The Monkey's Daily - Mk2 Golf GTi 8v [straight through MOT]

[boost monkey 0]

It's an 8v pal, going strong after a head rebuild which was badly needed (valve guides and seals worn). I'm looking at swapping for a diesel soon though as doing 160 miles a day in it is hurting my wallet! I love it though, and it's been really reliable. I did try out a Jetex, but the big tailpipes were not for me, and it was a fair bit louder then standard so I sold it again. I also had rainsports on mine, they were good for UK wet weather.

 

Cheers kip, good to know! I have definitely noticed the difference in having the good tyres, it rained on the way home on friday so I was very glad to have got them done. I was thinking about tyres over the weekend...I don't think I have EVER bought new tyres for any of my 15+ cars I've driven in the last 12 years! Insane. The cars normally die or were terminal enough to not get to the replacing tyres stage! :lol: Also not having the wheel vibration at high speeds means my wing mirror has stopped flapping about! Result :D

 

How did you know your head needed doing, compression tests? My tappets are starting to get loud, although within about 3 secs of engine start they have quietened down. Ditto with realibility, despite my scare with the oil pressure sensor wiring and the misfires due to damp ignition bits. I only do 50 miles a day in mine and am easily the oldest car on the A34 commute (despite a mini i see sometimes) so i'm glad she's still going.

 

One oddity I have noticed is that my rear wiper stalk has now given up. It bends so much it actually tilts the light stalks so I flash main beams instead of washing the rear screen! :lol: I think I'm going to rewire the column to late mk2 /early C spec so I can use many more stalks. It was such a ballache finding that early one, and I doubt i'd find another. I could always mod it so that the rear wiper runs off a switch on one of the many dash blanks I suppose. That would be much less hassle.

 

---------- Post added at 01:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:28 PM ----------

 

I always thought MK2, MK3 and Corrado calipers were interchangeable? MK3 calipers offer an improvement as the mech is inside the caliper rather than exposed like on the MK2.

 

The MK4 caliper upgrade also works on a MK2.

 

I would definitely change the cables if you're doing the calipers - the cables on my Corrado had seized in the guides, and I ended up needing to dremmel it out!

 

I think the Corrado had a mk2 and mk3 caliper on the rear when I got it! That threw me as I thought there might have been an imbalance. I currently have a pair of refurbed (new pistons, seals and nips) mk2 esque calipers for the Corrado, and also seem to have a pair of brand new rears aswell. No doubt I could throw a set onto the Golf. I am unsure whether I should try and find some rear carriers and carrier pins at the same time and swap them all over in one job lot? Also probs do discs and pads. IIRC carrier pins aren't available from VAG anymore but I could be wrong. I still have a huge bag of VAG parts to put on the plum. I too have felt the sadness of seized cables. I think the metal of the cable may react with the bronze(?) guide tubes that go through the rear bulkhead under the bench and out to the underside of the floorpan.

 

I'm starting to wonder whether it's just that my cable has stretched or whether the brakes are binding. Only way to think of checking without jacking the car up is to see if the rear calipers are hot...a bit pikey I know!

[tony_ack 0]

You could replace your whole rear brake system if you're feeling flush, but I like to keep costs down if I can!

 

Personally I would change discs and pads only if they need it. Don't forget you need new bearings if you get new discs, so costs start to escalate. Unless your carriers are seriously fubar, I don't really see much point in replacing these?? The slide pins usually clean up really well with a wire wheel on the drill and some new grease. New cables are always a good idea. The MK2 calipers aren't ideal, but if you include a clean of the handbrake mech as part of your annual service routine, they should be fine.

 

You say that the tappets quieten down 3 seconds after starting?! I don't think this is much cause for concern to be honest, and I'd even go as far to say it's pretty normal!

 

For your wiper stalk, you surely should be able to find one off a car that's being broken? Plenty of parts always available on sites like vwgolfmk2 and golfgtiforum. I wouldn't have thought it would be a hard part to find since every MK2 GTI between 1987 and 1990 has the stalk you need!

[boost monkey 0]

Hey tony thanks for that about rear brakes. I'm deffo not feeling flush! I'd like to get away with keeping the discs and pads and swapping the cals but I know that may cause troubles, so for now I think I will live with it :/ I'd forgotten abou the bearings with discs so cheers for reminding me!

 

Yeah my jetta 8v used to do the tappet thing too. As i was typing it I thought, "actually it's probably not that bad...!"

 

This is true. I'll have another look. It might be that the curent stalk needs a bit of a clean which I didn't do before fitting :-s I know i know, pretty dumb!

 

And onto tonight's updates....

 

 

Blew the head flange to matrix hose tonight. It was a little pinhole which didn't really start to steam until I got off the motorway...at least I didnt notice it until then. Suffice to say, I made a beeline for the Corrado at my bro's house and robbed the hose! This will now be time #2 or 3 that i have robbed a spare engine for a hose! I am deffo going to order a new set of hoses to go on the 8v. They're just one of those things that just start going in rapid succession. Coolant needs flushing anyways, so why not!

 

Also, noticed a very interesting thing in the dark after I swapped the hose.... my coil lead was arcing, but it was arcing THROUGH the little plastic clip that was keeping it connected to the header tank overflow. How insane is that? A lead arcing through the outer sheath to start with, then through a hard plastic and onto another rubber hose.... I was so impressed at the little spark's determination I called ProdigalSon out to come look :lol:

 

I ended up pulling the coil lead from the Corrado's 16v (which is working wonderfully) and sticked that on. It doesn't arc, and I must say the car may even seem a bit pokier now.... but I guess that's to be expected as a weak spark can really hinder performance.

 

Also, the high winds we are having isn't really helping my performance but when you drive a big black brick I guess these things happen! :lol: :lol: :lol:

[boost monkey 0]

Drive in this morning was uneventful which was nice. I got a whiff of something like solder or flux which worried me to an electrical problem as I entered Newbury but I think it was just a local industrial estate (or blower is on the way out?). Popped the bonnet when I got to work and both hose and plug lead seemed happy.

 

I'm looking at some cheapo silicone hoses as they're only about £10 more than standard. If anyone has any experience please let me know! :D

 

Also expected to see the 3-branch hose in the 8v kits as that is what's on the corrado, but i guess it's a 16v only hose. It goes from oil heat exchanger to water pump I think and then also upwards into the head flang at the front of engine.

[KipVR 1]

I knew the seals were gone (which often means guides too) as I was pouring so much oil into it I was wondering if it was a two stroke!! As Tony says, just find another stalk, surely it's not that hard??

[boost monkey 0]

Well it was pretty hard the first time ChrisCADMonkey, but then I pretty much only checked ebay! Checking VW sites would probably be a better bet.

 

my coolant light was doing the song and dace this morning. The problem with being 6ft2 and having the seat where I do is that I can't actually see the guage as it's obscured by the top of the steering wheel! :lol:

 

I checked each time it happened and the header tank was still full and the hoses and rad were all warm.

 

I think what has probably happened is the "branch" of the wiring loom which does the 2 temp senders at the front of the head, and also the oil sensors down below is just starting to give up. Either that or the black(?) temp sensor has given up the ghost. I did think whether maybe there is a tiny air bubble trapped below the back sensor which is making the dash gauge go crazy. I guess it's possible...?

 

tbh, I just think the engine bay needs rewiring. It's just a shame there aren't any junctions that can be changed as a module before the fusebox. I'm looking to do this on the plum anyways, so i might as well get some practice in.

[davidwort 0]

...my coolant light was doing the song and dace this morning. The problem with being 6ft2 and having the seat where I do is that I can't actually see the guage as it's obscured by the top of the steering wheel! :lol:

 

...

 

new dash fixed it on my old polo, guess it was actually just the temperature gauge module though as the fuel gauge was fine so it couldn't have been the voltage regulator on the dash circuit board or that would have gone crazy too.

[boost monkey 0]

That could make sense david, I think my dash clocks are past their best as the rev counter needle is still deciding not to work from time to time.

 

Well I've ordered the ubiquitous blue temp sensor and will order the ECU black one too just so they're done. I'm trying to find out the inner diameter of the vacuum lines too but can't find the information anywhere. If anyone knows please give me a shout! I'll prob just buy a job lot of it. No doubt you can only buy it in spools of about 7 miles anyways....

[tony_ack 0]

There's a level sender on the coolant tank - the flashing light on the dash is triggered by that... Faulty level senders/wiring are fairly common.

 

The blue temp sender inputs into the ECU (hence why faulty ones cause bad running), the black one ONLY outputs to the temp gauge itself (not the light as far as I'm aware). If your gauge is working then the black one is likely okay!

 

To test the temp gauge in the dash clocks, disconnect the black temp sender and bridge the pins - if the gauge shoots up to maximum then it's okay.

 

You can order the vac lines from VW, I think you order by the metre. I can't remember off hand how much you need, but I do remember that it's all the same diameter on the 8v (there are two different diameters used on a KR apparently). If you want to get the diameter to get more reasonably-priced hoses, then iirc there's a fairly long line that feeds from the FPR (or near there?) back to the airbox... just disconnect, chop a bit off and reconnect, and viola... a x-section!

 

Changing the clocks is relatively straight-forward btw, and you should be able to pick up a second hand set if you really want. You can always swap your speedo over. Just make sure you get pre-90 spec (twin plug) ones, and that you get 8v GTI ones

[boost monkey 0]

thanks tony ack

 

I won't bother with the back sensor then - the needle still goes up! I will check the sender on the coolant tank and see what's what. It's only started since the matrix hose went and I replaced so must be something simple. I did in fact bridge the connector on the black sensor with a huge paper clip on friday eve before heading home and nothing on the dash. This was with just ignition on - but could still mean that the wiring is bad I guess!

 

I still think that whole section of wiring is bad. I checked the black sensor connector on friday before i left work, and the car ran crap after that - I thought I must have knocked the BTS wiring! I stopped shortly after and gave the connector a little wiggle again. it's so brittle all around there, no doubt it could snap inside the sheath. I'm thinking of renewing maybe 2ft of that loom section with bullets or perhaps solder and heatshrink. Hell, I might as well renew i properly.

 

Thanks for the help with vac lines, knowing they're available from VAG is good as is your idea for measuring! I have some vernier calipers at home (geek) so i'll give that a go.

 

Yeah I have the motometer dash panel which i've heard isn't quite as good as the VDO one? Maybe you could clarify. I'll keep my eyes peeled :D

[tony_ack 0]

Motormeter clocks have a rep on '90 spec models of being more prone to issues that VDO ones. Not sure about pre-90 but VDO are usually the make of choice anyway.

 

If you wanted to be really anal you could buy new connectors from VW as well. They were less than £1 each when I was getting bits together for the Climatronic wiring, though obviously it may depend on the connectors.

[Dox 23]

Does your car have a collection of earths on the cam cover rear passenger side corner?

[boost monkey 0]

tony, when did you buy the connectors? It would be good to pick them up as it saves me butchering the current ones. Coolant level flashed again today. I think it's wet as the wire doesn't seem that bad, but knowing the faults some of the other wiring has had I think I'm going to start drawing up colours and lengths of wire needed for a new engine loom.

 

Dox, yes it does.

 

Update from yesterday - handbrake seized up good and proper! I thought pumping it might loosen it off but to no avail. It actually made it worse. I ended up dragging a rear locked wheel along out of a junction. Seems below about 15mph the rear wheels just lock up.

 

It's horrible driving and knowing that something is being damaged. The wheels were so hot and stunk of that burnt metal / solder smell after. I managed to limp it home and they freed up after cooling a little bit. I'm no longer using the handbrake at all (although I did have a little play with it last night and it seemed that if I only use it on a couple of clicks instead of 5+ then it has no problems releasing and still provides enough braking to keep the car steady on small slopes like the driveway). I'm also keeping a brick in the car and use the brick under the front wheel overnight. I was suprised to find that leaving it in gear meant it would still move! I guess that means I have a compression leak somewhere which I don't really want to think about to be honest. Perhaps my head needs doing. And the car's too....

 

So, I've booked a day off from work this week and I'm going to do rear calipers (without carriers if I can get the old cals apart from the guide pins), pads and handbrake cables. The rear discs look really good and don't even have a lip on the outer edge. Plus I have no issues with the bearings so I'm going to leave these be unless I find that the rear discs have warped from overheating.

 

I'm pinching the parts from the Corrado pile so they're all new bits. The more I pinch from there the more I think the Plum will never get finished :-(

 

I'm quite temped just to steal the whole rear beam as it's a mk2 golf one anyways and has all new stub axles, bearings and discs on already....but then I may as well scrap the Corrado if I do that. Luckily the front subframe is different to the Corrado one, else I might have vultured that lovely Dark Bugundy shell to keep my daily in good order :-/

[tony_ack 0]

Never realised the Corrado and MK2 shared the rear beam? Makes sense I guess as they are pretty similar rear setups!

 

If you get a bit of spare time, apply the handbrake, take your back wheels off, then release the handbrake, and you should be able to move the spring-loaded handbrake mech on the caliper by hand. If you can't, get plenty of brake cleaner, followed by WD40/Plusgas on it to try to free it, then clean it off and apply some white grease. I guess you don't need telling to protect your discs and pads while you spray lubricant down there (!). Some mechs are simply past it, but with a bit or perseverance you should make an improvement.

 

This may at least sort you out until you can look at the brakes properly.

 

If the cables are so tight that they're stopping the mechs from moving, then the cable is getting stuck in the guides (good luck)

 

If the cables are loose and the guides are free, but the disc still isn't moving, then the caliper piston is seizing (though if it was a stuck piston it would usually free itself off while you are driving).

 

It shouldn't take you more than 15 minutes or so to diagnose and clean once the wheels are off.

 

The reason Dox asked about the earths to the rocker cover is that they are notorious for causing all manner of electrical issues with the Digi, from dodgy clocks to blown ECUs. You could do worse than take them all off, and give the earth mounting a wire brush. Also check that your earth strap on the bonnet is present - these are missing more often than not. The final major earth point is on the gearbox.

 

I got the connectors from the dealership - your best bet is to go on the Vagcat site, or ETKA if you have it, and find the part nos for the connectors you need - it save a lot of ummming and aaahhhing by the guy at the parts desk. I'm quite lucky at the local dealers as the guys look like they've been working there since year Beetle, but at most dealers, sod's law will mean you end up with the spotty work experience guy!

[boost monkey 0]

The rear beams are subtley different. The Corrado one has reinforcing brackets over where the trailing arm meets the main beam. By the time I realised I had a mk2 golf beam i had already prepped and painted it. I talked to seller who said 'oh it might have been a mk2 golf one". Awesome.

 

Cheers matey, I will do all of that today. I've got the day off from work, and have all those bits I mentioned in the boot of the golf. Also the BTS came last night so I'll fit that for peace of mind. If I can free up the calipers for a bit longer that would be great, I've just lost faith that the cables will release the mechs after the brake has been on for so long! Yeah I had the pain of stuck cables in guides before now, it's a PITA.

 

If the pistons are catching then I'm dumping the calipers. I have a set I refurbed myself and also a brand new gold set so one of the pairs will be going on.

 

Ah thanks Dox about the earths! I will check them all today. I think I'll renew the braided earth between the coil bracket and that corner too, IIRC that's the rev counter earth too.

 

I know what you mean about parts people at VW! Always some old boy who knows everything and then on the off day when you go in it's Kevin who cancelled half your order because the parts are in Germany. ARGH!

[Dox 23]

Dox, yes it does.

 

:-/

 

One of those earths are for the dash clocks, the wires often break inside due to engine rock, worth a look for the dash probs

[boost monkey 0]

cheers dox. I just had another look and only the braided earth strap that goes to the coil bracket is earthed at that corner. But there are 2 other wires that are earthed on the coolant flange on the side of the engine. Could one of those be my dash earth? the battery earth and gearbox earth are both good now.

 

 

Also, the car is up in the air as we speak and the calipers are not seized at all. I can only put it down to pulling up the handbrake too high when the car is parked. It does tend to lock up with a full boot (generally food shopping) so i wonder if something else is going on there? I've soaked both sides in plusgas and will leave to evaporate before using the white lithium grease. IIRC i'm aiming for the area behind the spring plate on the caliper? i think that's where the shaft goes down into the caliper for the HB mech.

 

They were both movable by hand, the same amount (probs half an inch before pads contact disc), and both sets of pads have at least 10mm of material left on either side. the discs themselves aren't cracked but do have circular striping a little bit. None of the pads have any paint on their backing plates - it has all burnt off from the heat!

 

---------- Post added at 03:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:07 PM ----------

 

Well I put the wheels back on the golf,and because the exhaust is still loud I couldn't help but just check the 2 clamp sections I replaced a few weeks ago.

 

I started up the car and to my surprise they were both dripping water!!!

 

has anyone else seen this or know why it happens? I foresee 2 rapidly rusting exhaust boxes in my future.

 

Thought: I really hope it isn't coolant........

 

---------- Post added at 03:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:02 PM ----------

 

After some research it appears that it's water in the fuel and air which condenses from hot exhaust onto cold exhaust piping.

 

Still, the fact it's dripping out means I must have some leaks at the clamps as if water is getting out at the joins then air definitely is getting out.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yep, condensation but as you say, it shouldn't be leaking out of the join around the clamps. What you want is the sleeve type clamps that the main dealers use..... they're brilliant :D

 

[boost monkey 0]

Ok phew. Yeah I got VAG clamps, but I think the 2 boxes i put on are just a bit schitty so they don't fit very well. They're not leaking badly, and i'd rather the water came out on the straights than pooling in the boxes themselves.

[boost monkey 0]

So I'm having a weird electrical problem... or maybe the most obvious problem ever?

 

This morning I started the car and let it idle, then cos it was cold I turned on the lights, heater blower and also the rear demister. Ever few mins they would all cut out (well actually, the OS headlight stayed on dipped beam but it's not indicator related).

 

Is my alternator a bit dodgy or battery? Or is it unreasonable to ask all of these to be on at 1000rpm? The engine never cuts out through any of this, just keeps going. It's only the little orange light on the demister switch on the dash that has let me know something is wrong as the light turns off! Also the fans stop too, but I mentioned that.

 

When it happens, I can't get the fog light switch to work either, BUT the hazard switch does work. So indicators and engine are fine - any ideas?

 

Am I just overloading the 22y/o wiring? If I turn the ignition off (stopping engine) and turn the key back round, even to ignition point without starting they all come back on.... but sometimes they do trip back off again relatively soon after...

 

I'm starting to wonder if it's a bad ignition switch also. I tried wiggling the key in the ignition barrel to get it to cut out but it wouldn't.

[Alex_G60_Fanatic 0]

Start the car and wait for the lights to start going and then rev the engine... if the battery isn't getting charged then you should find it is hesitant or even miss-fires. Do you have a multimeter? check your battery has at least 12v across the terminals with the ignition off and at least 14v with the engine running.

 

Could also be a dodgy earth, best to give them all a good look over

[Dox 23]

All those circuits are through the ignition switch, try wiggling the key next time it happens

[boost monkey 0]

Cheers Haggis Cake and Dox.

 

If the ignition switch was bad, wouldn't the engine stop also? I suddenly realised that after I posted!

 

Old McDonald, I've given all the engine bay earths a good going over. I just need to find the other 7452 that are under and around the dashboard! :-s

[Alex_G60_Fanatic 0]

Cheers Haggis Cake and Dox.

 

If the ignition switch was bad, wouldn't the engine stop also? I suddenly realised that after I posted!

 

Old McDonald, I've given all the engine bay earth's a good going over. I just need to find the other 7452 that are under and around the dashboard! :-s

 

you know I'm English yeah... :scratch:

 

Did you check the voltage across the battery?

[boost monkey 0]

No I haven't checked the voltage yet, 'll have to do that at home where the MM is :-)

 

Are you actually english??? Don't spoil my fantasy....