Stephenmacleod

Hi all. So my brakes are shite on my 1.4 TDI arosa. Get shudder when braking at speed. Hand brake is also poor so going to get some rear shoes and adjust the cable. I seem to remember when I had discs and pads fitted that one of my calipers was sticking. Does anyone have a link for a caliper service kit? I'm hoping my calipers themselves aren't shot as they seem to be rocking horse sh** to find. Advice welcome.

update on this: it seems to be happening more frequently now, i can be driving it for ages and itll be fine, then itll be a bit spluttery at low revs and it will be really slow going up the revs and just cap off at 2-2.5k revs. turn ignition off, restart car and its fine again. No major turbo whistle or anything like that, and temps sitting fine... Also, turns out its just my ODB scanner that wasnt working on it, tried a different scanner tool (with torque app) and it worked fine. No stored codes and no EML or anything ever pops up when this happens

just wanted to update and say got this resolved with a subframe re-alignment. tbf I actually had this issue where the bolts for the ball joints actually rattled out, had bought ebay special bottom arms. replaced the ball joints with some NAPAs and all good now!

Another post I need to investigate. So my drivers front wheel seems to be slightly further back into the arch than the passenger side. Symptoms causing it to catch (only seems to be when reversing) and tyre is therefore rubbing on the inner arch lining. It seems to have got progressively worse. Had it MOTd and checked over and they can't see any obvious previous crash damage, everything is tight and secure (had new bottom arms, ball joints etc fitted a couple months back) Basically if I put my fingers into the gap between the tyre and the end of the arch towards the door, on the passenger side I can get 4 fingers straight in. But drivers it's only 2 and a bit (will try and get a tape measure for more accurate difference) I've had it tracked a couple of times since this issue became apparant, and getting it done again tomorrow after replacing ball joint on the passenger side (my fault for using cheap eBay specials last time!) Any suggestions? I'm guessing @mk2will be my best bet 😂 thanks in advance, ste. Ps, arosa 1.4 TDI for reference.

Think the odb port is goosed on it, nothing seems to connect to it (tried various Bluetooth odb readers that worked in my Ibiza 1.9 TDI, as well as someone's snap on diag tool. But no dash lights or anything.

First post in ages! So my arosa 1.4 TDI, on the way home from work, suddenly lost power, still running fine but as if the turbo wasn't kicking in, very slow going up the rev range, had to downshift from 5th and struggled to go above 2.5k revs. No warning lights, nothing. Got it home, left in an hour, took it back out and it ran fine again. Boosting all ok. Now my instant thoughts are airflow issue, maybe map sensor, egr valve possibly? The thing that's throwing me off is no warning lights or anything and the fact it runs fine now is a mystery. TIA

Don't think someone that hasn't logged on in ten years is gonna now 😂

Went again last night while working... kept trying the key turn method waiting for coil light to come on, no joy, it wouldn't for about 30 minutes. Managed to get a tow and dropped it in 2nd gear and it restarted and ran absolutely fine thereafter. Bloody bank Holiday otherwise I'd have went to a VW stealers and bit the bullet for their 109 relay!

I'm pretty sure it is but thought I'd ask away to double check. So a week or so ago, car conked out at a junction. Restarted after a couple of attempts, thought nothing of it. Then yesterday, conked out and wouldn't restart. In the process of trying to bump start it I toasted the starter (doh!) Rather than faff about taking my 20 year old starter to bits I went ahead and replaced it (70 from a local parts co - oem spec) and ran great but then an hour or so later, same thing again. Cutting out and then wouldn't start. Felt the 109 and it was pretty hot, but the main thing I've noticed is when I put key in ignition and turn on, if the coil light flashes it will start. If it doesn't flash it won't start. I've not been able to connect the car with my cheapo obd2 WiFi reader nor my mates dolphin scanning software but the in law has VCDS so will try that. Main point though, if it isn't flashing coil light when ignition switched on - won't start, but coil light flash when ignition start - fires up, is this the 109? Only other issue I could think of is crank or cam position sensor but I'm unsure of the symptoms of that. Tia @mk2or @Richare probably best for this 😂

Also if your gearbox does fit (which i suspect it would but not 100%) a 1l gearbox you'd have decent acceleration but you'd have absolutely no top end, you'll just blow your box to bits if you give it some welly.

you'll probably be best with a donor car. but you've got to weigh up the pro's and cons for it really, cost of a donor car (maybe 3-400 at a push if you find a rough one, then all the effort of swapping it over, then the need for modified insurance (plenty of companies about, greenlight, brentacre, adrian flux etc) whereas you might just be easier buying a 1.4 in the first place. Would be understandable if you wanted to go for a 6n2 GTi engine swap or a lupo gti motor swap, or even 1.8T (with a hell of a lot more work involved) as they didn't do a non GTi with the 1.6 and certainly didn't do a 1.8T, but IMO it just isn't worth doing a 1.0 to a 1.4.

I do deliveries and take great joy in driving past a mint pair of mk2s out in the sticks near where I live. Red one and a black one. Onto your point though, I'm trying to learn more but I just lack confidence in my convictions to have a go at bigger jobs. I can do the basics, battery change, change an easy to reach sensor, change wheels etc. All the easy stuff but too scared to have a go at doing the bigger jobs. Especially things like bodywork. Sure, I could just paint my car but I'd never be happy with a low quality-average finish, but likewise I couldn't justify spending the 2k or so it'd cost for a pro job.

thought I got real lucky picking up my 'Rosa TDI for a bargain price last week. Sure, its got plenty of scratches and scuffs, it wants a drivers side wing, but only a tiny scab of rust on the back arch on one side and its otherwise great. a couple of odd jobs to do (passenger window not working, new rear shocks) and it'll be a great daily. We've got a 20 plate focus st line x and to be honest, I prefer driving the Arosa. much more fun. They are definitely scarce now. I come from Vauxhalls really, had about a million Corsa C's and I loved that if you ever needed bits you could go to your nearest scrapyard and there'd be hundreds, now your lucky if theres 1 or 2. Lease deals and PCP for newly passed drivers has killed off the old first car market TBH, that and scrappage schemes.

As long as you keep on top of oil and filter changes (personally I changed my oil and filters every 8k miles when running on clean veg) you shouldn't have any issues.

I would say just bang veg oil in being an SDI but even that isn't cheap anymore. I was paying £13 for 20L when I had mine (bookers card) and I only topped it up with diesel with no issues. Got around 400 miles to a tank.