Major problems with my Mk3...help please!!

[jimbobby]

Hi. Apart from my quick hello in the Newbie forum this will be my first post on the forum (great site by the way). My problems are with my 2.0 Mk3 8v GTI (1992).

I'd first better start by apologising for the length of this topic, & also for the fact that I am......how do you put it....rubbish with cars! I admit to being one of those that drives my car withoug knowing how it works & not knowing how to fix problems. But what I do know is that I love my GTI  I'll try my best to explain the problem but you'll have to excuse me for any novice comments I make!

My problems started towards the end of 2003 when I noticed the coolant light flashing after my car had been running for a while, being a tad stupid I just topped up with water & kept on driving (oh how I now regret not taking it to a garage straight away). I carried on like this for about 6 months, & the problem obviously got worse, to a point where i'd be filling the expansion tank with water everyday as the water would run out, coolant temp would be off the scale & oil temp would be very high (you could actually hear hissing noises from the engine when I got out of the car after a journey).

I spoke to a friend about this in June 2004 who gave me the name of a young mechanic, popped in to see them & was told the head gasket had gone, the problem was that there had been leaks in numerous places of the cooling system & obviously i'd done damage by continuing to drive it. The mechanic did the job of replacing the gasket (the cylinder had was tested) & also replacing pipes & fittings etc..of the cooling system, & also the expansion tank. When I picked the car up I was told it was all fixed but the coolant light was still coming on, the mechanic said he'd tested everything he could & that there was nothing to worry about. So, not knowing alot about cars I presumed this was OK, paid up & went away.

I carried on using the car, which admittedly didnt overheat or require excessive topping up of water, for about a year. At this point the coolant warning light stopped flashing. In the back of my mind something told me that this didn't mean there was anything to worry about, & that it may have just blown the warning light bulb. Anyway, I kep on driving my car & a few months ago things started to go wrong again, gradually I needed to top the car up with water more frequently & the coolant & engine temperature started to creep up higher & quicker. It got to a point 2 weeks ago when all of a sudden the temp's would shoot up straight away & the water levels dropped quickly, so I took it to a different garage (recommended guy who works alone, been running for years etc...). He did a test & again said head gasket had gone, also there was a slight leak from one of the connections at the front of the engine. Also he said that from his point of view, & that of the people that tested the cylinder head this time, the job before was not done properly (apparently the bolts didnt feel that they'd been tighted enough amongst other things). Having left it with him he's replaced the head gasket & connector, but now i've got more problems!

First of all the coolant warning is coming on from the moment the ignition is turned on (ive not yet asked if the bulb had gone before I gave it to him), the mechanic again said he'd checked all the things he could think of, even replaced the expansion tank. The next problem is the most worrying though, & because of this the car is back with him.....my car has about as much power as a 1.0 Fiesta, if that! I picked it up on Friday & there is literally no accelaration, the car drives but if you put your foot down it just creeps along....to give an idea on a dual carriadgeway stretch of about 1 mile i got up to 55mph with my foot flat down all the way! Also I nearly cut out driving up a hill in second gear! The mechanic had it back for a day, did a few checks (he said he'd adjusted some things including belts & mentioned about ''taking it back half a tooth''). I had another go but its still nowhere near right. Also the fuel consumption is down from about 30mpg to 15mpg. Again, the car is now back with the mechanic.

Im starting to panic alot now & wondered if anybody (who'd managed to read all of this post before giving up!) had any ideas on what may be wrong. Im a bit worried the mechanic may not know either & wont say. He's mentioned lambda sensors & other things but I dont wanna keep throwing money at my Golf if its not worth it. I really wanna keep my car because if i dont I cant afford another GTI (house & baby to pay for) & will end up with a stupid little runaround. At the end of the day I know its my fault for not sorting the problems out when they happened, just hoping all is not lost 

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Len]

take it to a proper dealership mate! Ask them to do a full ECU plus error codes test and a compression test.
They should be able to do all that in an hour so labour charge shouldnt be too bad.
They may also be able to do a pressure test on the cooling system.

Sounds more serious than lambda sensor!

[majic mk3]

That sounds fairly similar to my friend in his mk2 GTI. Although he didn't have a loss in power, he suffered over heating etc got his head gasket changed only to find out a few months down the line the problems came back. He took it back to the garage and they said it could be a faulty head gasket, it wasn't, so they checked the head for cracks, then they went on to say the block may have cracked, which it didn't as that is so rare it never happens!

Anyway, it turned out to be the oil cooler which is where the oil filter screws into. After that, no problems!

As for the power, my 8v Mk3 GTI was low on power, not so bad it nearly cut out, but very low. I had the cam belt done by a cow boy and it was two teeth out, so i got that rectified and it drove a million times better!!!

I'm not sure if this is what has happened to your car but i hope it may help!!!

Good luck buddy!!!

[jimbobby]

Thank you both for your replies, both very helpful & correct....i'll try & explain why but please excuse my lack of knowledge with this....

Got a call from the mechanic today, majic mk3 it was as you said, something to do with the cam belt & teeth & timing being out. The chap admitted it was his fault, from what i can remember of his explanation he'd set the cam belt up originally to the 'marks' that were there already from the previous cam belt change, what he did today was clean all the areas up & found that he had set it wrong so he did it again. I drove it today & its back to how it was (still never been quite as quick as the day i brought it but then i think thats down to my owner negligence).

Len 405, i'm gunna do as you said i think & nip into my local VW dealer for those tests. Now that ive got the relief of my car running do you think it'd be worthwhile just getting it tested out for any problems that may come up again?

Im not overly worried about making my car faster cos im driving with my 2 year old in the back most of the time, but i'd like to prolong the life of the car (though i wouldnt complain if it got a bit quicker!)

Thanks alot for your help so far 

[Len]

Well if thats sorted the power problem then it may not be worth having the electronic test at a dealers.
Do you have any mobile tuners in your area that may do it cheaper?

But on the other hand I would still consider having the pressure test on the cooling system coz that will show up any loss of pressure, that could be minor cracks that are causing hot spots and therefore blowing gaskets.

So contact your local dealership and ask what the costs are and go from there.
Hope you sort it all.

[jimbobby]

Popped into my local VW dealer today, £59 for a test so may just do it i think.

Thanks.