mk2

The front windscreen glass is readily available everywhere in the U.K., so that's easy. About £75 new when you buy only, without fitting charge. Also a used front door glass is available in many breakers yards for about £25 (I'd advise double checking the glass tint colour), so they are also still available- but becoming rarer to find now. Lupos are now 20 years old. Shipping is the problem. I don't know how that would work economically. There may be a Cameroon association for people from Cameroon in the U.K.??? They might be able to help you. Were Lupos supplied to Cameroon or are they all imports? Pics of car?

Oh wow. I think you are the first club Lupo member in Cameroon! 👏🏻🏅🎉 The only Lupo there? I don't know how easy it would be to get a new window glass to you from another country. They only fit Lupo and Arosas. No other car has anything even close. There is a member in SA but I think all his cars are imported. I think in Mauritania there are a few (mostly stolen from Europe), but again I don't think anyone is scrapping one. Morocco and Tunisia have quite a few. The only solution that I can think of is to ask anyone you know heading to Europe and ask if they can bring back oversize luggage with them on the aircraft. It will be expensive, but you'll be guaranteed to get the parts without having to bribe too many people. Welcome to club Lupo

Oh don't tease. Pics? Specs?

My third SDI has just done the exact same thing. Oil light and buzzer again at 1600rpm. Not happy. 138k miles. Original engine with all original bolt on bits (there's a clue in there) And this time I've really been analysing it. I think I've found the cause. The alternator. I put an oscilloscope trace on the oil sensor wire, which just indicated oil pressure was there. It doesn't vary the output as it's just a switch. I also measured the current limit capability of the supply to the switch (a pull up resistor somewhere). What seems to be happening (it's fixed itself already, so I can't experiment anymore), is that the carbon brushes in the alternator get worn right down (or the slip rings get worn right through), and then the rotor coil doesn't make a good circuit contact with the regulator chip, which controls (regulates) the current into the coil. So the voltage output from the alternator drops as the coil loses power (open circuit because of worn brushes), which means the regulator cranks up the power to the coil to compensate. Except nothing happens for a moment because of the open circuit. Good old vibration kicks in and reconnects the rotor and normal operation resumes. This happens so fast, the battery light in the cluster doesn't have a chance to light up. Call it a glitch if you like. But you can see a HUGE spike and drop in voltage on the oil pressure signal wire, which I'm guessing is being sensed as low oil pressure. And being a "latched" function, once the cluster sees this glitch, the oil light stays on until power off. How the voltage interference gets onto the oil pressure wire is anyone's guess, but the alternator and oil signal wires run in the same loom bundle. Electromagnetic interference? The pull up resistor in the cluster/ECU can supply only tiny current, it's somewhere around 15kOhms, so the signal is technically vulnerable to interference. So it is a design issue. There should be a capacitor on the oil wire circuit- in the cluster I'd guess- to smooth out the noise. But it also tells me that it's nearly time for the alternator to fail. They usually only last a maximum of 120k miles. One bonus way of looking at it, is that it's a handy way to know that your alternator is about to fail.

I would use regular 10.9 grade bolts with a washer.

Such useful info, moved into How-to section 👍🏻

Yeah, good idea. Some easy start would be worth a try if after first try there's nothing...

Classic stored car syndrome. But not a problem. @Rich @lupogtiboy @ObjectiveAway @tigcraft @Adam Meader @amgeriz what do you think? You know when you burn petrol you get CO2 and water vapour resulting from the combustion process, if the engine was started regularly but not driven, the trapped condensation (water vapour) coats everything inside the engine when it cools down again. And the inside of the engine being steel (cylinder liners), they start to rust. As do the valves and the piston rings. And the exhaust system. So the piston rings get stuck, the valves don't give a perfect seal and the rough corroded surface of the cylinders also prevents a good seal. So when you try starting the thing, you get no compression and as a consequence no firing up. Changing all the components/filters/oils won't make any difference (I'm assuming you have a good fresh fuel supply and ignition sparks in the plugs). What usually works is to pull all the plugs out and put about a teaspoon or so of clean engine oil into each hole. Then spray a five second squirt of WD40 mist or similar in there to try and create a temporary seal on the valves. Leave the plugs out and crank away for 20 seconds every five minutes over an hour. You're trying to coat all the internals with oil and free up the stuck rings. Keep the battery on charge and don't burn out the starter motor. Then replace the plugs, cross your fingers and try starting it again. Garage door open as there'll be LOTs of smoke and noise. Crank with wide open throttle (if your engine is manual cable throttle) to try and get max compression. If it starts firing, keep cranking with your foot on the throttle until it runs by itself, but do NOT rev it above 1500. As you could permanently wreck the engine. You're trying to get the internal surfaces to make friends again. Hold it at 1500 until the engine fully warms up. Don't just switch off when done. When it's nice and hot, rev it up to about 3000 and hold it there- then switch off and then take your foot off the throttle with the engine still spinning fast. The idea is to keep the engine spinning, with no fuel or ignition to get the bores and lower pistons rings fully coated with oil. Allow to fully cool down, then see if it starts first time. If not, you'll have to do it all again and then take it for a good motorway run for about half an hour. You may also want to change the belts, change the brake fluid and flush the gearbox 👍🏻 And wipers. And coolant. End of essay. let us know how you go.

I think the radio connector wiring is different to standard Lupo, and you might need an adapter. Or you can pull the plug pins out and do some swapsies. Have you compared the power and ground connections?

Take it off, drill a hole in the other end and swap ends... That actually works. Drill the hole slightly too small or it will fall off again. 👍🏻 .

Can't assist without ALL the info. Welcome to club Lupo

Sounds like a fake LED warning light rigged up to the ignition switch. To deter would be thieves. If there is an alarm, there's typically a sounder positioned in the engine bay behind the battery or front bumper. Hard to get to... Any engine bay pics? Oh, and welcome to Club Lupo pics of car?

Are your boot stickers still legible? As in are all the letter codes still clear- that'll tell you every option fitted. Take a pic, bung it on here and we can compare codes... 👍🏻

Totally. I've been thinking about starting a general discussion thread of where the forum gets inquiries from. As a recently promoted moderator (yeah me, right...🤷‍♂️), I can see everyone's IP addresses, so can locate sources down to street level. But it's far off countries that I'm curious about (besides Europe and Japan). I think Canada has three.

Is the old Canadian Lupo still running around?

TDI? Lucky you! Very much sought after these days. 👍🏻 Being a Seat, I'm not sure how to get the code if the radio is original. @lupogtiboy (I think) works at a VW dealership, so may have access to the system. Or might be someone else? But again, I think they've started blocking access. You may need to find someone on EBay... Welcome to Club Lupo pics of car?

Why?

Finally moved this useful post into the "how-to" section. Did another yesterday. I hate swapping SDI alternators. The slip rings were completely worn out, right through to the plastic. New brushes didn't work this time. I also swapped the clutch pulley on the alternator- which resulted in much much much quieter running. Amazed at the difference. I think the trick is to remove the oil filter. I didn't do that last few times. You can move the coolant hose out of the way, which allows "just" enough space for manoeuvring. You don't need to take the front of the car to pieces, as suggested by various manuals. Also, one tip I can offer, is to measure the space between the alternator mounting lugs and the block mounting cradle lugs. The 2 threaded "nuts" on the alternator, which the long bolts screw into actually slide in the alternator casing. They look solid, but aren't. After a drop of penetrating oil, it is possible to gently tap them with a hammer to open the gap up just a bit. Makes refitting much easier. Measure the block mounting spacing to see how much they need to be moved by first.

I know very little about the 3L. We don't have them in the UK. I think there is a sensor on the clutch/gear shift selector mechanism. It might need checking. There is also a sensor to measure the clutch travel distance. It might need recalibration? Otherwise, ask the Lupo people on the German Lupo club... we used to have an expert on 3L here, but he sold it. @RAB He might still check his emails/private messages. if you find the solution please tell us! And welcome to Club Lupo 👍🏻

Yeah, there's usually a single bolt holding it onto the spring base (which keeps the belt in tension). I can't remember, but it might be a left hand threaded bolt? @Rich @lupogtiboy @ObjectiveAway @Skezza? So if only the bearing went, you may just need a new pulley&bearing and bolt. 5 min job. The threaded part of the bolt (where it snapped off) might still be stuck in the spring mounting. Use a small mirror to look into the hole... If the assembly went, then you'll have to swap out the whole thing, but that is only three bolts (from memory). 10 mins. All can be done from above (a bit fiddly). oh, and welcome to Club Lupo

I think that's your alternator tensioner pulley for cars with no AC. You'll need a new pulley, about £10. Or complete spring assembly for about £30 depending on what's broken. Never seen one break like that. When the bearing starts to go, it makes lots of noise warning you before it seizes.

Don't...

Yeah, that'd would work fine if you can't just snap it back on? Stick might be a bit sloppy, but should keep working for years like that.

We need more detail- there are lots of components that make up the linkage.

A question for the experts out there. Just been looking for a couple of new front subframes to keep as spares and noticed that there are quite a few on Ebay. Brand new. Part number 6X0199315F. Cheap too- £90 delivered. "Tried" to ask a few questions from the various sellers- who don't speak good english which got me investigating, as they claim to be in the UK. Then on companies house site they turned up as registered in China...! So this got me thinking- Are vdub making some sort chinese only model car based on the 6N Polo or our 6X Lupo (Arosa) that isn't available over here? I know our cars use a lot of (new) older model components from the mk2, Derby, Polo and even the old air cooled beetle- all just "re-partnumbered". There might be even more brand new parts to keep our cars going for much longer? (They still make the 1.7SDI engine for use in big site generators and marine engines. Not that I'll ever get close to the known worn out at 500k miles or 15,000 hours.)