engine symptoms...

[joodge]

a question for you dear chaps... i am hoping to get to VW action so if your there we can hook up but this is the point of my post to ensure i get to the festival..
in my ej20 in my bug i am experiencing difficulty in her starting.. i have driven over 500 miles now since completing the conversion and she has been running well... however now i am starting to experience a problem wher eshe has been left overnight for example she has become very difficult to fire up and i have to turn over a good few times before she gets going.. she kinda splutters a bit and struggles to find idol and if you put any kind of weight on the accelerator at all to lift her she cuts straight out.. this is accompanied by quite alot of exhaust smoke.. .. after a few mins she does get running but this proceedure has to be repeated every time i leave her over night and it is getting worse.. can any of you tell me what would cause this .. fuel related ? oil related ? pistons ? gasket? I dunno as i am still learnin about the engine all the time now i have got her in the beetle.. any help gratefully appreciated..
dan

[ElusiveStranger]

What colour is the smoke? White, black or blue?

Have you pulled the plugs after attempting to start after an overnight stand? Are they oily, petrol covered or maybe wet?

As for the "she kinda splutters a bit and struggles to find idol and if you put any kind of weight on the accelerator at all to lift her she cuts straight out"
I'm wondering if your coolant temp sensor is duff.

Idle is done by the Idle Air Control valve (mine's on the side of the inlet manifold). There's two screws that you slacken and rotate the body around.
Do not adjust idle via the throttle body
_________________
The advice you receive on here is worth the paper it's written on.
Your experiences are worth shed loads to others, including the f'ups - live and learn.
Wouldn't YOU rather learn by someone else's mistakes? So would they.

'78 Bay, 2 litre 091 box, EJ20 NA & the ashtray's on the 'right' side.
I don't lean forward for hills any more
Bugger, missed out on "Live fast, die young"

[joodge]

thanks for your help elusive....smoke is generally white but with high black oil spot content.. not sure what thi swould indicate..
i will check the plugs after a night.. the car is kept in a garage but the last drive i did was extremely wet.. infact the wettest conditions i have ever driven in and me dad topped the oil for me the other day wen he borrowed the motor but i think he overloaded her a bit(he only just told me!!!!) so do you think this could cause this kind of effect?
maybe my coolant temp sensor got damaged in the heavy rain??
cheers for comments re idol adjustment and have checked this but still very sloppy at the moment..

[ElusiveStranger]

White smoke as in water vapor? Add in oil spots & I'd guess it may be head gasket.
Check your header tank, has it got emulsion in it? (Mine did :'() That was the only sign my gasket had gone. No water in the oil for me!
Don't panic with an EJ20 as gasket failure ain't a problem and my heads hadn't distorted either

There's two different types of gasket for the EJ20 - mine was the uncommon one - hence me not going to BigBang. Was going to replace them the previous w/e but got wrong ones, then the gasket supplier messed me around BIG time

I was suggesting coolant temp sensor before as the ECU could have been 'thinking' it was still cold and applying 'choke' therefore making it run 'fluffy'.
_________________
The advice you receive on here is worth the paper it's written on.
Your experiences are worth shed loads to others, including the f'ups - live and learn.
Wouldn't YOU rather learn by someone else's mistakes? So would they.

'78 Bay, 2 litre 091 box, EJ20 NA & the ashtray's on the 'right' side.
I don't lean forward for hills any more
Bugger, missed out on "Live fast, die young"