seanl82

Unplug your MAF and go for a spin. It may cut out after a minute or so, but you'll notice the difference immediately if it is the cause. Thats what my money would be on.

I honestly don't see the point in "performance" oil filters. They don't filter any better, and they don't circulate any better. Just an oil filter with a brand name offered at an excessive rate imo. Personally I'd stick with a standard one, but its up to you, and its your money. If they seller isn't quite sure, seems a bit of a pointless exercise and a waste of money if it doesn't fit. Stick with standard 10w40 oil too, you'll only compromise lubrication when cold by using a thicker oil, and considering its gonna start getting very cold very soon, its not worth the worry.

You should be able to just solder the wire directly on to the old speaker contacts. It would only become an issue if you need to remove them again in future obviously, but will have no detrimental affect on the speaker itself.

Get a multimeter on the terminals for the light, and see if you get a voltage for the three seconds or so you should do when the ignition is initially switched on. I think the signal comes direct from the ABS ECU, so then you'll have to start tracing wiring, and buzz it out to make sure you have continuity between each end.

Think your talking about the front cross member. May be worth changing the fuel filter if there was only a very small amount of fuel in. All the sediment at the bottom of the tank would have settled, and could have caused a partial block. May just need a good blow out though. Get it up to temp, and give it a blast, it may just settle it. Other possibility is that a mouse/mice has/have crawled up your exhaust and died, blocking it around the cat! Just speculating there obviously!

I saw a documentary on it few years back. It was following a fella who busked in and around London, including the underground etc and he was making an absolute fortune! He'd go out at around 7am, and busk until about 7pm. He would then walk back to his 5 series bimmer, bung his "work clothes" in the boot, and drive home to his suburban semi to his wife! I don't remember how much he was averaging, but to afford a nice new car, and a nice big house on the outskirts, it must have been a pretty penny! He did say the income dropped drastically at winter though, apart from xmas, where it was the best time of the year!

You could get day insurance, and it will cover you on your way to the MOT. As long as its booked in for the MOT, your within the law. Remember you need the certificate and insurance details to tax it anyway, so don't worry about that. Worth sticking in some new fuel as well, as the old stale petrol won't be burning particularly cleanly, so that will also be adding to the rough idle.

I was gonna suggest the cat, and then you mention its blowing in your second post, so I'd deffo start with that. Check all the heatshield around the exhaust too. Obviously with the bang, it could have caused the exhaust to shift a little, and resonate off the heat shield at idle.

Bit of paint on the inlet, and a new expansion tank and it'll be perfect!

I just passed a length of fuel hose down the filler neck when I did mine, and drained it into a can. Other way is to disconnect the output hose, then open the filler cap and let it pour out under positive pressure. It was less effort to syphon it though, and you can regulate it better in case of spills/changing cans etc if you're doing it on your own.

I'm not 100%, but that looks a bit of a diy job to me. The coils usually self contained, so all connections/wiring is at the rear of the coil itself. It then bolts to the bulkhead by the clamp that goes around it. That bracket looks to have been bodged to take the wiring/connector, or its a coil off a different car? Like I said, I'm not 100% certain, but from the small amount of 9As I've seen, I've never noticed it any different. :D

With the flywheel lightened, I would imagine it will be idling a little high due to the lack of weight. I had it done to my Golf a few years ago, and don't remember it having a higher idle than normal, but I guess that could be the reason.

Change out your expansion tank cap. The old black caps are notorious and common for not venting pressure, a new blue one should solve your problems. Worth cleaning the contacts on the expansion tank where the plug is too, as it also gets a bit cruddy and causes the warning light to illuminate for no reason.

Its been on for months. Obviously not desperate for a sale, cos the price hasn't dropped at all in that time.

Check the part number against the kr and other engines of around the same era. I know the kr one is exaxtly the same as almost all the mk2 golfs, and is the cylindrical one like yours. Have a look on vw heritage as most of their stuff is genuine and bought up from suppliers near the end of production.

Unfortunately theres no diagnostics on the 1.8 valvers, so its a process of elimination. Get someone to rev it at idle for you, and listen with the bonnet open. My guess would be vacuum pipes split/collapsing under pressure.

Ignition switch if yours hasn't already been done, window control module, thermostat and seal (I know they are readily availabe but always nice to know you have one!) fuel pump and ecu relay, and whats already been suggested that you dont already have. That should set u up for most eventualities that could keep your car off the road for the short term.

I had Angels in mine, they ate all my tetras! The only one they didn't attack when they layed their spawn was the Siamese Fighter, they even chased off the quite large Plec I had! I ended up giving the lot to the mother in law, as the missus didn't clean it out properly when I was away. She put the heater on full (even after an email telling her not to touch it!) and killed everything off the bloody stupid woman!

And how would they test for modified ECUs? Standalones I get, but mapped will be almost impossible without dismantling it. As long as emissions are within parameters (Tested on MOT anyway) then they wont know. You general back street garage is never gonna get the equipment to read every map are they!

Its an easy diy job tbh, shouldnt cause you any problems. Im on my phone, but have a look in the wiki guides or google if your unsure. With the high temps you engine was running at, the fan WILL come on/stay on when you remove the key. This aids cooling after switch off, as obviously no coolant is circulating. By the time you topped up with water it had probably cooled sufficiently.

Yeah I understand that don't get me wrong. The point I was trying to make though is that you take pride when its looking its best, and prefer it when its nice and shiney!

My last one, and the next is likely to be on a shoestring budget. So for that reason, preventative maintenance at home is the only way it can be, as I cant afford hefty garage bills. I have all the gear when it comes to detailing, but again I give it a wash once a week, and a wax once every couple of months. I actually dislike detailing though! How anyone can enjoy sore hands, and a back that aches for days after trying to hold a rotary polisher I don't know! Personally for me though its a necessary evil. Lets not kid ourselves, we all like the chufties. Hell, theres even a thread! We're not gonna get that with a car thats a bit of a ****ter. We like to protect the paintwork as much as possible, because for me that only adds to the pleasure of owning a Corrado, and you take pride in a nice clean car. I don't park in the furthest space at the supermarket, and take two spaces to ensure against stupid people though!

The fire will be sucking in enough oxygen from underneath for it not to make much difference really. As long as its not blustery and likely to spread a naked flame to a fuel source, theres no real problem with doing it. Tbh, your not likely to think much about it when there are flames leaping from the sides of the bonnet and grille, you just brick it, whip the bonnet open and empty your load (extinguisher you dirty buggers!) all over the source of the fire. Figure eights from top to bottom. Don't try to spray it directly into the centre as it may spread. Ideally do it off the bonnet as the spray will spread out containing it as much as possible.

Honestly, get a foam one if you can. The dry powder will blanket the flame temporarily, but there are no cooling agents in it, So its very likely it will reignite. Foam is obviously water based so will cool the affected area, and the foam does the same as the dry powder by blanketing the flame. Foam is used on oil based fires, with dry powder and co2 on electrical, but as long as you have no exposed wiring and power has been isolated (ignition off) then foam is safe regardless. You will have to clean all surfaces and electical contacts regardless as well, so foam is deffo the way ahead!

The sunvisors I had were sprayed matt black by the previous owner, as well as the sunroof mech cover. Mk3 Golf VR6 Highline had black interior iirc too. The interior light switch, and the sunroof switch were both black though.