Car sitting for a year, now only runs on 3 cylinders

[mikk]

I have a 2.0 Beetle that has been mostly sitting for a year (I have several Beetles). It was started regularly, but only to move it a few metres to get out of the way of other cars. The battery has been kept in good order.

I haven't been the one moving it in the past few months, so i'm not sure how it's been running lately. Yesterday it completely ran out of fuel so I topped it up and started it. Now it is only running on 3 cylinders.

Spark seems to be alright (each spark plug lead zaps me nicely when I take it off :P), so i'm assuming it's fuel injectors

Everything was in good order in the past, except that I did notice that after about 6 months it briefly ran on 3 cylinders until i gave it a 5 minute run.

Now i've tried several starts and letting it run a bit, but it insists on running on just 3 cylinders.

What should I do now?

[007]

Not all that familiar with the 2.0 litre motor, but is there any chance the fuel was off/dirty at the bottom of the tank? If it was me I'd replace the fuel filter first. Next in order of things I'd look at would be injectors, then coil, then O2 sensor. Good luck with it!

[Mitchy G]

I just had the same problem with my Golf 2.0 engine.

There was three points of enquiry for this. Spark plugs, ignition cables or the coil pack.

Simple way to check if the coil pack had packed it in was to spray it lightly with water while the engine was running. If it's stuffed you'll notice the engine starts having a bad day.

Our next line of enquiry was the cables. Looking close to the cylinders while the engine was running there was a very small spark coming from one of the cables. We replaced all of the cables to be on the safe side, only cost about 70 dollars for the set I believe.

Didn't conduct any checks on the spark plugs but the car is running perfectly now. I'm just monitoring fuel economy to make sure the O2 sensor hasn't packed it in as a result of the unburnt fuel coming from the misfiring cylinder but all looks to be running fine.

Check the coil pack and the leads, if neither of these has a problem it may just be the spark plugs. See how you go.

[staticmk4]

Any chance of a misfire?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[greg32]

I have this problem with a project car. The plugs absorb moisture and short out the spark. Either swap them or bake them in the oven for 30 minutes at full temp

[buzuki]

id be looking at the spark plugs, all those cold starts will foul plugs up eventually.

Ive seen new cars on the lot do this cause they dont get driven

[mikk]

id be looking at the spark plugs, all those cold starts will foul plugs up eventually.

Ive seen new cars on the lot do this cause they dont get driven

Bingo!

We have a winner. Plugs looked dirty. Cleaned them and all fine. A bit of hard driving will fix everything up nicely I think.

Interestingly I do have tiny sparks you could see in the dark at the top of each spark plug if you look carefully. The spark plug leads are not very old so I'll leave that and assume it's normal.

Thanks for the help guys

[ICEWOLF]

Not normal but seeing as the plugs are making it difficult to discharge its only natural ignition will find another way to earth.