Hi people, my friend owns a 205 gti. Its a j reg 1.6, and recently he has read in a magazine that there is a fuel economy switch in the engine. Has anyone ever heard of this before?? Do they ever go wrong??

 

Lost me there mate. Are you saying he has problems with HIS car and if so what are the symptoms

Gary

 

Fuel economy switch Sounds like boll0cks to me.

 

No such thing!

 

Which magazine was that in, Beautiful Homes

It probably refers to the fact that the 205 has a fuel cutoff when decelerating, so when you come off the gas it cuts the fuel supply, hence its tendancy to kangaroo a lot at low revs.

Is your friend actually having a problem, or just worried about this economy gadget?

 

Got a bit more info off him so can try to explain his symptoms. May be a bit ****e at this but here goes nothing:

Whenever he starts the car up it runs rough, not as in an idle rough, but not consistant in evenness? ?(i think) a bit kangaroey is prob best description.
The cars light are also dim, and other electrical problems occur like the intermittant wipers dont work and the car doesn't seem to have the same poke as it should do. After the car has been driven a bit, even as little as a few hundred yards the whole thing improves(usually after the engine has been driven at around 3000 rpm). This happens whether the car is started hot or cold.
He read about the "fuel economy switch" in practical perfomance car. It's actually a shut off in the ecu as i have just been informed.
If anyone has had problems like this before and could help him out it would be very helpful.

 

It wont be the cutoff, but could me numerous other things.

It could be either of the AFM, SAD, coil or Ignition Amp.

If it is solved at 3k rpm, then I would first of all have a look at the ignition amp. Its difficult to diagnose without seeing it really, but is worth a search over at www.205gtidrivers.com

 

Thanks for that, but unfortunately i cant access the forums on the 205 website. Just a couple more questions and ill get off your backs, first of all what is the afm? Also what is the ignition amp and where would i find these?

 

No worries

The AFM is the airflow meter. Its a big odd shaped box bottom right of the engine bay, which tells the engine how much air to mix with the fuel. These can have an effect on lots of things, but usually on idle, acceleration etc.

The SAD is the Supplementary Air Device, which lets in additional air when cold, this is under the distributor.

Not sure now whether the 1.6 has an ignition amp, but this regulates the spark supply from the coil and can cause issues - it is usually attached near the coil/fuel filter.

Also worth trying the tachymetric relay. I would recommend the Haynes manual to find all these things.

 

Its also worth checking the charging circuit as well if the lights are dim etc.

Just make sure the whole process works. So battery, alternator, then from start up, starter motor, fuel pump, dizzy cap/rotor, coil, amp, fuel supply etc

After that, look at the air intake, so where the air comes in, and hose leaks etc etc

 

Thanks a lot for that. We had the throttle bodie off it the other day, cleaned it up and re adj the air screw. Made it a bit better, in th@ it doesn't stall any more but this prob does seem to be a diff thing. Do you think it might be an earth prob??

 

Intermittant wipers not working - probably fuse/relay or the stalk is knackered.
The hunting is common on the 205, seeing as you've done the first part, taking the throittle body off and cleaning it, you're half way there, also worth checking the TPS to ensure it is in the right position, a Haynes manual will tell you the correct resistance across the pins. Also check out the breathers going to the TB, there are one way valves in these IIRC and these sometimes pack in. For stuff like the AFM it'll need to be diagnoised on a service machine.
The coil/ignition amplifier is either mounted on the inlet manifold or the nearside inner wing.

John.

 

could it be an earthing prob had one that did the same on an astra wiggle the earth from the gearbox and it would run fine.....dream weaver is it true that a 1.9 gti fuel pump runs high pressure was thinking of fitting one in my impreza as the rally boys seem to be doing???

 

Check all the earths too - symptoms sound like it could have a bad earth somewhere which they are very prone to - clean them all up

 

Most 205GTi's feel a bit rough when started from cold, or idling, or moving in slow traffic. It's a trademark of the beast... it's a well-tuned engine out of the box, the fuel injection system is pre-historic, and they'll be a little worse now than they were when new .

Not sure if the car in question has anything wrong with it or not - sometimes people drive these things expecting them to behave like a modern Mondeo or something .

--Rich