jon69

Hi! Just purchased my vr6 Golf and wish to pop it into a trusted VW specialists within the Newcastle/Durham area..... any of you guys point me in right direction before i try my expensive dealer? its a major service due ! cheers in advance. John

Ok... now into my 5th year driving my trusty mk4 golf (1999/82k miles) and my 18th year of driving....but NEVER in these years have i had to fork out for a damaged suspension coil somewhere on my car for 3 years running! 2 yrs ago front offside went, last year front nearside went, and lo and behold yesterday at its annual mot ive had to fork out for nearside rear coil!!!! yeah only £55 a coil to fix but garage says hes seen a 10x increase over past 5-6 years in coil replacements cos of the speedbumps poppin up all over place.Anyone actually noticed this a prob with their golfs or do i need to slow down more? he he he

Ok......yet another ht lead "arking" across its connection to the distributor casing!!! fault solved for £10 inc vag-com diagnostics and replaced lead!!

Mk 4 golf 1999 8v 1.6..... worked just fine before i went to spain for 7 days!, engine started up fine but sounds like running on 3 cylinders and lost power and stuttering & feels like engine is flooded???Car sat outside for the duration of the 7 days. I had vag-com diagnostics pick-up on a damaged h-t lead 2 weeks ago but was rectified, however symptoms seem to be similair to this once again!! can this be linked?? cheers

Hi Merv, Not sure if this is any consolation but my mkiv golf is exactly the same with the fumes and so is my dads tdi. Ive recently replaced whole exhaust suystem and mentioned fumes to garage and they say its the way the air flows at the back of car, something to do with aerodynamics!! i get round this by putting my "recyle cabin air" button on, this does trick for us! its the small arrow button on ur centre console under ur heater controls. Otherwise id get ur exhaust checked out for leaks too!!

Hi, A work collegue of mine was attempting to reset the service due light on his vw sharan but accidently changed his digital readouts to kilometres!!!! although funny to hear and raised a day of jibes, he is understandably frustrated now!...anyone help with this one? cheers in advance

Ahhh fixed........ seems the metal sheath surrounding the base of the ht leads were at fault, one was "arking" and shorting out thus me running around on 3 cylinders and enjoying 60miles per £10 petrol. Im lucky cos app it would have messed up my cat after a while, not to mention probable coil problems etc. Bloke said he has had quite a few vw/audi's with same issues with these metal sheathed ht leads!!!!! anyone else had this problem?

cheers for info mook, havin front n back exhaust replaced today , cat checked and ok (phew), checking all hoses after exhaust done......then if problem persists... a tune up!

Ok.... MKiv golf 1999 1.6 8v 81k miles.....Its been a while since i posted and feel guilty cos i only seem to do it when my trusty vw needs a doctor or i feel i can help someone else!!!. Symptoms as follows (getting steadily worse as days go on); -Loss of power thru all gears and revs -Knock sensor clattering about underneath -intermittent misfiring sounding like poo -power intermittently returns now n then -starting/tickover is not a problem -cruising motorway is fine managing top speed no probs. What ive done so far; -Brand new vw maf sensor 3 weeks ago(ouch!) -full service 2 weeks ago -garage said exhaust has general erosion and missing a welded connector to underneath, thus loose n rattles a bit. -exhaust fumes are noticed in cabin and sounds slightly noisier than normal yet not "full on big bore spitfire noise"..as yet! -no lights of any sort appear or have appeared on dash -all hoses intact and throttle housing is spotless clean. Im assuming exhaust gasses/pressure is being lost somewhere and my ecu is working overtime trying to rectify the commotion??? helllppppp thanx guys!!!!!

hi Shanks, if symptoms are similar to i had ie; stuttering/juddering or complete engine cut off about 5 mins into ur journey (from cold) then yeah try replacing temp sender however im sure there is 2 temp sender units on ur model; 1 for ecu (engine management) and other for ur water temp gauge on dash, earlier petrol models like mine (1998-2002) had just the 1 sender unit that did both above jobs, its the ecu unit u need to replace,easy as hell to fit and £25 to buy.....did the trick with me!!. try searching this site for good links cos there are some pics available to assist spotting which unit u need and where its located (mine on right side of engine block when facing front of car, attached to 2 water pipes).good luck

Lol 2023! yeah fingers obv cold when i typed that! Cheers for input on 115bhp gasket issues and I agree that i think the car is modded esp when previous owner is a mechanic from my dads town, car exterior/interior completely standard except for some suspicious looking "ripspeed" car mats which raised alarm bells with me of course! I still think its been chipped as 132mph is pretty optomistic and its deff miles quicker than vw quoted 10 secs to 60. Dad called the guy up again yesterday and asked if deff not modded, bloke swears blind its all origional spec under bonnet! mmmm wierd

isnt relay 109 just for diesels? i mistakenly bought a 109 relay when i had my water temp sender problems and realised mistake when i looked under dash to find it never had a 109 relay in there in 1st place !! (yeah i know i should have told stealers mine was petrol but hey i was in a hurry lol).

Well after 17 years driving around in my little petrol world my dad finally encouraged me to take a spin in his latest purchase of a mk4 golf 115bhp gt tdi, wow not sure if hes had it secretly "tweaked" but its deff quicker than i thought esp thru the lower end with the torque and 6th gear reduces engine noise to virtual silence!!(im lumped to my petrol mk4 golf 1.6 16v!!). Obviously these pd engines are a big improvement on my ex girlfriends 90bhp tdi common rail that i drove and hated!!!. Ive obviously been livin in my own little petrol world up to now me thinks. Goin onto net to start researching golf 115/130 gt tdi's 2023-2005 !! Oh and im aware vw performance figs are based on full tank of fuel and 2 adults but surely the 0-60 fig of 10.1 secs and top speed of 121 is way off mark cos i had it up to 60 in at least 9secs and errr topped 132mph on my err private road ahem !! any thoughts on this? The previous owner swears its not been chipped or remapped and ive checked engine block code and its deff 85kw engine!

About perceived poorer build quality in last 3-4 yrs .... Ive owned my mk4 golf for 5yrs and yes ok ive also had half a dozen "known issues" with it inc : collapsed gearbox, seized rear calipers, engine water temp sensor failure, door window regulator failure etc" but i still love ma vw BUT this thread has got me thinking...as i work for a well known Jap car plant in the North East (app most productive car plant in europe for last 7 yrs or so)it is a fact within the industry that european car manufacturers are suffering big time with increased competition from eastern block an china where the big well known car names are setting up plants just to save £££ on labour, pensions, lack of unions, cheap sick-pay, fewer employee laws etc.... all these plants have to place "bids" to their parent company for the rights to build the next new gen model and of course one of or indeed the main element considered in this process is of course costs. Approx 60% of car manufacturing costs is down to labour!!! my employer have just cut its new worker starting salary by 15% AND are recruiting only temporary 3 month contracts and increasing current working week hrs without an annual payrise for 1st time since it began building in 1986, implemented as a method to retain cost competitiveness for the next 3-4 yrs AND are also currently inviting third parties by outsourcing for cheaper parts from asia and eastern block. Ive seen workers morale and quality of work suffer and can only assume if this is going on in my place of work then it most certainly WILL be also in Volksburg Land too perhaps? esp when you consider the state of Germanys economic status as its workers currently work second least hrs in europe second to the French and they have highest unemployment rate 5% ?? i believe Mercedes also havin recent quality issues too? ..... just my humble opinion.

4 weeks ago was driving out of my street when i heard a rattle from under bonnet that sounded like a loose spanner dropping out onto road. Pulled over an picked something off road that looked like 1/4 semi circle black metal bar about 6inches long. Me looked everywhere under hood to see where it came from but no signs.Car seemed to be ok an drove ok untill mot today revealed my front offside coil spring had snapped !!! Am i just plain lucky nothing worse happened? an why did car seem to drive ok? bloke at garage had a laugh at the metal bar i showed them that i kept under ma seat haaa!