davidwort

as standard, the ABF is the best engine, but it's a slightly taller block and I'm not 100% that you won't have some problems with parts fitting/clearing because of this. the cams on the ABF are slightly higher lift than the KR (1.8) but shorter duration I think. If you get a whole 6A/9A don't bother taking the head of if it's in good nick, will just cost you a headgasket and bolts, whack in the KR inlet cam though the 9A is too flat. Best option is a good 2L bottom end (any 16v engine code) plus a flowed head, all the 16v heads have the same potential flowed.

It's just VW's :lol: loads of them do it, they don't like being rushed into reverse, it'll always be worse when the box is cold in the morning as the oil is much thicker, new synthetic oil will help but I doubt there's anything wrong at all.

yep, bypass the matrix and see if your leaks still persist, but check the seals under those door panels, the inside of the doors is a crap design and unless the seals are perfect some water will get in. also make sure the scuttle panel area is clear of leaves and the side drain holes that come out under the wings are clear to prevent water build up that could get into the fan ducting.

Few things to check: If it's over fuelling the plugs will have black sooty deposits on them. Check the air filter is clean, the plugs, leads dizzy cap etc are in good nick. Is the exhaust in good condition? Bad spray patterns on injectors won't help fuel consumption. has the Warm up regulator been fiddled with? - tamper proof brass cap underneath it when the unit is un-bolted from the head. Are your tyres inflated correctly, is the alignment right? Have the CO checked, should be between 0.5 and 1.5, a strong engine will run better at the top end with it at 2% as mentioned. Have you had a compression check done? The favourite for sluggish performance and low fuel economy is a timing belt one tooth out, compare the pulley timing marks to the flywheel mark. I've hardly ever got less than 30mpg on my K-jet valver and my current 2L block running the 1.8 injection will always make 350 to the tank on tesco 99. A good condition 1.8 with mixed driving should be making over 300 miles to the tank unless you drive in town all the time.

is the coolant level definitely going down? if the door membranes are damaged a fair bit of water can enter the footwells from the bottom of the doors.

If the pressure valve in the pump sticks then you can end up with the pump contantly pumping fluid to the rack, two things then seem to happen, apart from the constant noise you'll eventually blow the pressure hose at the flex hose joints as that's the weak point and you'll get fluid racing back into the reservoir all the time which can lead to it escaping from the cap.

just in front of the rear axle, four brake line connections to it, lever arm on the side is connected to the rear beam by a spring, as the car lowers under weight the beam pulls the spring and alters the brake bias to the back. David.

I've got one one here you can have, SEAT one so it'll just slot in place of the original whole lighter unit, you just need to slide the bulb holder off the old one onto the new one. Cost of a pint plus postage? :)

16v GTI's use the same rack as the early corrado, so I'd imagine you'd need a universal joint from the bottom of the steering column to the rack, off a manual rack golf. corrado will be very heavy with a manual rack though, there's a lot more weight up front than in a golf.

which bit gets broken? - as it's just the dizzy end that you need, it may be that any old detachable HT lead end would do the job providing the end of the lead is left OK for connecting in this way. Do you wan't to disect one of the old ones e.g. No.1 and post some pics up?

Mine are BREMI, bought as OEM from GSF years back, very good quality and OEM plug connectors as far as I can tell, but whether they are totally identical to the parts that VAG would supply I don't know.

Jim, I think the VW OEM leads are made to take apart, ETKA even lists the cable in reels that you cut to the right length and shows detached connectors, worst comes to the worst and you may have to buy a genuine VAG No. 4 lead and ends. Perhaps it's worth trying to take your new no. 4 lead apart, providing the old one is still working OK. If it breaks and won't go back together then perhaps you could buy just the dizzy cap end connector from VAG and try that on your new lead, if that won't fit then resort to the rest of that lead and plug connector from VAG??? David.

dodgy stalk? does it do it or stop doing it if you wiggle the indicator stalk slightly? failing that it could be alarm gremlins - I remember your wiring under the dash :)

valver should run at about 1% at idle(0.5-1.5), 2% tends to make them run a bit better at the top end, I think you can go up to 5% on a pre cat car for the MOT though (nope - make that 3.5% see PDF), e.g KR 16v. 1200ppm for HC's PDF from VOSA: non cat test pre '75 is visual only :) if the car doesn't dissappear in a cloud of smoke you get through!

sounds like it depends on how many sets of cameras they have at the start/end of the monitored sections and how many lanes there are, problem is you don't know which lanes are being monitored. If they have two pairs of cameras and two lanes then I think it will still get you. If there's one set on a 3 lane motorway then swapping would probably get past it.

you need to check and clean the ISV and check the thermo-time switch. The ISV can be cleaned out with petrol or carburettor cleaner quite well, but occasionally they are beyond it and carry on sticking, try unpluggging and re-plugging the ISV with the engine running and see if it has the same issue with idle. Get yourself a copy of the haynes passat manual 1988-91 (dark pink one) from e-bay for a couple of quid and it will tell you where the thermo-timeswitch is and how to check it's giving the correct resistance at the correct temperature. All you need is a cheap multimeter from maplins. Oh, and hello and welcome! :) David.

Audi 80's/coupes of that era are way more solid trim wise than the corrado, no contest. Depending on the model mechanically they can be very similar, although gearbox-wise you have the advantage of a longitudinal engine. I think one of the main problems is the driving position, not nearly as good as the corrado. I'm not even sure if any have a height adjustable steering column.

funny you should say that, yesterday I saw your loom fuses tucked down by the battery/radiator and thought 'another one that's going to give trouble' - we were so engrosed in everything else though I forgot to mention it, the wires looked well corroded where they were exposed close to the crimp connectors. Oh, by the way, relays are IRO 2 quid from Maplins, doubt whether halfords are as cheap.

I bet - aren't they nearly 20:1 compression ratio?

We had a look at Jim's car today and after marking the timing marks with a blob of paint discovered the advance was almost 11 deg at idle and wavering around a bit with it (used the flywheel marks to set it up and flywheel tallied with cam belt pulleys so no sheared woodruff keys!) Set the idle advance to 6 deg and went from there, tested the HT leads, coil lead was over resistance by about 25% - ok-ish 2,3,4 were all in tolerance but one had no reading at all, car still runs OK on it (we swapped a lead from mine over and it made no difference) but it's obviously close to shot, so a new set of leads are in order- missed GSF closing by like 2 minutes :mad: Jim hasn't managed to get the injector O rings swapped yet so they may not be helping, ISV seems to be working but whether it is leaking a bit we're not 100% sure. There was a vac leak from the aux air valve? (behind air metering unit), seems to be two small units here, I'm sure K-jet only has the one?? and we're not sure if it was just disturbed when we lifted the air filter out to check the air-flap/plunger smoothness, or it was perhaps partially off before. Seems to be a bit better now but idle sometimes sticks a bit high (like the ISV is sticking occasionally) at about 1200rpm, e.g. when de-clutching after driving and dropping to idle. When it does idle at the right level it seems about right, 900 rpm ish, perhaps a bit lower, although as I said, the timing does seem to wabble either side of 6 deg a bit more than I'm used to. If you stop and re-start the idle will settle fine at the lower correct level, apart from it's wavering. When Jim has the new HT leads on then at least he'll be able to cross that off the list, they are definitely not helping. Most of the other vac hoses seem OK but the large diameter hose on the front of the block/breather unit is a bit loose and could do with a jubilee clip around it. Engine sounds reasonably healthy though and the metering unit looks like it hasn't been tampered with and the plunger is lovely and smooth so we're hoping it isn't the metering head at fault. Jim's to do list: :) HT leads injector o-rings clean ISV again? - borrow another 2L one to check? duct tape over holes in the air box :lol: jubilee clip around breather outlet on front of block rotor arm compression test - be good to see how even they are OEM inlet pipe instead of the power rohr timing belt cover sorry Jim, i'll get off your case now :lol: David.

you need an ear for it :) I remember watching my dad set up the CO by listening to the engine, how smooth it was running, whacked it on the MOT bay gas tester and it was bang on - well impressed - unless it was a very lucky guess :lol: Jim, I hope the slope business isn't suggesting it's fuel pump related :(

yep 256 as standard, you could always measure yours :wink: only confusion with a motor factors might be that the 2L 8v engine was used on the mk3 golf and that had 280mm brakes (but 5 stud). AFAIK the only vws with 4 stud 280's were the G60 corrado, rare G60 golf and even rarer G60 passats.

I'd be worried if a magnet fell off the sump plug and rattled around in my gearbox :) doesn't sound like a particularly good DIY mod then?

there shouldn't be a problem adjusting the idle CO in this way, it's just the same as K-jet and about 1/4 turn will simply raise/lower the CO by a couple of percent. The pressure regulator unit itself on the side of the metering head may be very sensitive to tampering, this has to be precise enough with adjusting the fuel mixture to make the car run clean enough for working with a CAT (the extra bit for KE-jet). If the metering distributor has been replaced or removed from the main body that houses the air-flow plate it may be that the free travel of the plate at idle is wrong, so the idle CO adjustment just can't be turned enough to compensate. There is also a problem with people adjusting the CO in that they press too hard when adjusting or rev the engine, both can damage the adjuster. I bet most of the pissing around with these units is due to DIYers (like myself :oops: ) messing about, or MOT stations adjusting it to get the car through emissions tests, unfortunately, unless a car has had major modifications it's usually another problem in the system that causes emissions variations or lean running and then the fiddling with the metering head is done to try to compensate. If left well alone they are really reliable! David.

Franchised dealerships have to maintain a certain standard of premises and equipment, a lot purchased direct from VW, then their staff have to attend VAG training for systems. They will always charge a much higher rate than independant garages to make a profit. Then there's location related costs including recruiting and keeping qualified staff. I'm not defending the rates of any particular company, but the motor trade doesn't pay that well and there's not exactly a limitless supply of capable trainees either. What is wrong is the way incentives encourage short cuts in many of the franchised dealerships, particularly the chains of dealerships. If a clutch is listed at 3hrs 'book time' if the mechanic can get it done in less and on to the next job then they often get paid more for doing so. Also, many independants will charge for the time it takes, so you might only get charged a nominal amount for say replacing a battery where a dealer may charge a minumum of 1/2 hr which could end up being more than the cost of the battery.