March 2003
Hello Chaps,
I have a friend who wants to buy a cheap car and is looking at 1980s Golfs. I don't know much about these cars so if anyone has any tips about what to look out for that would be helpful.
He is looking to buy a MkII about 1986 D-Reg onwards either from dealer or private. Which engine is preferable out of 1.3, 1.6 or 1.8 carb for instance. He does not want a GTi, Synchro, G60(!) etc..
Thanks in advance Chaps. I'm sure you'll come up with some good tips.
Regards from Jase
CavV6 and cavWeb fan.
www.cavweb.co.uk Read more
My BMW 318i auto when cold is jerky and tends to have an acceleration flat spot around 1500 - 2000rpm (at least I think) or somewhere the gear change point. BMW say the car when cold is designed to hold the gears longer during the warm up phase. When hot the gear changes and acceleration are smoother. Air filter and plugs are Ok as well as petrol quality (I recently used a tank of premium unleaded), the exhaust after a good motorway run is grey/white in colour, and m-way mpg is 37 at 70-80 mph with a/c on, in town it sinks to a low of 22-25mpg.
When stationary and cold if you rev the car on and off between 1500 rpm and say 2500 it tends to make a slight exhaust popping sound as if the car cannot breathe properly.
Is there a fault or is it my driving style of perhaps holding the accelerator at the change up point? Or is this a caracteristic trait of the car when cold.
Any advice would be welcome. Thanks Read more
My 320 auto (1994) is the same. Revs up to 3000+ before changing up for the first half mile or so.
I switch it to 'snow' mode on the 'box, start off in second and change manually for this half to one mile then switch to 'E' after that it's fine.
My ford courier diesel is very hard to start from cold and sometimes doesnt just drains the battery.I have changed the glow plugs New heavy duty battery New starter
It starts fine once it has started PLEASE someone help me Read more
The hand primer button freely moves about 3 pushs then is hard
Can this still be the same problem as in Razamataz?
Thanx.
I am told mine is bent! You can see the alternator belt wobbling as the pulley turns so it\'s certainly mis-shapen and I had thought the garage hadn\'t perhaps put it back properly when they were doing the timing belt recently. But they say it\'s actually bent.
Any ideas how this happens - it certainly doesn\'t look in any way damaged!! New one from Rover dealer is £80 - an incredible price. So it\'s off to the scrapyards for a search. Read more
Nice to hear of more crankshaft pulley tales of the unexpected. As you may recall, Rob helped me with some advice on another thread with my 406 with a badly expanded crankshaft keyway. I followed his "belzona & loctite" method, with a properly tightened new bolt and I'm happy to report that it has stayed in place for about 1500 miles now.
I replaced the cam belt and both oil seals at the same time so I'm hopeful it will be another 78,500 miles before I have to find a way to get it off. This repair probably rescued the engine (and hence the car) from becoming worthless so I am grateful that made it keep working.
Anyhow you guys are stars in my book.
//Canuck
I wonder if anyone can shed any light on a sudden windscreen wiper and heater fan failure on my '96 Punto which occurred on Friday. I thought it must be a fuse as the front and rear wipers and washers have ceased to operate at all, as has the heater fan. Both fuses checked - OK. All were working fine the previous day! It was suggested to me it might be a relay failure but this seems unlikely. Any suggestions on which part of the electrical system to check first much appreciated.
Many thanks.
John. Read more
help picking up a new ford focus next week from derby /wondering how i should drive home normal speed or
drive at a constant speed (ie 50\60 or less) i have about 150 mile trip . thank you
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when i pick the car up i need to drive to great yarmouth sounds like i have to drive the car as normal(my cars a v6 omega) never thought about the tyres.
Among other vehicles I have just aquired an LDV Convoy minibus (Y reg ) with a 2.5DI engine - I think this is the Ford Transit engine. Can anyone tell me tho oil requirements and change frequency for this engine ? I have contacted my LDV dealer who wants silly money for a handbook ( it has no handbook but a genuine 9500 miles ) I normally use Millers full synthetic diesel oil in my other diesel vehicles - will it be suitable ?
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Have you tried a commercial breakers yard for the handbook? Should be able to get you one for pennies.
I have a citroen zx with a lucas fuel pump, will it run on svo okay?
I have heard the lucas pumps dont last long with svo Read more
On my mondeo td between 1200-1400 rpm their is a strange whining noise my initial thought was turbo bearings however the dealer says it sounds like differential bearing.It occurs in gear or neutral but have not noticed it when reversing.The question is can i live with it the car otherwise is fine,if it needs to be sorted is it a gearbox out job and how much am i looking at? Read more
i assume you think it might be a belt the alternator belt is new was replaced 500 miles ago at service the original was perished. I can see the pump drivebelt and rev the engine at the same time the pump belt is fine no signs of perishing or slipping.The only thing is when i did it this morning as advised i could not hear the whine with my head in the bay all i hear is diesel so it may well be a case of dropping the alt belt off and revving the car with me sitting in it as that is the only time you can hear the whine perhaps it has been there all along and i have only just noticed it!!!!!!!!!
Hi,
I have a Rover 420 SLDi 98(S).
It was serviced at a main dealer last week.
Just tried the aircon & it doesn't seem to be working.
I think the system is 'operating' but not cooling the air.
The only visible evidence of anything dodgy is a small amount of green fur around the aluminium pipes around the low pressure service connector.
Any ideas????
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By god I hope you didn't buy a Rover part (Condenser) - Autoclimate are FAR cheaper!
Browse
Does your friend need a hatchback? If not, has he considered a Jetta? All the good points of a Golf but a fair bit cheaper! The only problem comes if you need to carry large items as the rear seat doesn't fold, but the boot is *huge*. Also, they aren't as easy to find (or sell on) as Golfs. Otherwise, comments as above.