bernd

I have changed the coolant temperature sensor on my Lupo Gti last week and indeed this seems to have made a noticeable difference in the jerkiness after a cold start. I wonder why though... What I’ve also done recently, as I was changing the air filter anyway, is clean the throttle body and clear the adaptations with an OBD2 reader thingy. A sticky throttle plate may well cause the engine being jerky as @mk2 has very nicely explained in a different thread about the same topic.

I assume your car has remote central locking?! That button is to disable the interior alarm sensors. In the 5 door Polo 9N and Golf Mk6 it is located near the bottom of the b-pillar.

Gravity does certainly help. My original point still stands though, as an ideal scenario it would be nice ...

Yeah, I’m aware of that. I’m married to a Physicist Actually, fusion is possible with current technologies and has been achieved in experimental research, e.g. at CCFE in Culham, Oxfordshire. The problem is making fusion commercially viable

I suppose the ideal scenario would be hydrogen fuel cells, using nuclear power to extract it from water in a carbon neutral manner. Preferably fusion as it’s much more efficient than fission, but hey ho, pipe dreams...

So far the level of brake fluid does appear to be stable. The brakes are also not pulling to one side, but I will have a good look when I’ve got a bit of time and a free garage. The car only did 1000 miles between this MOT and the one before, so it’s not really surprising if the brakes are a bit sticky. There’s more maintenance to catch up with: It occurred to me to check the power steering fluid today and well, it didn’t even reach the dip stick, so I filled that up. It also seems that the alloys are very porous indeed. I have to pump the tyres up basically every week, and I don’t think it’s the brand new tyres. I don’t really know what to do about that... Any suggestions would be very welcome... And the Lupo has acquired a generous coating of lovely winter grime:

The pads look ok, plenty meat left on them. However the MOT test at the 22nd June noted the following: Do not drive until repaired (dangerous defects): Front Brakes imbalanced across an axle by more than 50% Axle 1 (1.2.1 (b) (ii)) Repair immediately (major defects): Central Rear Stop lamp(s) not working (4.3.1 (a) (ii)) Nearside Front Service brake excessively binding (1.2.1 (f)) Offside Front Service brake excessively binding (1.2.1 (f)) The brakes seem to be working fine, not pulling to a side or anything, so some sort of repair has clearly been done. Considering the way the 3rd brake light had been "repaired", a complete overhaul of the brakes has now moved to the top of my to do list. This is also a good opportunity to paint the 2 silver callipers on the rear red. The other thing that has happened, this afternoon is that some crazy person reversed his Ford people carrier into the front of the Lupo in the Screwfix car park in Reading. This car park has an odd shape and the parking bays are laid out in 3 different directions. I had parked in that particular spot because the car in front would have been able to just drive off straight ahead, easy peasy. I was about to open the door when that car's reversing lights came on. I did think, he must see me, I'm right here when he actually started reversing. Because I had the key in my hand already, pushing the horn did nothing, and before I could think of something else to do I already heard the dull thud of impact. So I took a deep breath and got out of my car to have a look. I'm quite proud of myself that I managed to not shout at the other driver, but I couldn't help greeting him with a "What did you do that for mate?" as well as pointing out that he blatantly wasn't looking where he was going. He was very apologetic about it and luckily as far as I could see he hasn't caused any damage. I've got his details though and will have a closer look in daylight tomorrow. A bit of background on this: On the 6th July, exactly a week after I bought it, my best mate and neighbour managed to flip my Mazda MX-5 on it's side at 60 miles an hour and smash it through the hedge into a field near Pangbourne. That was rather exciting. I'm still amazed that we both walked away from that without as much as a scratch. And yeah, we're still mates... And then on the August bank holiday, that woman, completely unprovoked, smashed her Mini into the side of my BMW and wrote that off. Ironically I was on my way to Guildford with a boot full of bits from the crashed car, that we've sold to recoup some of the money matey boy spent on a replacement Mazda. Therefore, I think understandably, I'm a bit sensitive in regards to car crashes at the moment.

I don't know if there's a separate warning sounder for the lights on, because of the failed microswitch in the door. I've sorted it out though. Phew! I pulled the plug off the handbrake control (handbremskontrolle) and the warning light / buzzer still came on intermittently, which caused momentary panic where I saw myself pulling apart most of the interior to find where the insulation has been scrubbed off the wire. Instead I searched for the symptoms on Clublupo and it turns out that the handbrake-on and brake fluid level indicator share a warning light. So a good glug of Dot 4 and all is well again, thanks to the wisdom dispensed on internet forums. With hindsight it makes perfect sense as well that the pattern when the warning light came on was related to a fluid level, e.g. when accelerating, going uphill it sloshed backwards, the light came on, while parked on the drive with the nose down it didn't. Now I just need to find out where the brake fluid is disappearing to and either find the little plastic plunger that came off the handbrake switch and disappeared somewhere in the depths under the carpet last night or get a new switch...

I've no issues with electric cars in principle. Batteries are always the problem though, and at the moment it's a lack of infrastructure that prevents electric cars from being a viable options. Otherwise I might be tempted by a Honda e. I think it looks very cool. @davy26 The tyres are 195/50 R15. When I was researching tyres I came across an "actual tyre size" chart (I can't remember where exactly I'm afraid, possibly on the Hankook website) and the Hankook 195/50 R15 are actually 203 mm wide. As far as I know, the only tyres available in 205/45 R15 are Toyo Proxes which are considerably more expensive and have a worse rating in both economy and wet grip compared to the Hankooks. I used to run Hankook Ventus tyres on a 3series touring a while back and I thought they were good tyres then, which was another reason for my decision. @mk2Excellent advice. Many thanks. Switching on the AC makes no difference whatsoever to idle rpm, so I'll check out the power feed first. I assume that the central locking behaviour is caused by the door microswitches, e.g. it's not recognising that the door has been opened and the car locks itself after a minute or so. The interior light doesn't come on either when opening the door, which would support my hypothesis. It's not really a problem, there's enough time to e.g. get the dog in the back jump in and turn ignition on before the car locks itself again, and if I know that I will take longer I'm just turning the ignition on and off again briefly. It's just that the husband had taken the Lupo to Lidl the other day and didn't notice it had locked itself again, so he set the alarm off when turning the key in the ignition and was still in a fluster when he got home. (He's generally quite fed-up with my used car antics, as the Lupo is the 4th car I've bought this year.) That handbrake-on warning buzzer is driving me absolutely crazy though, that needs sorting now! You don't happen to know the part number, or do you @mk2?

Yeah, that is a very good point. Also, it seems to me that owning a Lupo Gti and not using it does sort of defeat the point of owning one in the first place... IN OTHER NEWS, THIS JUST IN: Apparently the switch that triggers the handbrake-on warning light has now come to the end of its useful life, so every time I accelerate and/or drive uphill the warning light is triggered. Obviously fixing that has now been given 1st priority. I don't mind the warning light so much, but the highly annoying buzzer that comes with it would make me wanna tear my hair out if I had any left... So, Yay!

I totally get what you're saying about not wanting to put any more miles on the car and it going to an enthusiast. I'm feeling slightly bad about using the Lupo Gti I bought recently as daily driver. (Mine's a bit scruffier than yours but the asking price was a bit lower too.) However I wonder if you're not gonna regret selling it, when in a few years time you really want your Lupo back and there isn't one for sale with a history as good as yours, or if there is one, it comes with an outrageous price-tag. Just a thought... To any potential buyer, I can only say: It's a cracking little car, buy it now before someone else does...

Well, as Frank aka @mk2 has asked how things are with the Lupo now I've had it a few months, here goes: I am absolutely and totally in love with the teeny tiny Volkswagen! To be a bit more specific: I'm driving around everywhere with a big grin on my face, possibly going a tiny bit faster than what would be sensible for someone my age. It's brilliant fun to just not slow down at all for roundabouts (However, the dog would probably disagree with this) The little car is bloody fast. At the same time it's also comfortable. The noise it makes when you put your foot down is absolutely hilarious. The build quality is outstanding (The 03 reg E46 BMW I used to have with 30000 miles less was in a considerably worse state) I like the stealth-factor of the Lupo Gti, as in most people just see a little shopping car but you get an appreciative nod from some people (mostly blokes in their 40ies who recognise what it is and are still a bit sad that the girlfriend insisted on buying a Mini Cooper back in 2003). Regarding this particular Lupo Gti, I appreciate that it is completely original spec. floor mats and everything, with only 2 previous owners who appear to have looked after it reasonably well, although there are signs that it suffered at times from a ham-fisted mechanic. It is by no means in perfect condition, e.g. the interior generally and the door cards particularly are somewhat scruffy, but then it's 16 years old, so fair enough really. I was relieved to see that when we had it "flying" in the garage, everything underneath looks in good shape apart from a little bit of surface rust here and there. Messing about with jacks and ramps and axle stands is always a bit tense though I have to say. Things I've done so far: 4 new tyres: Immense improvement. I can definitely recommend the Hankook Ventus Evo 2 tyres. 2 new window winder switches driver's side New oil and filter, air filter, pollen filter, spark plugs. Cleaned throttle body and cleared adaptations. Windscreen wipers part 1: The part of the column switch that holds the stalk in position had broken off, so had to be replaced. In the process of doing that, taking the airbag off, I ripped the plug off the clock spring cable. So I had to replace the clock spring too. D'oh! Windscreen wipers part 2: At some point, the linkage from the wiper motor to the driver side wiper had come apart and whoever repaired it put it all back together upside down. Obviously this caused insufficient shuddering wipers and a really annoying rattle. It also bashed into the plenum chamber cover with every wipe and completely destroyed that. New wiper blades of course. 3rd brake light / rear spoiler: Matey next door pointed out to me that the 3rd brake light does not work. So I took the spoiler off and discovered that there was quite a bit of moisture inside, but the main reason was that it was not connected to anything. The plug was missing, just 2 blanked off cables with a bit of masking tape wrapped around them going nowhere. This does cause some doubt about the latest MOT test. However I tested the led unit and it worked. I put everything back together, thinking I'll chance it with the rubber seal around the led unit and fingers crossed. So of course when there was torrential rain for several days at the beginning of October a substantial amount of water collected inside the spoiler and caused havoc with the electrics. The alarm went off 3 times during one night. To not cause more grief for my neighbours I left it unlocked for the rest of the night, hoping the rain would put any casual car thief off. Luckily I was then able to leave it in the neighbours garage next night to dry everything out again. A little bit of clear silicone sealant together with the rubber seal seems to have sorted it. At least so far. Aux belt, Cam belts and water pump: While it's not very difficult, it is a big job and it seemed to go on and on for ever. By the time I was already well fed up with tinkering with engines, it looked like half my car was still in bits on the garage floor. I'm not gonna write it all up, there's a very good guide on the forum already, but here are a few pictures: Things that need sorting: The dreaded door strap issue. Check out @mk2's post on the topic here: https://forums.clublupo.co.uk/index.php?/topic/106783-everyone-with-a-lupo-or-arosa-important-door-strap-info/ Actually replace the wonky coolant temperature sensor with the new one that's been lying around on the window sill in the living room for a while. Find out what exactly it is that causes the car to lock itself again and set the alarm off if the ignition is not switched on quick enough after unlocking. Find out why the air con doesn't work Wheel centre VW badge: Anybody got an idea where I can get my hands on one? Things that I'm sort of thinking about maybe doing at some point in the future: I mentioned that it is nice that the car is completely original, I'd definitely prefer grey door cards to the red ones. I also quite like the idea of swapping the front seats for a pair of Recaros from a Mk4 Golf Gti. Pop out rear windows: The only option on the Lupo 1.0 E I had many years ago were the pop out windows, and I absolutely loved them, because pop out rear windows are cool. So all in all there's plenty to keep me occupied and I'm a very happy boy! Finally, I'm thinking about the dilemma of using the Lupo Gti as "a car", meaning in this particular case: living outside, having an owner who is notorious for having a messed up car, transporting a muddy dog, etc. vs preserving it as a "modern classic" e.g. keeping it in a garage, keeping it clean, only using it when the weather is nice and so on. At the moment it functions very nicely as "a car", so I dunno about that one. Thank you for reading, folks! Frank, I hope this satisfies your curiosity 😀 Thoughts on any of this will be much appreciated...

Fair enough... And yeah I get what you're saying I'm in love with my little Gti too, I'm even almost ok with it being silver and not blue. Looking at yours, I think I like the grey interior better than my red one, especially the door cards look so much better. I'm glad I've got the anthracite wheels though. I did wonder if there's a reason that the cd player is installed on top of the stereo? (first time I've seen it that way round) Oh and nice key fob! (I've got the same one, lol)

Nice one! That looks very tidy... How much did you pay for it? If you don't mind me asking...

There is a thread on here somewhere that explains why they stop working and how to fix it. Basically they accumulate dirt and it's a rather fiddly job to take the switch apart and clean it. However, a new switch is £5 from Amazon. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07MJBC3S2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The door cards don't need to come off. Just be careful when levering the switch panel out with a screwdriver...

It looks like you answered your own question there. I suppose if the bolt is threaded into both sections, that huge load is distributed evenly between said brackets... But yeah it was a pita to get the catch strap from the fully closed position to the fully open one. I had to use a g-clamp and lots of swearing. I think I’m still in favour of doing a hinge swap. I will borrow a giant torx bit from next door and make my way over to Wokingham again (or possibly eBay). Re. the paint overspray it looks like the whole shell has been sprayed. If you look very closely there are tape lines around the door openings on both sides as well. I sort of get why you’d leave the rear windows in place if they’re ok, but the rear light clusters are definitely easier to remove than to tape for painting?! It’s not been written off or anything though. I’ve bought a check!

Yesterday I gave the Lupo a good clean inside and out. So this morning I just had to take a couple of pictures because it looked so very shiny in the morning light, even though the dog was very impatient to go and run around the woods. At some point in his life it's definitely had a re-spray. There is some silver mist on the rear window seals, rear light clusters and bonnet rubber seal. So mmmmh, I do wonder what happened there?! All in all though it is looking remarkably fresh for a 16 year old car with 118000 miles on the clock. The 2 Mazda MX-5's of similar vintage I bought in July were definitely in worse shape. (However, they were also only a quarter of the price.) I've also done a temporary bodge on the broken door-strap-bracket using a M6 bolt, a washer, a bit of rawlplug, some heat shrink and a lock nut. That appears to be fairly stable, and it looks like welding the washer to the remainder of the bracket would solve the problem permanently. I am still looking into swapping the hinges for ones with integrated catch mechanism. I did have a rummage around the scrap yard and predictably they appear to be the same across the VW Audi range. I couldn't actually take one off though because of a lack on giant torx bits. Changing the cam belt and water pump is scheduled for Sunday...

There aren't many black ones about at the moment. There's a standard one on ebay and a modified one on Autotrader. https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/10537559?cId=10537559&cId=10937444 This one looks great I think, but six grand is a lot of money...

Absolutely love the little thing!

Right, I still haven't decided what to do with the door catch strap. I have been told that door hinges from an Audi A6 C6 are a straight swap, which would make the whole catch strap redundant, so I'm looking into that... In other news: Last weekend, matey next door removed his precious BMW from his garage and we had planned to do the timing belt and water pump. However as it turned out, both the water pump and timing belt kit I got from eurocarparts were wrong (I've got the right bits from VW now, so we'll do that next weekend, but grrrrr!). So instead we had a go at fixing the wipers. It looks like at some point the link from the motor to the passenger side wiper arm fell off and whoever has fixed that put it back together upside down, with the result that it caught and destroyed the plastic cover as well as working itself loose again and causing that annoying rattle I mentioned earlier. I really don't understand this sort of thing, as it was immediately apparent that it's supposed to go the other way round, before I even looked in the book. Speaking of things I don't understand: I also fixed the 3rd brake light. Fixed in this case means re-connected the 3rd brake light. When I took the spoiler off, besides a thriving ecosystem, I found the wires for the 3rd brake light loose inside the boot lid, without the plug of course. So, I cleaned everything up, checked if the actual light unit works (yes), soldered on a new plug (I've found one that fits in the random-electricals-box, yay!) and put everything back together. This sort of thing also makes me doubt the validity of at least the latest MOT test. Surely that's at least an advisory?! I wonder what I will discover next... All in all though I'm in love with my little Lupo. It's hilariously good fun to drive. It's almost comical to see the gap to the car behind if I'm in pole 1st away from traffic lights. It makes a delicious growly noise when I stamp on the throttle. And I'm annoying people in Focus ST's and Audi A3's who completely underestimate how quick the little thing is. Mwahaha!

I've seen a dark blue Lupo twice last week on the Oxford Road. There is a silver Gti driving about, I'm sure! Mainly going from Tilehurst to Caversham in the morning and from Caversham to Tilehurst in the evening, but not this week as I'm not working...

Just spotted a black Lupo sdi (I think) going up Rotherfield Way towards Emmer Green as I was driving home from work, but until my brain engaged and I thought “aww another Lupo” we were well past each other...

I thought so. I’ll have to have another think about it and meanwhile keep yelling at my passengers to be careful when opening that door.

I’ve got a cheapo generic obd2 reader off amazon I bought when the Skoda’s engine light came on because of a stuck turbo valve actuator. That can read and erase error codes and read basic sensors. I have the Bmw diagnostics program which is much more detailed, e.g showing when a fault occurred, how often and under which conditions and does all the fancy can bus stuff too. That was quite exciting.

Ach! Small errors with catastrophic consequences, they are the worst! The Lupo and I have made some progress today. I've changed the alternator belt, so no more annoying squealy noise. That's an enormous improvement right there! I've checked the timing belt and replacing that is top of the list of things to do. Still not sure though if I pay someone to do it or try to bribe my mechanic/neighbour with cake to give me a hand. He does this sort of thing for fun apparently. I've also changed oil and filter, spark plugs and air filter. A couple of things have popped up, of course. Spark plugs 1 and 2 had quite a bit of oil on them. I'm hoping that's been caused by the haphazard oil filling procedure of previous mechanics (or a leaky oil filler cap maybe). But a failing cam cover seal is also on the cards. Earlier this week I've been reading a thread about Gti's pretending to be kangaroos when cold including @mk2's entirely plausible explanation what's causing it, e.g. sticky throttle valve. And indeed there was quite a bit of oily gunk inside the air filter housing, throttle valve and splattered all over the throttle body, but it's not immediately obvious where it's coming from. Crankcase breather possibly?! That will need looking into. So that's gonna keep me occupied for a while... I can also report that the new tyres have made a massive improvement in terms of noise vibration and harshness as well as grip. I can definitely recommend those Hankooks. Oh another thing: @mk2 with you being local, I wondered if you have any idea how I could get my hands on a computer running vw software for doing some geeky diagnostics? I'm assuming that similar to how it is with BMW that you get lots more info compared to a generic obd2 reader?!