HELP!!! This car is ruining my life!

Awful weather up north today so not yet.  I'm thinking it must still be from the rocker cover as I changed it.  Waiting on a torque wrench and a new cover (large possibility of the other one being bent as it was an absolute swine to get off originally) and try again  did try and clean up my oil slick today…now just left a salty oily mess instead!lol

Oil on top and underneath rocker gasket  I smile because that surely makes it 99% that gasket being the leak!  Lesson…do not try and do things in a hurry at night!!!haha

Would have thought so. Keep smiling because I've learnt that keeping up to a golf means when it comes to mot time you'll breeze through It. Unlike your Corsa mates  (I'm on my 3rd year of a passing first time  :mrgreen: )

Indeed!  Think I need to move somewhere warm to do it all though!haha.  Just posted a question here http://www.vwgolfmk1.o…viewtopic&p=733154#733154 if you wouldn't mind answering as I'm sure you'll know  Mr postman didn't deliver anything today unfortunately but can prep ready instead

Well… just when you thought it was all over!!haha.

She's running  N appears to retaining her oil

Rough as a dog though.  Don't understand…the time before when she was leaking oil the idle seemed smooth and all sorted.  I've done the ignition timing, but oddly she seemed happier with the vacuum to the dizzy off and closed up than when I reconnected it.

But she's also making a very funny noise, almost like a cat meow.  You should be able to hear it in this video…it's like something is rubbing.  Took the timing belt cover off to have a look as it seems to be coming from there, but could not see anything out of the ordinary.


Is it just because I've never really listened out for oddities before and I'm worrying over nothing?  One of the times it stalled today I tried to restart and it seemed the engine would turn and then jam!!!  8O   Basically it would crank round slightly and then stop.  Tried to video it and then as soon as I did…she started first time!lol.

Any thoughts?  Timing should be right so I pray I'm not clashing valves or whatever it is that happens

Just thought…ignition timing definitely won't be right as the idle wasn't right! Duh!!lol.  But still, should I worry about that noise and the dodgy non-start or just try n sort the idle?

Discovered this noise is only once the engine's warm and not idling right if that helps shed any light

What's the oil level like?

All good.  Half way up the marker on the dipstick.  Just took her for a gentle spin.  Rough as a dog!!!lol  Feels almost like the handbrake's on when you release the throttle.  I know one of my vacuum hoses has a hole in which I've 'patched up', but this wasn't a problem before.

The new rocker cover obviously is a lot clearer for the breather.  So would this effect idle and everything with more air going through?  Just a thought

Could be  :dontknow:

Haha, glad you're stuck too!!!  I'll have a proper play  tomorrow.  Definitely getting somewhere…slowly

may need the idle and co reset if it was done with the bad rocker seal, could be it was causing an air leak. same as how it'll run weird if the oil cap isnt on right (done that before )

btw, if its a 1.8 gti you're supposed to set the ign timing to 6deg BTDC with the vac line to dizzy disconnected and plugged. then reset idle/co to suit

Cheers John, been doing that, although finding it hard to see the mark.

Today's findings…it seems (unless I'm taking a reading wrong….but I cannot see how) that there's no power to the TTS.  Stripped the cable back to where I found a dodgy area…and still no power to that bit either…so there must be a break along the line somewhere yes?  Which if this is the case means removing all of that plastic housing around the cables yeah?  If so…doh!!!

BUT

Am I right in thinking the TTS only controls the 5th injector?  So what I did was remove the 5th injector (my thinking was if that's not getting shut off by the TTS then the engine will be getting too much fuel and therefore drop idle as she warms up)…but she still drops idle whilst warming up.

Are all my thoughts here right?  If so, I'm still clueless as to why it's dropping idle speed when warming up.

Your thoughts here are quite a way out. If the 5th injector was stuck open, the car wouldn't run due to being flooded.

Look again at the circuit diagram for the 5th injector and thermo time switch, you might have diagnosed it wrong.

Dropping idle speed through warm up is normal. What's it at the start (after cold start) and once warm?

It starts correctly at 1000 and drops and drops as she warms until it's about 200 and is coughing and spluttering everywhere

Raise the idle speed so its within spec once warm.

In fact, get the ignition timing and mixture sorted out first - as has been suggested already. You'll need to take it to a garage for the mixture to be checked/set properly, unless you have a gas analyser.

tts should only see cranking power on the red/black wire, from the pin C/18 behind the fusebox. the green/white wire is connected to the 5th injector. the black wire on 5th injector also gets starting power from the starter motor.

if the idle is at 200 when trying to set the timing that wont help, you want it around 900 rpm. as paul says let it get to 80 degrees then set idle to 900 and recheck the timing. its definitly got the right flywheel on it?

you should have 2 marks. a small punch mark which is the TDC mark used when settign up the cam/crank timing on the belt. then there is a big diamond quite close to it which is your BTDC mark for the ign timing. a carby flywheel has the mark in a different place, and iirc 1.6 gti doesnt have a BTDC mark at all?

this is what it should look like, big red diamond is BTDC, small punch mark next to it is TDC. this is a 6deg BTDC flywheel as well so it will give you an idea of where it should be:

Yeah I'm going to get to a garage as soon as I can for that.  Just want to sort the TTS n all that out first.  

There's also no power to the WUR.  So I guess that would be why it drops so much then?  Don't know why none of these are getting any power, seems very odd!!!

Aaaaah, so I'm taking my readings wrong!!!ha  Cheers John.  Yeah I'm timing onto the right mark.  Flywheel I presume is right as things were running fine before.