newbi vw golf owner, but gotta start somewhere :)

hi ive recently brought a '89 mk1 golf gti, the exterior is great but it needs a little tlc interior and under bonnet, had it serviced recently and one thing came up, the mechanic said it had the wrong starter cap, im happy with the running but when cold and when turning on the ignition the car needs a good turnover with foot on peddel to get it running when on its lovely but with the winter mnths coming i worry it wont be that easy, so the mechanic said he changed the wrong starter cap as it was corroded with the correct one and said it should be fine but the nxt morning it was the same and advice on this problem, allllso my gears are fine buttttt the pin is missing that stops the gear nob going into reverse so i dont need to push it down for it to go into reverse, so it can get annoying when u accidently slide it into reverse whilst moving, my question is can this be easily fixed? this is my new baby by the way http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?pid=13527291&id=746995634&ref=fbx_album picked her up for £900 and only done 124k miles

welcome to the site

the gear trouble can be easyly fix, buy a gear linkage set of ebay £30 ish and then renew it all this should fix that problem

as to your starting issue, i really wouldn't worry to much about it, mine does takes a few cranks over to get it going in winter and summer. as long as it starts thats the main thing

hth