Wullie

Don't think the 1990 1.8 had a factory immobiliser, Mine hasn't. Could be an aftermarket one though. No useable diagnostics either.

Dipstick from tip to seating flange 415mm is the length of the actual dipstick itself from the tip to the botttom of the flange on the red part that stops it going into the tube. From where the dipstick tube joins the block to the top of the loop on the dipstick measures 380mm. If the measurements are the same then yeah, you're short on oil. Strange though that in your picture the dipstick does seem higher than mine. Now wonders if mine is the one that's not right.

Been out with my ruler. Dipstick from tip to seating flange 415mm Dipstick tube from engine block to top of orange tube 275mm Dipstick tube from engine block to bottom of orange tube 205mm Length of orange doofer 70mm Hopefully enough measurements to let you work out what's what.

You are boasting now, and the llama in the previous post is predictive text. How the frell do you turn it off!! Now for more poetry and red wine. ---------- Post added at 2:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 2:08 AM ---------- And Alex should be ale. I'm now panicking about what kinf of gibberish I've been sending people.

Your dipstick looks higher than mine. I'd be loath to put more oil in as too much can be as bad as too little. I assume you're not getting any warnings. I'm on the phone at the moment indulging in free red wine and Alex at the moment. I'llama try and remember and post some more measurement tomorrow.

Pic of my KR dipstick [ATTACH=CONFIG]73208[/ATTACH] The distance from the base of the dipstick tube to the bottom of the plastic guide is approximately 18.5 cm. It was kind of difficult to get a proper measurement. The plastic guide is roughly 7.5 cm long. Looking at the reciept it gives the description as "Funnel" and a part number of W050 103 663. Oh, and it cost a whole £2.81 inc VAT from VW. bmwcompact is right to in that it needs a firm push too get it on properly

I've just had a flashback to when I was trying to teach my daughter to drive. Nightmares tonight methinks.

A pub landlord is shutting up for the night when there is a knock at the door. When he answers, a Tramp asks him for a tooth-pick. He gives him the toothpick and the tramp goes off. A few minutes later there is a second knock. When he answers, there is a second Tramp who also asks for a toothpick. He gets his toothpic...k and off he goes. ... There is a third knock at the door, and a third Tramp. The landlord says, "Don't tell me, you want a toothpick too." "No, a straw," says the Tramp. The landlord gives him a straw but is curious as to why he wants it, so he asks the Tramp why he wants a straw and not a toothpick. To which the Tramp replies, "Some bloke just threw up outside but all the good stuff's gone already".

Thinking about this now there is an aftermarket cam in the scenario. If the timing marks on the camshaft pulleys are in line and the marks on the camshaft chain sprockets are also in line then the only other link in the scene is the slot in the exhaust cam which the distributer drive fits into. I think, repeat, think this should be horizontal and in line with the head. This being in the wrong position would give the problem you are having. I don't think it is possible to refit the distributor 180 degrees out, or can you? Haven't got a proper answer to these points but may be worth a little research, or if anyone else knows the answer.

So why come on here and slag people off for giving you the anwer to the question you asked?????

Now that I do agree wholeheartedly with. I used a fair bit of Merlot cutting the sealant when taking off a front wing.

And you can't forget the Amiga.

I remember just about all of those. I still make Fingermouse (or should that be Fingermice?) for the younger kids round my way, shows that fun needn't be hi-tech or expensive

So where are you taking Susan for the first date?

I'm old and grumpy! When you first turn the key you should hear the fuel pump prime from the rear of the car. The ISV will buzz continuously when the ignition is on so you can turn the key and go round to the front of the car for a listen. It's just beside the cold start injector, a cylindrical thingy with a couple of air hoses connected at the rear and bottom iirc. plus a connection.

Tow truck must be moving, the spoilers up!

No t entirely sure which sensors you are looking at, sound like the oil pressure senders. The KR has three sensors on the right hand side of the head beside the dizzy. They are all the same and can be checked by swapping the connections. One feeds the dash temp guage. Get the car wearm and disconnect each in turn till you don't get a reading then use that lead on the other sensors to see if you get a reading with them. If you do then they should be OK. It sounds more like a problem with your cold start injector or warm up regulator. The cold start injector is at the front right of the engine and has a blue connector. Disconnect this and see if it makes a difference. You can check it by removing it when the engine is cold, stick the end in a bottle and crank the engine to see if you are getting fuel pumped through it. Conversly when the engine is warm there should be no fuel. The warm up regulator is on the same side of the engine as the dizzy, just below and in front of it with two fuel lines going into it. Remove the plug, with the ignition on you should get a minimum of 11.5 volts accross its terminals. The terminals on the regulator shoud have a resistance of 20 to 25 ohms across them with the ignition off. Edit, Does the ISV buzz with the ignition switched on?

Best of luck with it all, sometimes the problem is so bleeding obvious you can't see it. Pity you weren't a bit closer but i believe you're in England somewhere. Wullie

Is it just me or did anyone else get the feeling there was something just a wee bit "iffy" about the car purchase. Must agree about the discs though, they looked like wafers. I think they must have been below minimum thickness.

Scratching my head a bit on this one. If the timing marks are in lineand you have to turn the dizzy by that much the only other thing I can think of is that the plug leads are wrong, but I think you said you have checked this. No 1 lead should be the top left as you look at the dizzy from the gearbox side of the car and be 1, 3, 4, 2 going anti clockwise. Did you have the camshafts off the head? If so are the timing marks on the camshaft sprockets in line. How did the engine run prior to the head gasket work. Are all the electrical connections back in the right place. Remote diagnosis is difficult at the best of times. Perhaps, as David says get a couple of pics of the marks and dizzy up and if possible a brief description of the work you carried out when replacing the head gasket. There have been so many different threads on this it's becoming difficult to remember what has and hasn't been done.

Just had a really daft thought. When you are trying to start it is all the pipework from the airbox to the engine in place as airleaks would cause your symptoms. There is quite a large pipe under the induction hose which goes to the overrun cut of valve which is easy to miss and will cause a pretty massive air leak. Or maybe the 2.0 is different and I'm talking out of my rectum.

This may help 2nd post http://the-corrado.net/showthread.php?44983-changing-9A-timing-belt&highlight=%2Btiming+%2Bbelt

Hey Sunderland. Wondered where you'd been.

I love it when a plan comes together. :dance:

I have an aversion to turning engines by using a spanner on the crank bolt, that's all, nothing strange or sinister. The timing belt runs over four pulleys. The tensioner pulley is not toothed so is irrelevant. The intermediate shaft only drives the oil pump so will not affect valve or ignition timing. This leaves the the camshaft and crank pulleys. Both are located by keyways on the shafts and pegs cast into the pulleys to lock them into position so if they are properly tightened there should theoretically be no movement. However, if a peg or keyway is damaged this will allow the sprocket to move out of sync. Given the damage that can be done if it all gets too far out my approach would be to find TDC using the rod in the plughole method, ensuring that it's on the correct stroke. When this is done compare the marks on the flywheel, crank pulley and camshafts. Any discrepancy should be apparent and investigated. In your case. as the timing has apparently moved of it's own volition. Assuming you tightened the distributor before starting the engine then the culprit must be one of these pulleys. Again assuming that most of the components are exposed with you currently working on it I would remove, once again, the cam pulley and crank pulley and investigate their condition. Alternatively, and more risky, is to retime the whole shebang without doing that, tippex the position of the cam belt in relation to their location on the pulleys and anywhere else you feel relevant and try again. If the crank pulley is out then valve and ignition timing will be out in relation to the rotation of the crank, result poor running and the possibility of valves and pistons becoming extremely intimate. Hope this helps. It may not be everyones way of doing it and I'm sure someone more intimate with 2.0 16v's will put me right. Wullie PS If I remember correctly you replaced the cam pulley with a new one in another thread. Was the keyway on the camshaft OK? If so the main suspect, by elimination should be the crank pulley. Bear in mind that it may not move when turned by hand but the much higher forces generated by a running engine may do so. PPS My reference to V and ribbed pulleys was to the part of the external part of the pulley that drives the altenator etc, not internal toothed part that drives the timing belt.