will say this jetta has been kind of a pain in the ass.  all my diesels i have bought and they've had good compression so as long as i had a good pump new injectors and everything timed up right they ran like tops.

[TylerDurden]

I'd say CIS was better than carb. I had a few* that ran very well and were reliable (ex the fuel-pumps and pres regulators).

Mk2 diesel beats them all, IMO... Simple, robust and efficient.


* 77, 79, 80 Rabbits, 86 A5000, 88 A90, 89 Carat, 91 A200T

[srgtlord]

I will agree with you on this statement. Although CIS gets pricey with replacement parts and the Carb is cheaper to service, reliability and cold weather performance wise CIS is on the Diesel level of reliability when functioning properly. My father owned a 1987 GTI for the better of 10 years with CIS lambda and that thing never had an issue with the fuel system system. Then again that was in the 90's and gasohol was not mandated yet.   With a carb it is hit and miss until you have all the magic settings dialed in. Im getting there, the cabriolet starts 80% of the time

[92EcoDiesel Jetta]

I will agree with you on this statement. Although CIS gets pricey with replacement parts and the Carb is cheaper to service, reliability and cold weather performance wise CIS is on the Diesel level of reliability when functioning properly. My father owned a 1987 GTI for the better of 10 years with CIS lambda and that thing never had an issue with the fuel system system. Then again that was in the 90's and gasohol was not mandated yet.   With a carb it is hit and miss until you have all the magic settings dialed in. Im getting there, the cabriolet starts 80% of the time

No way is CIS as reliable as IDI diesel, maybe true until something breaks. Just look at the complexity of CIS vs IDI diesel. CIS is a nightmare in comparison: 2 fuel pumps, fuel distributor, cold start injector, tachymetric relay, sensor plate, microswitch, O2 sensor and other stuff I forgot about.

[srgtlord]

Believe it or not, but when the system was fairly new it was reliable. Fairly new being "10 years" old . Looking at CIS now, not so much, too many years for the metal fuel lines to corrode and send little flakes downstream and F$%# everything up. Like I said that was the late 90's.  My dads GTI had 200,000 miles on it when it was parked. He had the basic ignition system with no knockbox. Now he did have the intank fuel pump and filter replaced at around 100,000 miles.  No other fuel parts were ever touched. So in theory if you had new lines, accumulator, pumps  and a used functioning fuel distributor you will be good for about 100,000 miles.   

[R.O.R-2.0]

Forget about fuel injection, Slap a carb on it

if this were a cis car with multiple issues i certainly would, ive heard nothing but good things about the kit bfi sells.  this cars starting to shape up, i got the radiator fan working today, turned out the problem was that some doofus put a 10amp fuse in where a 30 amp goes. the ac shares the same fuse, so i got excited thinking that would work now too but it didn't, i have a few cans in my basement tho i can try out come spring time.  still has a rough idle tho, hopefully i can get that worked out, and well see what kind of mileage i get since the tuneup.

sorry, but i gotta play devils advocate on this one..

CIS is an AMAZING fuel system.. bloody tough as hell, provided you keep clean fuel and clean air/fuel filters in it, and keep the water out of your fuel system.

CIS is pretty bulletproof, as long as its in good working order, and maintained.. the most reliable car i have ever owned, has a CIS-Lambda fuel system.

have you replaced the injector o-rings yet? basically every single CIS car ive owned, has needed o-rings.. have you checked the high idle valve? is the mixture adjustment plug still in the fuel distributor?

i vote that you fix the CIS, rather than go carb'd..

CIS is a timeless marvel..

i actually don't own any cars that have cis, never have either i think u read my post wrong.  My brother has a 16v scirocco and my sister had a cis fox, i would agree its a great system so long as it works.  even digifant 2 is nice imo, its just annoying there is no scan por, but thats not so bad because there only seems to be 4 potential problems, bad cts, bad o2 sensor, bad grounds, or vacuum leaks.  i think the carb thing is because american backyard mechanics already understood carbs and the mechanics of cars which didn't change much for about 50 years, and also because race car.

i read the article, and it SOUNDED like the car was CIS equipped, and had issues..

most people will rip the CIS off just because they are too lazy to figure out whats wrong, and fix it..

CIS is a great fuel system.. my Jetta NEVER got 35mpg..

Yes, because race car!

[R.O.R-2.0]

I will agree with you on this statement. Although CIS gets pricey with replacement parts and the Carb is cheaper to service, reliability and cold weather performance wise CIS is on the Diesel level of reliability when functioning properly. My father owned a 1987 GTI for the better of 10 years with CIS lambda and that thing never had an issue with the fuel system system. Then again that was in the 90's and gasohol was not mandated yet.   With a carb it is hit and miss until you have all the magic settings dialed in. Im getting there, the cabriolet starts 80% of the time

No way is CIS as reliable as IDI diesel, maybe true until something breaks. Just look at the complexity of CIS vs IDI diesel. CIS is a nightmare in comparison: 2 fuel pumps, fuel distributor, cold start injector, tachymetric relay, sensor plate, microswitch, O2 sensor and other stuff I forgot about.

ive had just as good of luck with CIS as i have IDI...

my 85 GTI always ran great, even after i totalled it..

my 86 Golf that i have now, also runs amazing..

NO mk2 GTIs ever came with CIS-Lambda in north america, btw..

if it was a GTI, it had CIS-Electronic.. the Golfs had CIS-Lambda..

88 went to digifant..

[srgtlord]

I guess I mispoke hahaha Its been about 12 years since I last saw that car. And because race car....Nascar stopped using Carbs only this year 

[8v-of-fury]

The only thing more simple than IDI is Mechanical DI lol

[RabbitJockey]

I'm not too crazy about them but I put some clear corners on my rabbit while it sits haha

[8v-of-fury]

is that waht you friggan guys have for weather?? I have 6 foot snow banks right now!

[RabbitJockey]

Yeah it was kinda damp and windy in the 30s for temp.  I just got over a cold so I stayed inside other than sticking those lights in and chasing feral cats out of my yard that my neighbors insist on feeding.  Went from 3 to 30 in a year and one bit my cat last year and really or it good it looked like it had 2 butt holes then got all infected.  I had to take it to the vet and its pus pocket popped on my seat on the way to the vet an smelled terrible and I had a vet bill on top of it all because some ass hole feels bad for tr cats and feeds them.  If u feel bad then get them fixed so that there isn't 30 hungry cats tearing everyone's garbage bags open.  Damn

[theman53]

A box trap and little bits of lead go a long way...from what I have heard.