Let M l,m be the total space of the S 3-bundle over S 4 classified by the element lσ + mρ ∈ π 4 (SO(4)), l, m ∈ Z. In this paper we study the homotopy theory of gauge groups of principal G-bundles over manifolds M l,m when G is a simply connected simple compact Lie group such that π 6 (G) = 0. That is, G is one of the following groups: SU (n) (n ≥ 4), Sp(n) (n ≥ 2), Spin(n) (n ≥ 5), F 4 , E 6 , E 7 , E 8. If the integral homology of M l,m is torsion-free, we describe the homotopy type of the gauge groups over M l,m as products of recognisable spaces. For any manifold M l,m with non-torsion-free homology, we give a p-local homotopy decomposition, for a prime p ≥ 5, of the loop space of the gauge groups.