mk2 8v Gti Lifespan

[Chris Green]

I dunno.

Was it me that made it sticky? if so, how do I un-stick it!?!?

[GTIMKiiJODE]

Well mate i bought my golf mkii 8v 6 years ago with 121000 on clock. It has now done 216500 ish and is still going strong. Had to replace head gasket at 135000ish and gearbox at 150000 ish. Original gearbox did not let me down however it sounded a bit rough. Appart from general bits and bobs thats all and it is still a great car. I do drive to work every day though wondering if today will be the day that it dies on me.
It smoked the day i bought it and it still smokes now but this is only when thrashing it.

[Teachers Pet]

Will they? I thought they were beyond repair, as the laquer has come off them. I'm not familiar with G3 paste. I've got some PEEK metal polish, but that isn't abrasive enough I don't think.

If you sand the flat surface first with a DA sander, and then flat it with 600 grit wet or dry paper, and then polish it with G3 (or Solvol Autosol), they will come up beautifully. It is quite hard work (it'll give you a bit of a work-out!) but it isn't difficult, and it's up to you how well you do them! Doing a perfect job will take plenty of time, but it will make your car look AWESOME (they are really pretty wheels, IMHO). And the beauty of the teardrop wheels is that you can leave the grey bits in the holes alone, and then either just run them as polished ally (in which case you will have to look after them very well and wash them about 5 times a week when they are salting the roads, like now!) or lacquer the whole lot with clear lacquer (after wet-or-drying the teardrops a bit to give them a key and clean all the cruddy brake dust deposits off). No masking to do - although it will be a lot easier if you take the tyres off the rims, which is a pain because you won't have anything to stand the car on!

They are so easy to do! I wish mine were - they are P-slots, and are much harder to do because I want to paint them, and I haven't yet worked out a reasonably non-time-consuming way of masking off the P's! Someone told me there used to be a VAG genuine template available, but if it was I don't think it is now! Any suggestions or tweaks welcome - I might even consider running them as polished (which would solve the masking problem) if anyone can tell me a way of avoiding the painted plastic centre cap looking silly against the polished ally.

Cheers - hope this helps - Alan (Teacher's Pet)

[888v]

mines done 115k and is runnin sweeter than ever they still need lots of TLC though

[shedman]

I bought mine (an 88f 8v) when it had 104K on the clock. Original plan was to run it for a bit and get a newer big bumper 16v. THere was a bit of rust here and there but it was pretty much ok mechanically. So I thrashed it around, let the body work slowly go, expecting it to last a few years.

The small bumper look gradually grew on me (specially when you've put some half decent alloys, the twin 5 spoke wolfrace 15'' suit it nicely), and the totally OTT magnex exhaust sounds lovley.

Despite rust now peeking from here and there, and liberal abuse with me  at the helm, the poor old dear is now at 299810 miles  (currently being serviced as I type - everything crossed )

The secret being regular servicing and watching oil consumption (sometimes I swear she was drinking more 10W40 than unleaded) and getting on top of small problems quickly. In fact knock on damage from parts going (such as the water pump, by the time I stopped the head gasket was shot) is the biggest worry.

Other things to watch out for are badgers, rover drivers, and fitting substandard replacement panels (which is where the majority of the rust is).

The only major problem I have is the embarrasment when a well looked after, clean and shiny MK2 hoves into view. Oh and being stopped by the police every 5 seconds for driving what looks at first glance like an old heap!

[mix]

Despite rust now peeking from here and there, and liberal abuse with me at the helm, the poor old dear is now at 299810 miles (currently being serviced as I type - everything crossed )

The secret being regular servicing and watching oil consumption (sometimes I swear she was drinking more 10W40 than unleaded) and getting on top of small problems quickly. In fact knock on damage from parts going (such as the water pump, by the time I stopped the head gasket was shot) is the biggest worry.

Bugger me, thats sh!t loads a miles, i though my brothers old q reg had one alot and the was on about 250k, take a picture when its just ticking over 300k!!!

I know what you mean about the oil tho, they just sometimes munch throigh gallons in wekks