Help. injector 3 loose after checking spray pattern

Ive just pulled out each injector according to my Bentley manual to check the spray pattern and all was fine until put number 3 back in when there was a slight crackling crunch noise as i was pushing it back into the seal.

Although the top green rubber seal seems to seal it ok the injector now wobbles a bit making me think that a seal or insert lower down is nakered.

Cheap part to replace and easy to remove the insert?

the inserts unscrew with suitable size allen head bit, i used the handle of a drift with a spanner or you could lock 2 nuts together on a bolt.

what age is the car?

Finally fixed it, after 2 days of wd40 and hammering the allen bolts!!!. Basically the top hat off the injector dropped into the head after the lower insert cracked and broke apart so i struggled getting 2 of the inlet manifold bolts out. Once off i used a magnetic tool to fish it out

Finally got there and swapped all the lower inserts, rubber seals top and bottom and then cleaned up the brass insert

Im glad i did it now jonny because the cars a bit more responsive. Must of had a little leak around the seals maybe. Still not perfect but every cloud and all that lol

coolio, next step is reset the base idle and co since those will probably be out if they were ever fiddled with when it had a leaky seal or whatever. may as well check the ignition timing while you're there, give it a couple extra degrees advance perhaps

Yeah i was looking at checking that stuff. Ive had a look through my Bentley manual at these and i would need a gas analyser etc wouldnt it??

Im pretty competant at all mechanical stuff like the head off and doing everything top to bottom but ignition timing is something ive always avoided in fear of bending valves :s

Is it easy to check the base idle as you called it and do the ignition timing Jonny??

timing is easy peasy, and the 8v engine is non-interference so you would really have to work hard to bend any valves

all you need is a billy basic timing light, but id be sure to get an inductive pickup one. 1st step is unscrew the big plastic bung on top of the gearbox so you can see the flywheel.  Turn the engine over on the crank socket till the cam marks line up and check the flywheel punch mark is also lined up. Note crank turns twice for every rotation of the cam so you may need to turn it over another 180. If you really cant get the bung out you could get a timing light with an advance wheel, dial in 6 deg BTDC and use the crank pulley timing mark

Once happy cam and crank are lined up pop the timing light on lead #1 get the engine good and hot then pull the vac pipe off the dizzy and plug it. Poi9nt the light at flywheel hole and check the diamond lines up, if not rotate the dizzy till it does. If the idle changes adjust the screw on the back of the throttle body.

once happy you can set the CO if you have decent equipment, I found the DIY kits to be pretty pants so may be worth takin it to local garage and asking em to tweak it in exchange for some back pocket tax free cash.  If you want to fiddle you need a long allen key to reach down the hole next to the rubber boot behind the metering head.

you can usually add a couple degrees more advance, take it for a good hard thrash listening for pinking then pull the timing back a bit if you hear any. Tbh I just dal in 8 and forget, thats a pretty safe figure on proper 97-99 ron fuel as i cant really be bothered to mess about too much

this thread covers kjet in more detail, its for a 16v but the co procedure is the same. ignore the red/black wire plug I mention thats 16v only:
http://www.clubgti.com/showthread.php?195423

this one is for digifant GTI, but shows the 8v timing markers in more detail:
http://www.clubgti.com/showthread.php?124949

That brilliant!!!! Thanks so much. I was going to send it to a local classic VW place near me to check all these but id far rather learn it myself then i know for the future then if its just the CO that needs checking then it should be a doddle.

Someone at work will defo have a timing light i can borrow and then i will have a crack at it. When you say pull the pipe of the dizzy and plug it, is that plug the pipe or the actually dizzy connection?

Am i right in thinking aswell that im much better running it on the premium unleaded instead of standard 95??

the vacuum pipe on the advance unit, pop it off and block the end of the pipe with a screw or a golf T or something so there isnt an air leak

you definitely need to run it on super if its a GTI, on 95 ron you'll probably find you got to back the timing off a bit to stop it pinking