.A.N.T.

have looked on the search, but can't find the answer to this particular question. When the engine is running, should there be power steering fluid pumped through the system? There is definate movement in the resevoir. I read on here that it should only be on when the steering is moved, otherwise it overpressurises the system and causes leaks (mine is leaking) Should there be any movement of fluid at all when the engine is on? As far as I can remember it's always been pumped round constantly, regardless of steering or not... If so, is it just a case of taking the pump off and cleaning it up a bit or will it need a new or recon one? Thanks, Ant.

I've got one in exactly the same door from leaving it on a public road outside work one day... Kind of polished out to the point where you can see it if you look... Haven't got the money to respray it yet... Err, Guildford?? I take it you're not describing the town itself with quite such fondness...? One of the nearby villages then... (I'm from Dorking)

Check the spark when it's turning over.... Not sure why it would fire from cold and not when warm, but it's worth a try... Mine seems to be ok now... 8)

I wired one up a few months back... Love it as it means I no longer have hundreds of cd's falling about all over the place... Actually installed the ipod in the tray by the drivers knees. Drilled a hole to feed the cable through so when the ipods in there (inside an oakley bag) it's almost invisible. As for the wiring... Black ip bus goes to the head unit input (blue) Yellow power goes to permanent live - I took a feed off the perm live from the stereo Black is to earth... Any questions, just drop me a line... Ant.

It's been a couple of weeks now, and though I've not been driving it daily, when I have it's started ok. What I did was firstly replace the starter motor with one which engaged each time rather than just spinning without turning the engine on every other turn. The old starter was also pulling about 180 amps which could be causing a weak spark (as the spark produced when cranking was tiny compared to the one created when we shorted the hall sender) It still wouldn't start though, despite it turning over quickly, so next on the list was a new dizzy (with new Hall sender as it's cheaper to get the dizzy than just the hall sender) Noted where it was on and put the new one on in the same position and it fired up first time, though was very lumpy for a few seconds. Now, touch wood, it seems to start on the button every time... (famous last words!) thought this might help people with similar issues... Also, curiously, the battery seems to be about 1v higher. Before, it was running about 12.2v while the engine was running but now it's upped it to over 13.5, 14v with nothing switched on... (I have a voltmeter as the display on the stereo, very handy). Bit strange...

One other question with the above hypothesis; If the fuel has evaporated, isn't it replaced once the ignition is on and the engine turned over? Why does having evaporated fuel stop the engine from starting?

Haven't heard the fan turn on since about early september! I'll have to leave it running for a while then when I get home. Which is probably a good thing as the interior is wet and could do with some warm air on it!! I'll check this out as well, though the switch I think you mean is connected. Would be useful to have a diagram of what all the sensors on the head do. I've always wondered about some of them...

New dizzy cap and rotor arm are on order as they're pretty old... Thinking about a test for the accumulator. As it is designed to retain pressure, if I drove the car to heat it up, then left it for 20 minutes - if it's working there should still be pressure in the pipes, if it's failed then there shouldn't be any. So could I detach one of the fuel pipes 20 mins after arriving home and see if it spurts petrol out or if it dribbles... I know it's not very safe, but if there's no spark around it should be ok...? Useful page - http://www.diagnostic-assistance.co.uk/mech_inj.htm

Bad news, well depending on which way you look at it... Hopefully the new motor will get looked after in the same way! (btw, when do I get my ride in it??!) Was it hard to sell? Markets aren't great at the moment for selling cars, but yours was quite special, and pretty standard looking too, so wouldn't put off too many people...

Right, I'm starting to get fed up with the car letting me down and refusing to start for no apparent reason. 16v engine. Seems to do it after I've been driving then have left it for one hour to 3 hours. Then it will not start. Turns over, even on a jump so it's turning over as fast as it can. There is a spark, but no sign of actually firing. There's petrol there, as after a while it floods and stinks of petrol. There's a few things that haven't worked for a while on it, so I'm wondering if this will make a difference. Over the summer, the oil temperature sender starting fluctuating wildly between 80 and 135 deg, moving between them in 5 deg jumps, up and down regardless of in traffic or out on the open roads. Now it is just blank in the mfa (it shows --- I think) Also, the outside temp sender is no longer sending, so that is also showing as a blank in the MFA. I'm wondering if the ECU uses either of these measurements to calculate fuel ratios etc, so when the car is warm, it's trying to start it as cold. It's the only thing that I can think of, as once the car is completely cold (ie, the next day) it starts fine. It also starts fine when hot, 10 minutes after stopping, or just in a petrol station. It doesn't fail to start all the time, but it appears to be getting more frequent. HT leads are silicone blue and nearly new, the dizzy and rotor are pretty knackered so I'm getting a new one of those this weekend. Basically, I can't carry on with the car like this as I need a reliable motor to get me about... ( Cheers for any input on why it's happening... Ant.

So nothing to worry about then... Just spares... Thanks!

Wouldn't have thought it was a problem behind the clocks as they're all on the single block going in to the clocks. You'd be getting other issues if there was a loose wire behind there. More likely something to do with the actual sender in the coolant expansion tank. If you still want to get the clocks off then you'll need the steering wheel off (you can remove the indicators if you want, but I found that you could do it with them still on if you put the column at the lowes setting). Either side of the clocks at the front there are 2 plastic covers, prise them off gently as they are no longer made by VW and undo the screws below. Up the top of the plastic surround there's 2 screws there, then the front part shoudl come off exposing the clock surround. Either side there are 2 screws, undow this and the clock unit will fall forward a bit. Lift off the right hand side, reach behind and pull off the vacuum hose, then the electrical connectors which can be very stiff. Push either side of them to release the clips and it should come off ok, then just twist the clocks and they should come out. Hope that helps.

While I had the fusebox out sorting out the clocks I noticed the wire below had no home... The wire leading to it is black with a blue stripe. Any ideas?

Did the Auto Electrician tell you what it was that caused it?

Answered my own question here; http://www.a2resource.com/electrical/CE2.html It's a yes, so tomorrow I'm having the day off and borrowing a car to go to the breakers in...

I think I've got to the bottom of the spoiler that sometimes works and the car refusing to start every so often... This weekend I changed out the clocks to put in ones with red reversed MFA on and while doing so noticed that the wiring from the clocks abck into the fusebox has somehow melted and shorted out. Looks like it was done a while ago by the ageing on the exposed metal wires, but it explains why it's blowing fuses like it's going out of fashion at the moment. As I moved the dash around it must have moved the wires slightly and this is what's made it start blowing fuses... I'll need a new set of wires from the fusebox to the clocks but C's in breakers are rare so I'm wondering if I can pull out the wire from a Mk2 golf or a Mk3 one... Then I can get one tomorrow and have the car up and running again tomorrow evening (in time for the MOT on wed!) Going to have to try to work out why it's happened as well, though I think it stems from years ago when the earth in the engine bay came loose and flicked everything off and on while I was on the motorway... Car has never been the same since and I'm wondering if this is why.....

Could you use one of those solar chargers you get for 12v sources from Maplin. I know it's Britain, and also winter but any amount of light provides a charge and will save having to keep a wire out to the car or disconnect the battery and therefore the alarm...

I bought a new amplified aerial from Ebay for about £25 inc postage and it's the best £25 I've spent in a long while, in fact since I travelled through Thailand but that's another story. The wire you mention above, is it attached to the aerial cable? If so it probably wants a current putting up it to power the amp in the aerial base which is probably knackered. Mine was full of rust completely. It's possible to gut the amplifier out of the aerial base and solder a lead between the actual mast and the base. This makes reception a bit better as you haven't got the loss through the knackered circuit board but isn't a patch on a new amplifier. It's all well and good, imho, having an amplifier near the headunit, but if the signal has already lost some clarity getting from the aerial down the lead then it's already lost some of the signal. I had one of the boosters by the unit and although it did make it slightly better it wasn't a massive difference. Doing a test, by listening to the radio and unplugging the power lead to the aerial and it's a noticable difference. Also, while you're on ebay, get a voltmeter. They're about a tenner posted and mean you won't be connecting the wrong wire up and blowing a fuse. Junk the crocodile clip asap, very easy for it to come detached and short out something... cue lots of smoke and a potential dashboard fire... Ant.

And the glove box just takes brute force to get out and back in again (though brute force with a bit of tact and the correct angle-ing...) I've had it out 3 or 4 times now and am starting to get the hang of it!

Mine was a V12 so wasn't a cheap one, though it was pretty old... Although compared to some I suppose it's the 'low' end of the market...

That would be about right. The wires coming from the headunit amp wouldn't pick up the interference as easily as the RCA's as they have the higher current. I'll second though that it could be a dodgy amp. I had a v12 Alpine one do exactly the same. Fine with the engine off, but picked up noise through one of the channels and not the other. Found that by wiggling the connection and sticking the cable in a position with tape alleviated it, until the tape gave up and the lead moved and the interference returned... Try getting a second RCA lead and running it through the car, over the seats etc and see it that sorts it. Try wiring the amp directly to the battery, and then the RCA directly to that. So none of the leads go under the carpets. They shouldn't then pick up interference and then at least you know the amp is ok. Or drop the amp into someone else's car and see if it whines in there. Regards, Ant.

Have found that when I used to do the M25 past Heathrow a lot. The inside lane always seemed to move quicker. It had all the people leaving at the junctions, then as soon as people join they move over to the outer lanes leaving less traffic in the inner lane... When it was at a standstill it was often quicker to exit the motorway, go over the roundabout and back on again and gain yourself a few hundred yards, but I never really did that as it could cause more bother than it sorts. Looking at the legal thing above then, if the roads are fairly empty then you can plan well ahead and get in the inner lane well before needed to it's not a manouver to undertake. Interesting knowledge there... Undertake where necessary really. Don't see why I should be slowed up by someone hogging the outer lane which happens so much...

yeah, that one worked...

If you look out the back of the airbox there's a hole, about an inch and a half in diameter that should have a pipe on it.

Thought it was quite coincidental that I connected it back up again and the next day it started... Hmm...