What to look out for when buying a Mk3 ??????

[Special Air Service]

G'day guys, have done a bit of searching on here but unfortunately cant seem to find a thread that lists a few of the things to keep an eye out for when buying a Mk3 golf.

going to look at a local 2litre tomorrow , that has rear power window problem, drivers door central locking problem, rear wiper not working & air con regas. nothing special here that will stop the sale, but what are the more hidden issues that I need to know,? car has nearly 300,000km on it but the price reflects that.

how solid are the 2 litres?

any help, tips or links to pages that may have what I'm looking for would be greatly appreciated.

This will be our first golf, have an '72 aircooled beetle & an '89 transporter, in the garage already, looking to build on our VW stable.

Cheers
Brendan

[fred27]

What year model is the mk3 you're looking at? If it has received regular oil changes and maintenance the engines are bombproof. The vane type air flow meter is generally reliable if you're looking at a 1994 model. With that distance travelled you would need to replace suspension bushes and top strut mounts. I would also look at wheel bearings and the brake master cylinder. For your rear door power window pull back the rubber grommet between the body and door to check the wires are not chaffed. For the driver's door central locking pull back the grommet and check if the vacuum pipe has not worked loose. Aircon work can get expensive if it's the compressor and the TX valve and drier also need replacing. Google up vwvortex, there is some good info there. Hope that helps a bit and good luck with the purchase.

[Stanton]

Reverse gear !

[Special Air Service]

Thanks guys, now the proud owners of a white '94 GL. far from perfect but not too bad for $900 & 6 months rego.
pics later on.


cheers
Brendan

[drucejnr]

congrats!! sounds like you got it for a bargain too!

[fred27]

Congrats, one more item to change is the ignition coil.

[Mk3 AAA]

Pics or you accidentally bought a yaris...

[Special Air Service]

no accident..........



will start a new thread later on as I go about tidying her up, & fixing the little things that are wrong with it.

plenty of questions to come no doubt.

[fred27]

Looks great, good luck with the tidying and fixing up.