BlobbyBrown

For those looking at this; I changed out the oil seal at the weekend. The oil seal sits at the front of the green sleeve so if the sleeve is excessively damaged then you will most likely need a new sleeve. You can remove the oil seal without removing the green sleeve. Mine [the sleeve] was damaged but managed to refit with a new seal; hopefully no more leaks, but we'll have to monitor as the outer edge of the oil seal was showing in places. I did order a new sleeve for a POLO from the US but it doesn't arrive until June! (now April), so hoping it all holds out until at least then. Regards Rob

Having changed the clutch (see other thread), looks like I've either damaged or exacerbated a leak on the RHS Diff Driveshaft seal. The Green Sleeve that I think is part 084301192, around the flange - Is that independent of the oil seal. I've order the seal but it didn't have the sleeve attached and looks like the green sleeve is now obselete and like hen's teeth to get hold of. Just thinking am I going to have a problem changing the seal on it's own or should I be able to remove the oil seal remove the sleeve, fit new seal and refit existing green sleeve as it provides no real purpose?! Cheers Rob

Yes, second one in that picture, and fits into the plastic brack/holder on the firewall. Looks pretty original to me. Interestingly the orientation is reverse i.e. the cable comes through the back and hooks onto the lever as opposed to that picture which says it come through the lever and hooks onto the bracket at the back.

That's a different cable than the simple type that I've got. I've just got a cable through a sheath with a spring damper on the end which is where the adjustment is.

Thanks, yes the bearing resting on the fins position is when the lever is 90 degrees to the cable, but the lever travel to get there is more than I was expecting (more than 50% of the total allowable travel distance). Adjusting the cable such that it's resting position is there means the cable adjustment nut almost down at the base of the thread. I didn't release any pin in the mechanism when I had the gearbox off, so nothing was put back any differently. I was making sure everything worked and was free and smooth when I fitted the new thrust bearing. I couldn't see any way of adjusting this mechanism such that the lever was further away than the 90 degree position at the fin resting position.

Hi all Just changed out the clutch on the LUPO (1.0, 2000) - Cable variant. Firstly Throw-out bearing lever still has a lot of travel before it's touching the fins on the pressure plate. As a consequence or some other issue with the cable tighened down such that lever is just touching still not getting any gear engagement - the clutch pedal is too loose for my liking and not feeling like the cable/lever is actuating the pressure plate. The spring in the cable is completely closed up it's so tight. Note - I have repaired the pedal box so the bracket is back in place and not the issue for now. Feels like I've done something stupid but without taking it all apart again (pain in the doo dah). I did think the gear selector cable refitment, but that was only really the one cable and that went back in the centre of the bracket ?! And that doesn't resolve the loose cabeling Any suggestions as to what to check to rule out the obvious?

Aha. Here is the spec for the RIDEX arms. The L2 Value here shows as 300mm, but the measurement of the old one I've taken off is 320mm a whole 2cm difference. I'll check other manufacturers. This would explain the perceived shorter arm comment from the alignment guy. I may not be going mad after all... Cheers Rob

Indeed, Camber now means I'll get excessive tyre wear on one edge but why would I need the GTI ones on a non GTI car - doesn't make sense. Looks like I need the GTI ones to push the toe out and bring the T-Rod End back in. Unless there is a different set of Lower control arms which are causing a different shift in the alignment. I could try refitting the old arms with the new BJs to see if the alignment changes.

Thanks, yes, saw that topic and did as suggested, but not much give in the ball joint to make such a difference. Had it aligned today at the garage and it was 8 degrees out across both sides and could barely drive. Steering alignment was way off centre. The "Alignment Specialist" wasn't happy and said it wasn't right and that the track rod ends were now at their limit with only a few threads. He said that it looked like the bottom arms were too short and that got me thinking about the difference between the GTI BJs and the non-GTI ones. What I can't get my head around is that what I replaced was the same as what I took off so why would it still be out by so much that has meant the rod ends have had to be turned out by so much. When looking that the new RIDEX BJs the measurement between the centre of the Ball and the middle nut centre is 5mm more on the new one than the old one. But according to the mechanic that's mad my set up better! Strange. Don't know whether to now leave it as it's running OK or try and work out what's actually occuring. Rob

Just changed the lower control arms and ball joints. New Ball joints were left and right handed. Pretty sure I fitted them the right way around (RIDEX ones had A and B marked, A was LEFT). Will however recheck in the morning. Seen mention of wrong lower arms on here, but they were the same size/shape as the ones that came off. This is a standard 1.0, not GTI. Handling is now really scary (no real directional control), do you think this just needs an alignment. Nothing else was changed. One of the arms had a shot rear bush, so maybe previously aligned with that and the new ones are all in the right place and stiffer!? Just seems really odd. What else to look out for and check? Thanks Rob

Thank You. I though that was the answer but not getting any success with this. I managed to break a ceramic fitting on the end of one cable, so just waiting for replacment set. It wasn't starting on 3 cylinders (Cyl 1 missing) and some of the Google images seemed to indicate a different coil pack connection than ABCD = 1234 would assume. Regards Rob

Sorry all, Having a bit of a brain melt. Coil Pack has ABCD marked. Does A refer to Cyl 1, B refer to Cyl 2, C =Cyl , D= Cyl 4. or since the cylinder firing sequence is 1342 then A=1, B=3,C=4,D=2 I made the mistake of switching all the spark plugs out at once and now can't get it to fire up. Also what is it with the cables and the metal shrouds around the spark plug end? Normally only ever worked with rubber boots?! Having trouble determining whether they have made contact or not. BTW - 2000 LUPO 1.0 MPI engine (AUC). Thanks Rob