New Owner Looking for some help....

[Malloy]

Hey,

Firstly to introduce myself, i've just bought a 16V GTi Mk2 and live in Bristol.  I'm already in love with the car and am glad I went for it over the Pug 205 Gti I was also looking at.  Unfortunately there have been a few bits to sort in the last few weeks, but to date they've all been relatively easy to fix, here's to hoping they are all that easy.  So far i've had had the cam belt changed and a full service, after which it started leaking oil from the pressure sensor so had to change that to, but otherwise it seems to be a good car.  If anyone can help with the answers to the following questions i'd appreciate the thoughts and experince with some of my future plans for the car. 

First job is to sort out the headlights as I can see a big incident at night coming along otherwise.  Full beam seems reasonable but dipped is useless. 

I think my options are:
New Bulbs (standard power but better quality)
New Lights (think the current ones are original and are looking a bit yellow, and one has a little condensation)
New Bulbs (increased power but I guess this would need a new loom)
Uprated loom - can anyone recomend a source for one of these

Second on my list is to sort the heater. 

Currently it generates warm air as the temperature of the engine comes up, but at running temperatures and any significant speed it struggles to put any heat into the car, even with fan switched off.  Last month when the temperature was down around 0^oC the car never got warm, even on a 150 mile journey.

I don't really know where to start with this one, any ideas greatfully recieved,

[Gambit]

first off, welcome aboard - we are here for all your needs! be it ridiculosy simple to a bit more complicated just fire ahead with any questions!

1. Buy an uprated loom of Dizzie on here. £25 or something like that - 5mins to install and will improve the lighting ten fold

2. for the heater you could first of just try bleeding the system incase of an airlock & if that dont help then change the bypass valves - cost again about £20 odd

to bleed. push the heater slider to max heat, remove the expansion bottle top and just let the car idle until either it boils over or the fan kicks in. squeezin the rad pipes also will help push out an air in the system

[Malloy]

Thanks for the advice,

I'll give the bleeding a go over the weekend and see if that gives any improvement. 

Seems like uprated looms could be the way forward.  What is the best way of getting in contact with Dizzie to buy one?  I get the impression that the lights are generally not very good, have you any experience with replacing the lights.  I've been quoted approx £20 for replacements, and £80 for 'crystal cear' ones.  That was from GSF and ECP.

[rubjonny]

1. Remove the lights and fill them with some soapy water, slush around then rince. Leave em to dry and see where that gets you, then put some decent quality bulbs in, I use Philips BlueVision plus and they're spot on.  If they are still a bit dim, an uprated loom may help, but you might have to replace the lights, try to get genuine Hella ones if you can

2. First thing to check is your coolant is topped up to the max line  If that don't help, remove the bypass valves completly, you can use 2 lengths of copper hose.
If this fixes it you can either fit new bypass valves, or buy uncut hoses, about £30 from http://www.gsfcarparts.com

No need to set the heaters on hot in a MK2 Golf when bleeding, but if you are unsure its always good practice to do so.

[rubjonny]

Oh to replace the lights, 2 screws and unplug your spot lamps and the grill will unclip and come away, then the headlights are held on with 4 bolts