New Member Introduction

[maximald]

Hi Everyone.

Greetings. I've browsed the forum for years seeking answers to some questions, never really having major issues of my own.
However, have run into a problem that's been beating me down since June 2021 and simply can't find answers.

Hoping anyone on this forum has experienced similar issues and can provide guidance.

[maximald]

Since 2021, my Citi Golf started using massive amounts of fuel.

First off, I bought the car 2nd card in 2015, it is a 2007 model Citi 1.4i with 2.0l 8v conversion, stock standard 2.0l as far as I am aware. It's a daily runner, and always use to give great consumption, averaging between 550km to 590km per tank.

I don't know who did what to the car prior to my purchase, but it use to fly, was extremely responsive and nippy, a lot of power and speeds running off the dial. Then had to change the FFZ gearbox due to some problems so opted for a rebuild. Immediately lost about 30% power with the gearbox change and was never the same again even after replacing that box with another FFZ in 2020. Regardless of this history although it does give some background, I need assistance with the current headaches.

Last year February I replaced a damaged flex bend on the exhaust that was leaking quite intensely and asked the guys who did the installation to remove the center silencer box. Although sounding a little bit more aggressive, the car performed the same, still had great consumption as a daily runner and then in June, it started getting extremely excessive on fuel usage up to the point that I was generally only getting between 280km and 320km on a full tank with long-distance travel. I ran weekly trips to Durban, so keeping an eye on the usual consumption wasn't difficult and i knew the limits of the car and its capacity very well.

So obviously with Covid and business being down, I visited the forums many times to try and find similar faults with solutions. Bit by bit I started replacing parts with the hope that it may resolve the issue, the upside is, that pretty much everything on the car is new except the major parts e.g engine, manifold, throttle body, etc. All gaskets, welch plugs, belts, cables (excluding harness and loom), and seals on the engine and gearbox have been replaced as well, all pipes are new, the alternator is new, and all sensors are new. It still does not resolve the problem though.

After months of trying to find assistance with the car in Newcastle, everyone I spoke with referred me to one guy for assistance. So after seeing him, and per his recommendation, we sent the ECU (original 1.4i MP9) in to get chipped and loaded with 2.0l software as his hardware could not "tune" the existing software (made sense then, doesn't make sense anymore after I did a lot of research). regardless, the chipped ECU was put back in the car, the car hooked up to a CO2 machine, timing set, idling set (1100rpm, which I later found out should be 800 - 900 or so) and it was dyno'd. So the guy said that the car was set to "economy" and should be more economical. So after my first long trip about a week after the card was set, i let the guy know that the car was using more fuel. To no surprise, I'm being ghosted.

Was not in a mood to fight or argue about anything so the search continued. Ended up getting the car to a guy that was a VW mechanic for 24 years, only to be told that he can't find the fault, nor explain why the car is doing what it's doing because it's doing some really weird crap. Car isn't running lean, idles well, is responsive but idling for 25minutes uses +- 1/8 of the tank.

So this past weekend, I drove a long distance. The power would come and go, and very intermittently get a strong petrol smell inside the car while driving, so 258km on a full tank later I replaced the Fuel Pressure Regulator per the recommendation from the guys at Goldwagen. Haven't done any decent trips as yet to see whether it would improve or not, but an interesting observation was after the change when started the car, the revs would jump up to 1300rpm en then come down quite quickly to 1000rpm. I parked the car yesterday for the public holiday, and this morning when wanting to start it, it struggled to start, even while turning the key to start, the rev counter needle would jump up even though the car is not running yet.

Has anyone experienced something like this before, and does anyone have any advice?

Much appreciated, thank you

[Lavaughan]

Hi ...sounds pretty rough!
Have you checked fuel pump, dizzy, coil and injectors?
Also do you have the proper temp sensor installed?
Mite also be worth changing the main power supply relay.
Hope this shed some light

[maximald]

It's quite hectic, truth be told.

Have tested the fuel pump, Distributor was replaced last year, the coil is also new, injectors were serviced and cleaned last year. Tested the nozzles, they're all clean, does a proper spray, no funny of obscured patterns. The temp sensor is also new, bought from Goldwagen in February before Dyno.

Thank you for the feedback, I'll have a look at the relay, that's about the only thing that's still not replaced :p

[Neuk]

Welcome and enjoy the forum

[maximald]

Thank you Neuk

[Reegz]

Welcome to the forum. Hope you get sorted with your issue.

[Mk12009]

Welcome!!

I once had an issue of random loss of power at low speeds like humps only to find out it was the dizzy bolt that was not tight so it might be something silly like that that the guys are missing.

How much have you spent so far?

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