A mate of mine has a Mk3 Golf 1.6 1996, it broke down on him and we worked out it was dodgy fuel (tank full) having drained the tank and added new fuel (25litres) the car now starts again and runs but is very lumpy on tickover and misses quite badly on acceleration as well as being underpowered. the initial fuel was thought to be contaminated with water after some investigations. Any ideas what the problem could be we've cleaned out the single point injection unit but the problem doesn't seem to be getting any better. Could it have caused a more serious problem. Any ideas welcome

Buggered lamba ?

Have you changed the filter???

As above, change the fuel filter, and if you can disconnect fuel lines and blow them out with an airline, there maybe a blockage in them, after this a drop of injector cleaner in the fuel system.

[Edited on 28/2/08 by madrallysport]

Ditto filter. Beyond that is there any come-back e.g. the Tesco dodgy fuel incident in Kent recently