mk2

Go to gsf car parts and use code SPRING33. Runs out sunday night (tomorrow)

tyres? tyre pressure?

pull off the wiper arms and get in under the plastic cover... there are drain holes each side that get blocked- all VWs are the same. Leaves and moss....

please please please get those half shafts balanced and hardened. If one lets go when you're at 80 you're dead. It'll be like a missile either lifting the car off the ground or go straight through the footwell. I've seen it happen and it is not pretty. http://www.propshaft-services.co.uk/ Half shafts are made of a special type of elastic steel for strength so they can take the torque.

It aint that easy... I've now got 5 different OBD2 plug-in tools. I can do everything except copy keys.... even change odometer readings =shock horror!

ends Sunday night 22nd march. use discount code SPRING35

When I do it, I don't actually drain the system, but simply get the pump to do the work. Put the return pipe into a bucket, block the return hole in the reservoir. Then with an assistant, front wheels on slippery magazine or something, turn to full lock. Start the engine (normal idle), get the assistant to quickly turn to opposite lock and then back again- then kill the ignition- while you keep the tank topped up. It does pump quickly, so make sure you have at least 1.5L on hand. You'll see the bucket pipe fluid change colour once the system has been flushed. It doesn't matter if you suck air in as it gets blown through.

I have got my MCD system working... Radio AM/FM excellent! CD analogue lovely sound. CD map works and reads well. Sat nav works but needs a newer map CDrom me thinks. Ok there are a few problems or maybe it's just me getting something wrong in a setup menu. I have taken lots of pics- I'll post them later in the week. I need to calibrate the wheels when I get a chance. Also will connect up the aux input control box when it arrives (to connect to my MP3 player). The odd behaviour I have is that when stationary, radio works just fine. As soon as I drive the system displays "PHONE" and flashes between PHONE and FMRADIO when I drive (in time with the speedo pulses I'm guessing. When PHONE is displayed, the system mutes. How do I turn the phone mute function off? I just can't figure it out!

If it uses a VDO/Siemens/Bosch throttle body and is DBW, then there are 8 connections. If he unplugged that connector, the engine will run at fast idle (about 1300) and there will be no throttle response at all. There are two motor drive wires and two sets of independent TPS sensors (or potentiometers), to get an average reading. One goes up in voltage and the other goes down. My SDI is DBW, and one thing I noticed when I was doing the central locking wiring is that if you stick your head right in under the cluster, you can see if the throttle works to it's limit. In my car, the throttle couldn't ever reach full throttle- only about half way... I pulled out the pedal and the little link wire and bent the whol epedal in a vice. Now the throttle pedal sensor can actually do its job and travel to its limit. The car is so much more responsive now... I think to change that sensor would be a really big job. You simply can't get to it.

Stick the ballast in an oven on low heat (no more than 60c) for a few hours/overnight. It may be nothing more than moisture causing the high volts to break over...

Just had a thought... Is this engine drive by wire?

I don't know this particular model that well, but isn't there either a map or air flow sensor? If the disconnected plug is the tps pickup, the ecu will ignore the reading as it'll be outside 'normal' range, and rely on the main sensor (map or air flow). So long as crank pulse is present, main sensor is ok and the lambda is responding, the engine will run ok. Using just those, the ecu assumes the engine has warmed up and will try it's hardest to keep the fuel/air mix ok. The engine will be less responsive though... I'm just thinking back to the days of mechanical fuel injection, where there was no tps. The entire fuelling relies on the air flow deflection arm. A bit like old SU carbs! A few years back the americans used to swear by map sensors, where the europeans used to swear by air flow... I think the air flow method won the argument. My fav is map sensor as it's easier to work with.

Skezza, I run 4 of them on my mk4, because `i couldn't get michellins in that size. Do you find that the contis wear a bit faster than normal? They are nice'n'quiet though.

Yeah it would... We really need more info on the problems- is it misfiring? Is there power (when pushed hard)? Slow idle for an injected car is a really unusual symptom. As soon as I read that it was ok when cold but bad when hot, it reminded me of a problem with a car I sorted a few years back on a really hot summer's day. It was a dodgy fuel pump, that only delivered "just" enough pressure, but loads of flow. Took ages to figure out. Very similar symptoms. Jags used to suffer from that a lot. They ended up using the AC to cool the fuel gallery on hot days.

My guess is it might be the fuel pressure regulator or maybe the fuel pump (or blocked fuel filter). When the engine is hot, the fuel gallery (the main pipe that connects all the injectors together) needs good flow to keep the fuel cool. If the fuel gets too hot it vapourises and then the injectors cannot inject fuel, only vapour= slow engine. You need lots of fuel to go through the fuel gallery to keep it as a liquid. A blocked fuel filter, faulty pressure regulator or faulty fuel pump 'may' cause your problems...

Your gear stick linkage needs adjusting...

Ok, if you feel up to it, I'd certainly do the cam belt. But you need to be brave as it is tricky, and you really need someone to guide you if you've not done one before. While you're there, change the water pump, cam belt tensioner, the little idle pulley and the fan belt. And to do all of that it is even easier if the inlet manifold is off- so while the inlet manifold is off, clean it up and block off the EGR system (for even more economy and power...). Clutch is also straight forward, but again if you've not done any clutch before, I'd get someone to guide you. And while the gearbox is out, I personally would have someone swap the box bearings and 1-2 syncromesh rings (which is why the gear change is iffy). Also has the pedal box been replaced? Dodgy pedal box kills 1-2. Gearbox seal is easy while in situ, but you need to make or get a tool to pull out the old seal without damaging the side of the hole where the seal sits. Change the little rubber ball link and seal while you're there too.... All in all probably about £270 of parts, about 35h labour and you'll have a car that goes better than new (with no EGR). Mine did after i did all that (except the gearbox which was ok). The gearbox labour should be about £150ish if you turn up with a cleanly washed box and all the bits you need.

Yeah same as what I took a pic of further up the thread, which at least confirms that my mcd is a mcd... at least I now know that the rf connection nearest the radio antenna connector is for the gps antenna. The other with the little black plastic L shaped bracket must be ABS then? Thnx for the info

how did you turn it off? Just cut the wire or can you deactivate it using vagcom? which kind of answers another of my questions- if you can do it with vagcom it must be a signal from the ecu???? All the radios have the input, but my guess is that they operate normally if there is no gala signal.

Does anyone have access to a wiring diagram that shows the GALA signal... and where it comes from? I'd be ever so grateful!

My radio-cassette had a fixed volume control on it. As drove faster, I had to turn up the volume control. Really noticable when coming to a stop after a cruise on the motorway. Deafening! I think only the gti, 3l and sport models have the extra wiring. Unless the Lupo was ordered specially from the factory, with extras like ac, electric seats, mirrors and that sort of thing...

Yeah thats the aux in emulator cable thing i was talking about. The mfd/mcd post only mentions if your car is already equipped with the right signals.... Which mine sadly isn't. The sat nav antenna cable is straight forward- the gala and maybe abs I'm not sure about yet.

If only it was that easy. In my lupo loom, there is no wire in that position (marked GA). Poverty spec loom me thinks. So i guess i need to add it, if only i knew from where i could pick up the gala signal...

yeah, there's a CD changer emulator thing that plugs into the CD changer plug. They cost about £25. The thing allows you to connect an MP3 player or some other sound source to the MCD (or MFD) unit. Then you can select the CD changer and listen to music from your MP3 player on the car speakers. The 'loom' has a little circuit board in a box that tricks the radio into thinking that it is connected to an OEM CD changer. You get a 3.5mm stereo jack plug and a USB charger lead (handy for iPods). It has no effect on the sat nav system though...

Rich I've heard of this once or twice over the years but have never tried it. Have you tried it, and if you did, what was it like?- did you need to change the pump timing advance springs and/or pump lift profile? My guess is that with a 1.9 turbo non PD engine, you could up the waste gate release pressure, and to get more high end power, increase the fuelling- by doing exactly what you suggest... Lots of black smoke (and power). I suspect that the 1.7 SDI could take 200+hp with silly boost. Add turbo plus new pump & injectors and away you go. Idle would be tricky. Big injectors don't like really short pulses = rough idle. Best of both worlds- economical 1.7 SDI performance with PD180 power....... Not sure how many miles it'd last. Maybe 50k?