new to me 1992 golf Cabriolet

Ok I tensioned it by putting wn allen wrench into one of ghose keyholes and eith the wrench on the tensioner bold as fulcrum i was able to get enough tension on it. 
So now i have to wait for the parts i ordered from mk1autohaus. They didnt ship after i ordered a week week ago 😡

You tension it by moving it the holes towards you, then make sure that your diz and crank and cam don't move.

When you have it tight enough that it only twists 1/2  using your fingers between the intermediate shaft gear and the cam you are done.


Remember that the number one plug on the cap is at that position, so you may have to move your wires.

Then you can do the timing with the DVOM

Yes i tensioned the belt only enough so that i could only twist it 90 degrees.

Then I also swapped the ignition leads. 
See pics 
So the transmission of my car came from a 86 GTI? Might be the reason why reverse light plug doesnt fit.
I also noticed a barb , but no vacuum line on the side of the airbox. The side faxing the engine block any idea what that could have been for?

Working on a car ,that someone else started and abandoned is not fun. Especially as it's an entirely new car model to me.

 There are 2 barbs on the air box, one is from the throttlebody the other is from the air box to the pre-heater servo on the air box.  as I don't see the pre-heat hose, then look for a plugged port on the Throttle body or a plugged hose on the throttlebody.

from Cabby-info.

Got the valve cover gasket in painted the valve cover and got new shoulder nuts. 
Installed the transmission mount. Engine fired right up and ran nicely. 
Now i got to sort out why the alternator charge light is on and fix the goofy wiring someone did on the headlights .

There is a a couple of things On the alternator if you have the little bitty blue wire on the Phenolic Block where the Big red one is.  That Blue wire is the exciter wire.  To test it you can take 12V from the battery to that blue wire, if the light goes out, then you are charging.  As if the light is on you are running off of battery.

Quick think.  

It is Normal if the battery light is on at start, you may have to goose the RPM above 1100 for a blip, then the light will usually go out.  This is considered normal.

The Alternator has to have B+ applied to the itty blue wire via the dash light to start it charging.  So the issue could be that it is "NORMAL" if it goes out if you goose it a bit.  

Issues I have seen is the wire is broken at the connector on the alternator.

Break in the wire from the battery to the Dash.

The battery light in the dash is powered from the pin14 black+12 and pin2 brown ground of the cluster connector.  Then there is a Diode and the blue wire which goes to the Alternator.  When the Alternator starts charging, it goes from battery 12V to 13.75, since the 13.75V out of the alternator is greater than the 12v in to the light the light turns off. (very simplified)….


Poor connections on the cluster, and yep the Dash or clocks have issues.

Lights depend if the user relayed them then they will look wired wrong… Actually it is one of the cheapest and bestest upgrades that you can do Relay the headlights.

www.cabby-info.com has a how to on that as well as all mine in the Archive section, how-to's look for Brianos 90ish DIY.

Oh, and get good at reading the Bentley Wiring Diagrams… I have been since 1980, and I still get surprised.

I checked the voltage at the battery. I get 12.6v with the car off and 14v at the battery when the car runs. I cleaned the connectors at the alternator, the light inside is still on. I also noticed the water temp LED flickers momentarily and the airbag led is on. Maybe its bad contacts at the dash? I got to check qnd clean them.

There is also a dangling wire under the dash ( might be related) . I probably should start a new thread with this new stuff?
 

Those wires don't look Factory, and have nothing to do with the Alternator. POS owners add on most likely.

14V and 12v says that your alternator is working to me, but funny that your charge light is staying lit is that after you have goosed the Throttle? it is still lit?

Be careful.  Which air-Bag light is on the red or the orange or both….. Do not Power on the car with the Dash disconnected as that will fault your Airbag circuits.

There is a connector that is attached below the fuse panel that needs to be disconnected prior to any electrical work other wise you get the air bag lights to stay lit,  by disconnecting this connector you isolate teh airbag controller from the main electric and you can't throw a code to it…..usually as long as one or both lights are on you don't have an airbag….

Now I have a thread on my signature links that tell you how to repair flakey grounds to your cluster (ya'll call them Clocks) by using a single piece of tape under hte mylar.

I will link you to a thread that can tell you how to reset your air bag lights to get a functional unit again.


Diagnostic Codes for the airbag lights.
http://cabby-info.com/Files/AirbagCodes.pdf

Here is the VW side of the airbag controller.
http://reflectionsandshadows.com/air-bags/

How to read and reset the airbag controller with out the VAG reader box.
https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4982015-Read-and-reset-airbag-fault-codes-and-turn-off-warning-lights-without-VAG-1551.-Here%E2%80%99s-how.

mark1gls said

You are looking in the wrong place… it's the yellow square in the 2nd picture on the link below….

020 Oil


or info here…

https://vwgolfmk1.org.uk/forum/index.php?page=topicview&id=helllllpppp%2Funtitled_14


By the way… all Mk1 golf cabriolet are Wolfsburg edition as that is where they are made, Karmann built them under license from VW.  

Nope all the Cabbies were made by Karmann at their own plant in Osnabruck.
No cab was ever made at Wolfsburg, they were to busy churning out  tin tops to interrupt the plant or assembly line.


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AllMacs said

Got the valve cover gasket in painted the valve cover and got new shoulder nuts. 
Installed the transmission mount. Engine fired right up and ran nicely. 
Now i got to sort out why the alternator charge light is on and fix the goofy wiring someone did on the headlights .

Did you reconnect the Earth braid from the upper right stud mount to the coil minting bracket bolt?
This is the Earth for the dash/clocks.

You can face issues with them if not.


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Could you post a picture of where to look for it?

As i said i bought th car from someone who messed with it and i dont know where what goes.

Is that connected to the side of the valve cover?

From the top rear left of the Valve cover there is a Bracket that holds the O2 sensor wiring, there is a nut on that.  You attach it there at the o2 nut, and give it plenty of slack and find the Coil (mounted to the firewall) and place it on one of the bracket bolts.

I had moved my o2 sensor to the Down pipe, so I had to extend it.  but this should be the same as yours but there is a connector in the slot.






Where the rest of your grounds are on a DIgi are here and there are pictures included….
https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5284503-Ground-effects-and-the-repair-of-your-car&highlight=ground+effects

This is what i see on th dash, no orange light, but a red one. The steering wheel was changed i think , so maybe thats the cause of the red light?

Yes i got that ground strap from valve cover to firewall

Well if you have a different Steering wheel that doesn't have an air bag, and you are tired of seeing those lights.

https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?2026650

Tolusina's response…. about the 3rd or 4th.


okay I was wrong orange and red… Both indicate that the airbag can't deploy… The above link will disable the controller and turn those lights off.

Ok bypassing the Airbag worked, that LED is off.

Next thing i noticed is that the idle buttwrfly seems to stick. When i rev the engine it will have a higher idle i would have to push the lever toward the firewall to get it low. Does spraying and cleaning the butterfly from the inside with some solvent sound like it could work out this issue? Or does it sound like something more elaborate?
I also noticed that the oil pressure sensor seems to put on a LED now when the idle is low. I probably need a new sensor.

Check your oil level with the engine off!

Was the first thing ive done. Oil level is good according to dip stick.

Yes, folks don't realize that the throttle assembly needs cleaning and lubing too, as well as the idle stop being adjusted properly to prevent the butterfly from going totally closed.

Sticking whilst open is either the cleaning and lubing of the Throttle body spring and linkage or a worn and possibly breaking Throttle cable. As you stated that pushing the throttle return to the rear means to me that it is either Dirt, bent linkages or throttle cable….as in bad or maladjusted.

If your butterfly sticks closed then that is because the throttle body stop is improperly adjusted, and the butterfly is actually fully closing instead of being partially cracked…

Lubing the Pivots also is key, well cleaning and then lubing.

The haynes/bentley show this adjustment