MKIII golf, some electrical gremlins and a lousy sounding clutch :(

[hicko]

so when i go to put the wipers on.....they dont come on, but if i pull the stalk to wash / wipe the windscreen, the wipers do that, just not wipe continuously by themselves. very frustrating any ideas guys?

also, my clutch pedal is rather limp and without any resistance in it when i press it in for the first half of its journey to the floor (if that makes sense) it kind of feels like there is limited fluid but i cant see anywhere in the engine bay to top the fluid up....and once the clutch is in, the clutch sounds like if you had two sheets of glass and were rubbing them together you also had sand in between those two sheets (im trying to describe it the best lol) and this noise is rather disconcerting. the gear changes are reasonable good, except for trying ot get into first and reverse sometimes is a bit of a task.....i suspect worn syncros?

and in closing, seeing as i have only ever owned r31's before my golf, is there anything else i should be aware of in terms of build faults / common flaws etc etc? thanks fellas

hicko

[Defaultuser0520]

Hmm, had my VR6 for a week now so no expert, but my electrical faults are:
- ABS light constantly on
- Park brake light constantly on
- passenger window works intermittently
- cruise control not working

Not sure if these are all common faults or not.....

[hicko]

my cruise control also doesnt work

[SpeciP3]

Wiper stalk sounds like the relay has gone, try a fresh one
Not sure which one it is off the top of my head tho sorry

[mattross]

I Had similar problems... which some i fixed, some of my solutions below (might not be 100% correct)
ABS - check connections behind fuse panel, red and yellow junction, otherwise you'll need a VAGCOM to plug in to check the error.
Park Brake - thats easy, take of centre console and check the pressure switch
Window - check connections in door, if it continues, the motor or reg might be on the way out so leave some gaffer tape in ya car, if it fails tape it up.
Cruise control - usually a vacuum hose leak, not always easy to find, i bought some kiddies chalk from the supermarket crushed it up and put over all the lines, found a few leaks, fixed em up...

[Defaultuser0520]

Awesome, thank you.

[hicko]

way to hijack my thread lol.

anyways, one thing i thought of today that i didnt ask the other day was, are the clutches in these things hydraulic or cable? and if they are cable, where am i able to adjust the cable? if hydraulic, where about do i check clutch fluid levels as i be buggered if i could see it in the engine bay.

also, any ideas on a cost for a set of extractors and zorst? new and 2nd hand?

thanks guys for the help so far

[Defaultuser0520]

Sorry mate, didnt mean to do that, was just listing my elec faults in case they were common

[Golf Loon]

Hicko. Is your car a 2L? 1.8L? Or VR6??
All except VR6 have a cable clutch with a self adjusting cable.
If clutch is slipping revs will move faster than the speedo needle in third when you boot it.
Noises from the box are likely to be the gearbox itself.
Wiper stalk is probably the culprit, or relay.
Cruise control rarely works on a mk3.

[hicko]

2l so, its a cable clutch. is it adjustable? i wish i had a VR6 lol. but thats besides the point.

are the gearboxes sealed units or are they able to be serviced? eg, fluid change?

the clutch doesnt seem to be slipping it, the pedal jsut has no feel until its halfway to the floor....id rather have the clutch engaging sooner if possible.

[hicko]

instead of awaiting replies in threads, do you guys on here have a technical section? like an area that explains basic maintenance / mods etc in an article fashion on here?

[hicko]

no love ??

[hicko]

how hard is it to change the idler bearing on the 2l motor?

why is it i cant seem to find and second hand extractors or exhausts for these cars? maybe ive been spoilled for choice with loads of r31 skyline parts haha.

how much should i expect to pay for an exhaust and extractors set up? new and or second hand. what size is better, 2 and a half inch or 2 and a quarter?

and as per my earlier question, are the gearboxes sealed units? are they able to be serviced with a fluid change? there seems to be a bung or something in mine....but i dont want to pull on the tabs of it too hard unless its for something else.....and break it lol.

lest we forget

hicko

[ryana89]

VWVortex.com - The "Official" Golf / Jetta MK3 Forum FAQ

DIY!!!!

[hicko]

awesome. arguably one of the best links ive been given.

so this forum itself doesnt have the same sort of tech articles that forum does obviously?

thanks heaps