My 88 fox won't start

[spunkie]

At the begging of the summer a cousin of mine gave me his old vw fox (1988) it had been sitting for about 5 years but it started up perfectly fine and ran fine. The car ran great for awhile...... after about a month and a half the thing just stopped running. I dont' really know much about cars so my dad looked at it, and he's alright with cars but he doesn't really know anything about foriegn cars. The only thing he could come up with is that it isn't getting enough gas to start. Once school started, I had my dad pull it to autoshop so they could look at it and maybe fix it. The teacher told me that my car was getting way to much gas and flooding my spark plugs. He told me that he wasn't sure if the class could fix it or not and he didn't want to take the chance of messing up my car more than it was. So we pulled it back home and there it sits. I really love this car and would really like to see it run again. So now after reading my "story" does anybody have any idea of what could be wrong with my car?? If you do let me now ASAP!! Thanx, Megan

[Sy.Berian.Wulf]

theres so many possibilities why it wouldnt start.... if it started after 5 years standing.... then the fools that say vw isnt reliable are exactly that.. fools.....

if its a carb then pull the box that connects to the carburettor off and see inside the hole on top.... at the botom you should see the butterfly clip... to the left is the accelerator cable.. pull it and see if the butterfly is moving freely....

does the car swing?... i assume the battery is fine and that your starter motor is alright?..

VW isnt fouregn to me..... they build the things in my back yard...

if u can and if you got the car still /.... get back to me on what the carb looks like.... 88 jetta is my model and the engines are the same.

;-)

[noodle32]

If it starts up and stalls - you need a new auxilary air regulator - its behind engine under your throttle body connected by allen bolts - this contains a bi-metallic metal that is spring activated to allow the engine to start normally when its cold out - that would be a good place to start - if it starts okay and then stalls - you dont have a fuel problem - so you can count that whole area out - if it doesnt start at all then i would look into the cold start injector connected by a metal hose from the fuel distributor to the throttle body - this sends fuel vapors to the engine to allow it to start in even the coldest weather - if your temp gauge isnt working then it could be temp related but i would definately start out with that auxilary air valve - that is a key component in the starting process of this car - ive had 2 in the past 3 years - great car - very reliable but when it needs something its usually either expensive or its just hard to figure out - give me some more symptoms and i will definately be able to help you better - hope this helps!

[endertdj]

If it isn't starting there is also a relay on the fuse box which activates the fuel pump when you first turn on the key. Open it up, plug it back in turn the key on and activate the relay, if it starts, get a new one.