davidwort

you're not going to save them I don't reckon, once the valve inside is shot that's pretty much it, there was a post on Glub GTI about taking them apart and cleaning, but like valving on dampers these things wear out and deposit build up may be impossible to remove, I think you need to bite the bullet and buy some new ones. Or you could do like Jason and leave them, like he says, his rattles at idle like the top end has done a million miles, but it doesn't do any harm :)

the old story with motor factors as opposed to VW/TPS is that you never know what stock the factors have, they often have 2 or 3 suppliers of the same parts, if they do specify Hella, bosch etc, then everything should be OK, but some of the obscure pattern part names can be pretty ropey and you don't always know what they will send you, my advice is to find out what make you should be looking out for and check the part out of the box at the factor's parts counter before buying.

VR uses replaceable elements, so don't whack a screwdriver through the outer case! that e-bay tool is for the 4cyl cars, think you just need a spanner/socket for the VR

Ah, the joys of aftermarket alarm and immobiliser fitment! Only thing to do is strip out anything that's not OEM and solder in new sections of cable, all the VW stuff should be clearly and uniquely colour coded, so it should be just a big jigsaw puzzle, don't envy your job though :(

I've bought quite a range of parts from them, good service but some of their stuff is of dubious quality, had a header thank from them that I binned it was so bad, neither cap or return pipe would fit! bought one from GSF that was much better in the end. Most of the FEBI stuff is OK, but it's not all up to VW quality.

Dealer should have a battery heavy discharge tester, TBH most would just swap one for you no-questions-asked based on how old it was and your description of the problem with it, seems like someone just can't be bothered, I thought Mazda had a pretty good rep generally with customer service?

there's 16 of the bu99ers on a 16v! so you're talking 200 quid!!! so hard to tell which ones are shot, they shouldn't make a lot of noise on startup unless they are really worn if you are quick, run the car till warm, then stop it, whip the inlet and cam cover off (easier said than done on a 16v) pull out the cams and check each tappet, the knackered ones will have drained down, the better ones will still be pumped up, of course if one or two are worn the others may not be many miles behind, but if you have one or two really rattly ones, it's potentially a cheap way to get rid of the noise :)

My 8v has been running really sweetly after I sussed the previous owner(s) had had the cambelt changed and the intermediate shaft knocked on a tooth which drives the dizzy a new aux belt and PAS belt had made it quieter too, chattery tappets are no biggy I can ingore that :) but over the last couple of weeks it'd been getting noisier at idle, fearing that the alternator bearings were on the way out I stripped it all to bits to check everything and replaced the cambelt at the weekend as the old one was oily and I'd no proof of when exactly it was done. looking down at the pulleys the PAS pulley was suspicious, the PAS pump pulley itself ran perfectly true (no play in shaft or bent pulley) but with a steel rule from the crank pulley to the PAS pulley it was clear that the two weren't parallel. No amount of attempts to adjust the pump made any difference, every time I tightened all the fixings back up it pulled out of true. It seems over the years that the brackets and fixings can become very slightly distorted, the 16v has a similar setup, and this creates a belt running out of true and lots of chatter and squeaks even on newish belts. Good news is, that by a bit of thought and careful filing of the bracketry you can bring the pump body back in line and the pulleys back parallel. All runs very quiet now, very worthwhile checking they are true with a straight edge, I bet most suffer from this alignment issue to some degree given the age and mileage of the cars now.

Just bear in mind that the centre 'suitcase' is designed for tuned noise reduction and generic silencer boxes especially those used in stainless systems are often a lot noisier than the original type of box.

don't mess with botches on the high pressure fuel lines, you need new lines or someone with the right tools and fittings to add an extension to your existing hose, cutting the old one back. The alloy washers do crush to create a seal but I wouldn't attempt to resurface the face of a banjo union if you've scored/mangled it. There was an e-bay seller making hoses for the pump/acumulator etc as some parts may not be available from VW any more.

Thermostat might not be closing fully.

Fuel vapourises better when the inlet temp is high, it has to get very hot before air density affects power, so no surprise winter driving uses more fuel, combine that with more wet road days and lower tyre pressures (cold=reduced tyre pressure) then mpg will obviously drop, you can add more use of the HRW and miorrors, demister fan + heat from matrix when engine is still cold. Main issue is the time it takes to warm up to full operating temp though, Most days for the past 3 or 4 months have been between 0-5 degrees where I am (middle of the country) your oil and water temp is going to be up a lot quicker when starting from 15-20 as it can be in the summer. Whether you drive an early 16v with it's mechanical warm up regulator, or a VR or 8v with EFI you still get more fuel delivered when the temps are colder. VW petrol engines of this era were designed to run fairly hot for efficiency, on the warm up or at very low ambient temps fuel isn't entering the engine atomised/vapoursied as well as it could be, so less power from the same amount of fuel. There's a reason there's a warm air pickup pipe from the exhaust manifold into the standard airbox, and a flap to shut off the cold air from around the driver's headlamp, on so many cars this pickup is broken/missing the snorkel has been removed or the whole airbox has been replaced with an aftermarket filter, all these will affect winter fuel consumption. On a dry day with the car fully up to temp I don't see much difference on a stready cruise though from summer to winter (16v, 8v or mk4 1.6), but that first 15 minutes of driving is the killer. especially on the older bigger engines. Oh, and 80 degree oil is way too low for cruising (up-to-temp) on a valver, should be more like 100, that's where optimum engine efficiency is.

I seem to recall it's possible you have damaged the splines on the cv joint and/or hub, that's worst case though :( might be sensible to remove the hub nut and extract the cv shaft from the hub to inspect. Hopefully someone else can confirm.

Bit of a pain really, a vw pump needs to run in fuel and then I guess you would need a pressure regulator and then all the associated unions and lines. Fuel vapour is pretty dangerous and this sort of cleaning is usually carried out on a purpose designed rig. For a few injectors it's probably more economic to send your injectors to a cleaning company or just buy new ones but it's worth a go with them just sat in the ultrasonic bath.

timing on the distributor is nothing more than the base advance setting, that's altered by simply turning the distributor slightly in it's oval bolt mounting holes, won't prevent the car from starting, if you get it too far one way it will idle fast and be a bit harder for the starter to turn over, too far the other way it will start very easily but idle slow (ignition too far retarded) to set it correctly you need a timing light, although you can get it pretty close by ear - car idles smoothly about 950rpm. I reckon your aftermarket immobiliser is a prime suspect, main ignition coils rarely go wrong, again, given a haynes manual it will explain how to check the feeds to the ignition coil, one of these might be cut by the immobiliser.

Could be a number of things, if you can rule out the immobiliser then the hall sender in the dizzy is worth a check. Basic tests are in golf or passat haynes manual.

Did you get the before and after rr plots for the valver? it's amazing how a 16v that runs perfectly OK can gain 5-10 bhp just from setting up the fuelling and base timing just right, the torque increases a little right across the rev range too, making the car feel that bit livelier, Stealth usually advance the timing about 2 degrees more than spec which together with tweaking the fuelling to make it run a bit richer at the top end makes a fair difference. If you run your car on super unleaded you'll get away with it as the original ignition map was programmed for 4 star or 98RON fuel and the 1.8 has no cat so can run that bit richer with no ill effects.

Diaphram pressure switch, part of the idle and overrun vacuum system

or this comes in a self adhesive backing version 1x1.5m http://www.keepitquiet.co.uk/fire_retardant_acoustic_foam.html

Yes been using it for a year, very similar to vw stuff can't harm to spray it everywhere underneath, I used several cans on the front panels subframe,rear beam and battery tray etc before this winter, seems to be holding up well

eh? :scratch: I thought the arb was flat across the middle of the car and then the ends came out and up and over the top of the wishbones, it does lok very similar but the ends should curve up and over so 'n' rather than 'u' shaped. I guess you mean looking from the front of the car, the side pieces would raise up, but then you can make it look like that even with the arb upside down?

the alloy is fairly soft so don't go mad with an electric drill/dremel and steel wire brush wheels. I think I used a mixture of hand wire brushes (brass type if you can get one) and brillo pads(kitchen ones with the cleaner in them) or just wire wool and WD40, it makes a hell of a mess but comes up like new with enough work. I prefer that look to the mirror polished look, which is far harder to get and even harder to get looking really good and keep it that way. I personally wouldn't paint the inlet, if you can get it professionally coated that's one thing but home prep and painting won't last long and a flaky painted manifold will look shyte.

Freshwater tropical don't cost much to keep, so many people spend a fortune on the kit and fish and then give up, there's loads of great second hand stuff around, seems a shame to just buy from pet shops etc when there's fish needing a good home too :) I find it pretty relaxing to sit and watch them for a while at the end of the day too, and just observing their behaviour, particularly if you feed them some live brine shrimp or daphnia.

PMSL! what's with the 'port-hole' in the back :lol: and doesn't rust look so great on a white car, kind of reminds me of my old washing machine :lol: wait.. it gets better, originally in a shed, been outside for 5 years, registered as a 1.3 jetta but has a 1.8 engine (def a 1.8 you can tell from the air filter) :scratch: worth it's weight in iron oxide I reckon

SAD syndrome I reckon, once the weather and temperature improves and a show or two have occured I'm sure people will be more positive about car stuff, I know I always am.