Poor start to GTi Life !!

[iwilkins]

Hi All

I'm after a little advice.  Being new back into my own car having had a company one for the last 10 years or so i've opted for a Golf.  Bagged myself a nice Ed30 in Tornado red but i'm having a few issue's.

Firstly, I've got terrible tyre noise, so i've ordered two new tyre's and i'm off to have a 4 wheel allignment done to hopefully sort that.  All 4 tyre's are very unevenly worn and are all different brands anyway so i'm getting them changed

Secondly, I've having issue's with poor starting and lumpy idle (sounds just like a flicker when at idle).  I've had it into the stealers hoping they would at least replace the PCV valve but under warranty but it didn't show any error codes on the VAGCOM so they couldn't do anything    Every morning when i start her up she seems to struggle a little revs drop to 400-500 then jump to 1100 i'm presuming the auto choke kicks in (assumin these still exsist ).

Thirdly, Just today i started to get an odd rattling/squeking noise from the engine bay, It's very quiet so could be there in whilst in motion but it's mainly noticable when stationary and holding her on the brake (DSG gearbox).

Aside for the little niggle's above she seems to run great.  Car was bought from one Stealers and they seem to have done a poor job of checking the car before they handed it to me (coupled with me not checking properly in the excitment of a new Ed30).

Question is this... how many if any of these things would you get it back to the origional dealship for and what if any advice would you give for the second point as that's bugging me the most and is most embarrasing when showing off the new car to mates .

Any help/advice appreciated

[Saint Steve]

1stly, superb choice in car

Is there anyway you could post a clip of the sound its making on idle.

It does sound like possibly a blown PCV as they can fail and wont show up on vcds.

The squeekie/squeeling noise, i had the same, but it was from cold especially, and was the cambelt tensioner which is a known common problem on this and other Mk5 forums. Dealers are not quick to spot this and say its something else.

A sound clip would be handy, and we should be able to assit you better fella

Oh and if you have Dunlops fitted, they are AWFULL and make it sound as if you have worn wheel bearings. Fit Vreddestein sessanta Ultrac's for best vfm.

[iwilkins]

Thanks for the reply Steve

I'll get a clip of the tickover as soon as possible i think my phone will record one .  It's certainly not terrible by any means but i really did expect it to run sweeter than it seems to be.

The Tech at my local stealers actually seems to have gone to a degree of effort to try help me out to be honest.  He claims to have checked for DSG updates/ECU Updates and any TPI's that we're relevant to my car, but nothing showed up :-(.  On the up side they had the car for some time and gave it me back without charge and even gave it a wash and vac :-)

Sadly yes i do have 1 Dunlop and it's where most of the noice is coming from.  I've got two nice new Vredestein ULTRAC SESSANTA's on the way should be here tomorrow all being well only 91 quid too , Cheaper than my old Mondeo by 50 quid !  I'll be whacking those on and replacing the other two when I've burnt the tread from the current rears

[TagnuT]

1stly, superb choice in car

Is there anyway you could post a clip of the sound its making on idle.

It does sound like possibly a blown PCV as they can fail and wont show up on vcds.

The squeekie/squeeling noise, i had the same, but it was from cold especially, and was the cambelt tensioner which is a known common problem on this and other Mk5 forums. Dealers are not quick to spot this and say its something else.

A sound clip would be handy, and we should be able to assit you better fella

Oh and if you have Dunlops fitted, they are AWFULL and make it sound as if you have worn wheel bearings. Fit Vreddestein sessanta Ultrac's for best vfm.

You still have the Vreddsteins fitted to you car steve?
My F1s are getting a little noisy too, but it depends on what surface your driving on. Some times you can hear it, other times you can't.

[iwilkins]

After extensive reading on both this forum and others it appears the road noise is down to tyre geometery and the setup of the car in the first place.

Toe and camber are setup on the GTi to assist with handling at speed, leaving you with more rubber on the road in the corners.  This leads to scrubbing on the inside edges on some cars, some more than others.  On mine at the moment i have 3 tyre's with 1mm less rubber on the inside edge.

I'm replacing all 2 tyre's to start with and having a 4 wheel alignment done to correct the over zelous camber/toe issue and changing for rubber with Asymetric design (which apprently is more tollerant).

PS. Where the hell can i upload a sound file so you can listen to it

[Saint Steve]

1stly, superb choice in car

Is there anyway you could post a clip of the sound its making on idle.

It does sound like possibly a blown PCV as they can fail and wont show up on vcds.

The squeekie/squeeling noise, i had the same, but it was from cold especially, and was the cambelt tensioner which is a known common problem on this and other Mk5 forums. Dealers are not quick to spot this and say its something else.

A sound clip would be handy, and we should be able to assit you better fella

Oh and if you have Dunlops fitted, they are AWFULL and make it sound as if you have worn wheel bearings. Fit Vreddestein sessanta Ultrac's for best vfm.

You still have the Vreddsteins fitted to you car steve?
My F1s are getting a little noisy too, but it depends on what surface your driving on. Some times you can hear it, other times you can't.

Just replaced my front tyres again.10 000 on the old set on a stage 2 car. Very impressed with them and no hesitation to re-use the same brand.

[TagnuT]

Thanks for that Steve.

[iwilkins]

Soundbite added

Went out and lifted the hood to get a better idea of where the noise was coming from.  You can't even hear the idle now for the racket coming from the aux/cam belt.

Is this what yours sounded like ?? If so is the tensioner something they can just tighten up or does it need replacing ?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8602629/Memo.m4a

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8602629/Memo2.m4a

Sorry volume jumps a bit i paused and moved closer

[Saint Steve]

Cambelt tensioner is Knackerd 

Same noise as mine did.

Requires the cambelt removing and replacing along with its tensioner roller to cure.

[iwilkins]

That's basically the 40k or 4 year service advisory if i'm not mistaken.

It's worth having them do the water pump at the same time i guess then ?

And thanks for the nod in the right direction, it's booked in the stealers under warranty/I've just bloody bought this fix it now