Issues with MIII 2.0's

[beancounter]

Hi,

New to the forum, seeking some advice. Have recently purchased a 97 MIII, spur of the moment, sleep deprived decision!! I knew it was a car in need of TLC, but the car just appealed to me. Anyway, I already really enjoy driving it, but I am not sure if I am going to be throwing good money after bad?

The problem list so far:

1. The car may have done more than 20,000km with out oil change. Can the 2.0's handle this?

2. It has been run on regular unleaded for ?? how long. It was noticably "pinging" when I first drove it. Are there long terms problems for head/valves with regular unleaded?

3. Now onto PULP and pinging gone, but motor sluggish below 2500rpm, even when there is not load on the motor.. Feels as if timing too far advanced at low revs?? Is this suggestive of other problems? (vacuum advance works well)

4. Reverse gear has a likely broken tooth somewhere!! still works, but noisy. How long can it go like this?

Otherwise it is the usual windows, timing belt problems already highlighted in the forums. Thanks in advance for any advice, and for the forum, great source of valuable info, especially as I seem to be coming addicted to the breed (even though something made in Japan would likely be more reliable, easier to drive!! But i just look for excuses to go for a spin, which the Honda civic never did for me))

cheers

bc

[Golfer]

Welcome beancounter!!!

Congrats on your purchase, you're right it's a great breed. I came over from the dark side (an XR to my GL, and have had a ball. My little baby (Bjelo is her name-o) started out life a little rough, as she had a lot of hidden problems. Most of them surprisingly similar to what you are describing...

First things first - VW at the time designed the motors under certain circumstances to run up to 15,000kms without an oil change. It's not advisable, but if the oil was topped up as properly, there should be minimal gumming of the oil, and should be able to be rectified by doing what i did -

I first removed the existing oil, but left the oil filter in place. I replaced the oil with $10 Gulf-Western garbage, put in a bottle of oil flush, and drove up and down the highway for 45 minutes. I put the car straight up on the blocks and dumped the oil with the engine steaming hot, and ditched the filter as well. Replaced filter and oil with premium products, and while the car was off it's feet, dumped the coolant, flushed the system, and replaced it. Use the new G12 Plus from VW.

Secondly, the car ran ok, but felt a little breathless under 2K. Injectors had been clogged by crap fuel and the plugs were black as sin. I ran a whole big bottle of Lucas Fuel Conditioner through the tank over my first several tanks (in Shell V-Power of course) and have only ever run V-Power. Made a huge difference. At the same time i pulled off the pipe from the airbox to the throttle body, pulled the body off and cleaned it thoroughly and CAREFULLY, as well as replacing the dreadfully dirty and clogged air filter element with a K&N (I modified the airbox as well, but be prepared for increased induction noise).

My reverse gear has been screaming at me since day dot. Pretty sure the G'box is R@@TED, but then it is an 02O box which is different to yours. Knocking on wood now, but it's still going hard, and i don't baby it. I did dump the original gear oil and replace it with Penrite SIN with a Lucas treatment in it, and it has quietened things down a lot...

I really hope this helps you a bit. I'm no mechanic, but i love my dub, and this site. Welcome, and i hope you enjoy being a part of the 'coolers

Cheers!!!
JHN

[beancounter]

Thanks for that Golfer. Sounds like some TLC might just bring the little golf back to life.. I will work through those suggestions one by one.. getting the timing belt done, (with water pump and tensioner as per forum suggestion) first, and my drivers bloomin window working..

What is a K&N air filter worth, and is there a performance benefit over over the standard filter? and although i should not be worrying about performance just at this stage.... what is the intake modification, and does it make things go a little better??

And the Penrite SIN, is that a especially good gearbox oil for golfs, or a personal favourite? (or both?)

Thanks for that.. looking forward to getting Gary golf healthy again...
cheers
bc

[peedman]

Power window is easy to fix but you just need to find out whether its the regulator or the motor thats gone bust. In either case when i fixed mine i bought a regulator from the US for about $40 + postage and hit up a wrecker for a used motor.

I doubt with a k&n filter ull notice didly squat over the oem filter. Theres a thread somewhere about cutting up your airbox have a look for it.


PS: Welcome to the mk3 club!

[Golfer]

No worries at all mate.

I got the K&N for $125 at autobarn, took 2 days to arrive. The performance gains aren't spectacular, but the sound is better, it revs harder and the filter last forever if u look after it (beats buying expensive filters from VAG all the time). I reckon it was worth the money...

I replaced the timing belt and water pump as well, just to be safe, and the TLC does a world of good (but hurts the hip pocket a bit)

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/newforum/upload/showthread.php?t=2669&page=4

Check above link "Air Ducting" in the Mk3 forum for pictures of the airbox mod. Makes the induction LOUD (but in a good way) and definitely helps free up the poor asthmatic old airbox. A few others have put in their 2 cents too, and it's a useful thread...

As for Penrite SIN, it's a good product, but not the best. At the time I couldn't justify the extra outlay for Penrite Ten-Tenths 90, which is the best stuff you can use, but it'll set you back over 70 bucks, while SIN, which is still fully synthetic is around $45. 10-Tenths is a race grade, high stress oil, better rated then the SIN, but if you aren't into racing, I reckon SIN does the job OK...

Again, hope this helps...

Cheers!
JHN

[beancounter]

Thanks for the time and advice.. will spend the next couple of weeks putting the car into rehab and see how he comes out.. dont think i am quite read to cut up his air box yet, but more induction noise sounds like fun!! and i will have another crack at the windows.. at the moment i am holding both of the back windows in the up position with cable ties..

Would you recommend a manual, given i am not planning on major repairs?? (just wondering if it makes fixing the windows any easier for one thing) Any where in melbourne that carries repair manuals??

thanks again

bc

[BlackVr6ix]

if your looking for a K&N filter, send me a pm and i'll see what price i can get you one from work.

[bsting]

Haynes do an ok manual for the mk3 and it covers all cars from the 2L 16v down.
The # is 3097.
Couple of jobs done yourself from this and its paid for.

They never made one with the VR6 in it.
But if you have a VR6 this Haynes covers everything on your car apart from the engine and gearbox.

A big step up is the Bentley manual but they are about 3x the cost.

The Haynes is fine for everyday jobs.
And it has all the torque wrench settings in it too

Ahhhh the dreaded mk3 power window curse!! it happened to me last year (drivers door) there was just a click from the switch (the motor is ok)
All i did was replace the regulator (lifter) its fine now.
But you need a mate to hold the window for you as you line it up with the new regulator...

[beancounter]

Just got to say thanks for all the advice. Just gold, really. Especially when you are new to the breed, and there are a few oddities, just great. Started the rehab today, and should be mostly done by next weekend.

Another question? What sort of noise should be normal when you take off the oil filler cap while the engine is running?? I get quite a marked "huffing" noise... Is this normal?? the noise sounds as if the rings had gone in one of the pistons, and it was blowing back into the crankcase!!!!, but the motor runs smoothly, plugs are ok and pretty similar in colour, dont think it is burning oil? I am going to do a compression test on the weekend.. is this huffing noise normal behavior for the 2.0's, or could there be something nasty brewing?

thoughts much appreciated, and thanks again for the advice to date

btw..had another look at the air intake today, seems like the major constriction on the whole system is the feed into the aircleaner box?? is that correct? I smell a mod coming up!

[h100vw]

The airbox is like that to keep the noise down.

The huffing is normal as the breather system is pretty well sealed entirely. Plus you stand the chance of getting splattered with oil if you leave it off too long.

I had a Ford Escort XR3 years ago and that blew the filler cap off and wouldn't tickover at all without it.

Gavin

[beancounter]

A car that would not run with out a filler cap! wow. Thanks for the reassurance. Plenty of little oddities in Golfs just to keep you interested.

On a related note, I have another question which I cannot easily answer for myself. I replaced the breather pipe that comes out of the cam cover. The section from the crankcase to the had rotted away. Now it seems to me that the motor is running better. Specifically it seemed to be picking up better at low revs, and was more difficult to get the motor to "ping". It is hard to be too specific, as there was a two day gap between the before and after drives, and being Melbourne, the temp is now 20 C lower. But could the breather pipe make a noticable effect on the tuning?

Replaced the window regulator over the weekend too.. I did not realise quite how much it had been frustrating me. Is the any fine tuning that has to be done? I just dropped the window into the rubber mounts and tightened. First few times i tried the window, it was sometimes raising to a certain point and then reversing back down.. presumably a safety mechanism.. did not have time to investigate further, and it has not done it since i put the door back together. Is there fine tuning that needs to be done on the regs, or should it be ok now?

Thanks for the time, much appreciated as ever.

beancounter

BTW, a friend who owns a Subi STi took the golf for a spin, and commented that the gear shift was better than in his car! I thought notchy gear shift was a problem with MIII golfs!!

[Golf Loon]

With the regs, better to do up the mechanism in the door but leave the two bolts on the window loose. Go up and down a few times till it finds its onw place and then tighten. If you dont, it will kill your new regulator

[beancounter]

Thanks Golf Loon, will pull the door apart (yet again) and fix that up, I so dont want to have to replace that regulator ever again..

Got another question actually.. cruise control.. engages (sometimes) works for a couple minutes, then just cuts out.. wont restart.. other times just wont work at all.. assume it is a loose connection, but does anyone know where?

cheers

beancounter

[h100vw]

I haven't ever looked at cruise on a MK3 but I would think there are a couple of things that would cause it to drop out. Pressing either the brake or the clutch for starters. Both must have a switch on the pedals for that. So that's one place to look.

Might just be bad adjustment?

Gavin

[beancounter]

thanks H100VW, sensible starting points..

last time had a problem with a cruise control, it was a faulty connection in the control arm, so just assumed that this would be a similar problem (but I have only ever had one other car with cruise, so in my experience 100% of cruise faults are faulty wiring in the pod!!)

cheers

bc