1996 golf cl automatic 80k miles poor acceleration and other stuff

[Jasikasisback]

I bought this car used. Managed to get the price down to £250 with over 140 worth of road tax and mot and a 3/4 tank of petrol. I knew if it was going this cheap that something is not right. Anyways I noted that the oil dipstick was melted and it had poor acceleration. The front left side of the dash was not lit all the time so I noticed that the tailight is out and changed it. Now the left side of the dash is permanently not lit. The car will reach a speed of 100mph( didn't try any faster) and it doesn't even judder at this speed. Handles real well. At this speed it is reving at about 4000rpm. It revs at 2200rpm when going 50mph. I can not redline the car even if I stomp on the accelerator when it is in gear. In neutral it revs ok and can redline. At around 55 mph it makes a groaning moaning noise which disappears at 60mph. This is present on deacceleration at the same speeds as well. The car has another problem that is lurches into first from standstill until the car warms up. This doesn't happen that often but does happen. Feul economy I'd alright on the motorway about 7l/100km at 50 mph. But will use the same amount of petrol for 40miles for stop and go city driving. Starts on first crank every time. Never owned a vw before, as usually owned fords and gms in the past.
Maybe someone knows what the fault could be? Looks like the previous owner may have overheated the engine, although the temp guage never runs hot. Engine not hot after driving. Sometimes revs will increase if I pump the accelerator lightly. Any ideas anyone? 

[danny_p]

what  engine  ?  at a guess id say it's a 75 or 90 bhp 1.8 8v with singel point injection

the 75 bhp is poor in the accseloration department anyway, 90 is a bit better but still slow. 

give it a good service incudeing changeing the ATF that may help it  but they'll never redline in drive anyway  if you manualy shift it it should rev out,  but revving an 8valve out is not the fastest way to drive them anyway .

but as you said what you payed for it it's going to have a few gremlins,   250 fir a car with 140 quids worth of tax and £50 of fuel in the tank it the car itself only cost you £60  so you can't loose even if weigh it in

[Jasikasisback]

55kw -75bhp 1.781litres. The tranny is sealed shut , no dipstick. Probably never would have bought if I had known this. Real complicated to service at home. It's a real guzzler for fuel. Commuting with the train to work is cheaper. Oh well. Methinks I will drive it until it dies or the mot runs out. By the way does the back wiper need to work to pass the mot? I think back wipers are pretty useless for aiding in driving. I've seen posts on how to change the tranny fluid but methinks that it is not worth doing as the car cost me only £60 quid. But any possible cheap fixes would be welcomed.Hope it will last until august as I put 250 miles on it per week! Will keep my fingers crossed.

[danny_p]

nasty engine, nasty gearbox in  a nasty shell.  just rag the tits off it. that may well sort it out once its got hot a few times.

[Jasikasisback]

Maybe one of the hoses on the car is faulty? MAF maybe need a good clean? I'll put in picks of the engine sometime in the next couple of days. That might make things more interesting.

[danny_p]

if you think the engine / fuelsysystem  is playing up it's probably best to ask in the mk3 section  may find someone that knows about SPI in there i know littel about the finer details of them as never done anythign with them other than the odd hedagasket or cambelt and service for other people

[Jasikasisback]

With the price of fuel going up every day I doubt I will be driving muchh. I'll probably bike to work from now on.  Just a sad reality of life. But will keep commuting until prices hit £1.50/l. I doubt I'll spend anything on this car, except oil change and just hope it keeps going. I remember ten years ago no one cared how much a tank of petrol cost. How things have changed. I will try the mk3 thread. Thanks for your advice.