My 86 jetta doesn't work!

Earlier this week i bought an 86 jetta, with 102,009 original miles it is
in good shape but it is just a little a to b car that i hoped would last.
when i bought it it had roughly half a tank of gas, i filled it all the
way up then once it got down to 1/4 of a tank it died. i put another
gallon of gas in and it started fine then died after a mile or so. then i
started it again and it ran til i got home about two miles. now when i
start it up it will run for 30 seconds or so and if i give it any gas it
will start to bog down and after just dies, but it always starts back up
again. i am not sure if it is a fuel pump or what any help would be
awesome
THANK YOU

Could be one or more problems (bad fuel pump, partially plugged fuel filter,
contaminated fuel, defective fuel line, bad ignition, bad sensor, etc.). Get
a good service manual such as a Bentley. Then do a process of elimination
series of diagnostic tests, starting with the simple things. Good luck.

Sounds like a nearly-plugged fuel filter to me. If you keep running it
like that you will burn out the pump (and may have done some damage
already).

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Sounds like a nearly-plugged fuel filter to me. If you keep running it
> like that you will burn out the pump (and may have done some damage
> already).

change the filter first. if that doesn't do it, then next change the
in-tank pump. that one is notorious for failing and is not that pricey.
the main pump under the car is more expensive but isn't as failure prone.
when yoiu change the in-tank pump you do it through the trunk floor. also
pull the fuel pump fuse when doing this for safety reasons (lower chance of
any sparks/ignition/fire) and also make sure the tank is less than 3/4 full
when doing this else fuel will flow out of the tank and into your trunk (not
good!).