98 GTI no crank after carb rebuild and was running

[bizygolfn]

So like most posts I have a 98 GTI that I had to rebuild with a Mikuni carb kit. Needle and seat kept getting stuck and would not allow fuel to flow. So I replaced those along with the kit. I did notice that the new spring for the arm of the needle seat was a little longer than the old one but once all installed and finally got it fired up, took it to the water to test. It had zero power. Started out of the hole for about a second and then kind of died. I had to take ski out of water cause of darkness. So I tried to adjust the low idle screw a few days later but she would not start. I tried multiple time removing carb and double checking gasket etc. finally had to get running by using a mix can and a clear tube to the carb to get it primed.
So it was running in the drive again and I cranked it a few times to keep it from putting me back to square one. Now it seems like it is locked up. I put a charger on the battery and when I try to start it sounds like it is bound, and then gas shoots up the carb and out the choke. (Obviously I have had cover off for about a week.) I can see a puddle of fuel down the carb and it won't crank, but when I let off the start button, fuel coughs out of the carb.

 

[mikidymac]

Sounds like it is flooded. Pull the spark plugs, ground the cables on the grounding lugs on the engine and crank it. IF there is fuel sitting in the carbs it is totally flooded.
Remember this is gas so you don't want any sparks to cause an explosion.

First off it sounds like your needles are stuck open flooding the engine and causing a no start condition.
Second if you changed the spring (especially with a longer one) your pop off is way wrong. You need to put the original spring back in.

 

[XP 787]

:agree: What he said. What were the pop of readings after carb rebuild?

 

[bizygolfn]

Sounds like it is flooded. Pull the spark plugs, ground the cables on the grounding lugs on the engine and crank it. IF there is fuel sitting in the carbs it is totally flooded.
Remember this is gas so you don't want any sparks to cause an explosion.

First off it sounds like your needles are stuck open flooding the engine and causing a no start condition.
Second if you changed the spring (especially with a longer one) your pop off is way wrong. You need to put the original spring back in.

Ok I'll put old spring back in and try but bow the bigger question is why is it bound up? All the fuel in the carb I can try to remove but when I press start button just a clunk sound, almost like dead battery but it's not?

 

[mikidymac]

Because your cylinders are full of fuel and you can't compress a liquid. Your engine is locked up because of all the fuel in the engine.

Like I said before pull the plugs and crank it. I recommend rags over the plug holes so you don't have raw fuel everywhere.

 

[bizygolfn]

Sounds like it is flooded. Pull the spark plugs, ground the cables on the grounding lugs on the engine and crank it. IF there is fuel sitting in the carbs it is totally flooded.
Remember this is gas so you don't want any sparks to cause an explosion.

First off it sounds like your needles are stuck open flooding the engine and causing a no start condition.
Second if you changed the spring (especially with a longer one) your pop off is way wrong. You need to put the original spring back in.

So should I put the original spring in first before I attack the flooding? Or is it best to get all the fuel out of there first and then change the spring back out? I assume when I ground out the plugs you're talking about just bumping it so there's not a lot of spark?

 

[mikidymac]

There are grounding posts on either the front of your engine or up on the top near the air cleaner depending on the year and they have orange plastic around them. These are grounding points for the spark plug wires and need to be used anytime cranking the engine with the plugs out. I would get the fuel out first.

My hunch is that your needle and seat is leaking which is separate from the wrong spring but both need to be corrected.

 

[bizygolfn]

So the good news and bad news. Good news fixed with new needle and seat. Once I put the original spring back in the carburetor. Fired it up and now it just seems like I will have to do adjustment with the staff low idol jet needle. But now after further troubleshooting out on the water it was a dog. Nothing out of the hole, I am assuming that I messed with one of the settings. Then I grab the motor and found out that it looks like all motor mounts are busted. Can they be changed out one at a time or do I need to pull the whole motor out?

 

[bizygolfn]

Also I replace the where ring thinking that it was bad and it was not great. I replaced it because it was a dog out of the water and screaming but going nowhere. Would broken motor mounts have the same affect

 

[Mickirig1]

Some one just posted the same problem with broken motor mounts. Splines on drive train may be stripped or worn badly. carbon seal may have a problem. Did you check the pop off pressure? It has the be correct. All parts replaced in carb? Cleaned really well? Check valves and the little anti feed back flap on the low speed circuit replaced? Use the correct type tool to replace the little rubber stoppers that hold fuel pump check valves?