1995 Golf GTI 8V (87K) - HELP, HELP, HELP

[charri42]

The economy on the 8 valve is hopeless when you consider the limited performance.

You'll do well to average mid 30's overall - I could eek mine to high 30's on a long wafting trip cruising at 50-55, but as soon as you hit traffic, it'll head back to 30mpg. And my GTi ran perfectly with none of the associated idling faults

Contrast that with my trusty old rusty TDi 90 (mk3) - I've done 235 miles when it reaches 3 quarters and no matter how hard I drive it, I can't get it less than 56mpg over a tankful. Oh - and unless you thrash the Gti, the TDi is actually quicker.

I now have a new Boxster 2.7, and I'm averaging 30.5 mpg - or 1.5 worse than my GTi and I give the porker more welly. Our old Boxster often returned 36mpg on a non thrashed trip.

Economy isn't the 8 valve's strong point - why on earth they reintroduced it to AUdi / VW / Seat is beyond me. It must have been a purely financial decision - or they didn't have sufficient capacity at the 20v engine plant.

The upside of the 8 valve is nippy performance at low revs (it feels like it gonna be quick till 3000 revs!) it makes quite a nice rorty noise and they are pretty damn reliable - after all it is a 20+ years old design.

I think we'd enjoy the car much more if the MFA was disconnected - I've found that with all my cars, the presence of an MFA guage tends to bring the Granny out in me!

[achilles130]

Hi All,

Since i got my last problems fixed, i have now encountered a strange noise comming from the engine area! ARGHHH!

When i start the car in the mornings it is fine and sounds okay. Its just after driving (when its stationary and engine is running) there is a strange sort of rattling/hissing noise comming from the cambelt/pully/belts area? (and the cambelt was changed about 500miles ago!

At first i thought there may be a whole in the manifold? How do i check that? But when opening the hood and reving the engine slightly it really looks as though the rattling/hissing noise is comming from that area.

I hope you guys can shed some light on the matter just as you provided the vital info previously for my other problems.  :embarassed:

[Andeh]

Check the heatshield.

 

[achilles130]

Hi All,

After reading some of the forums and finding people describing some of the symptoms my car has had i decided to go to VW this morning to get a fresh ECU relay!

There was a slight hising noise comming from the cambelt/tensioner area and the engine was running a little lumpy! I have to be honestand say that i didnt think that this would make a difference but i have to sincerly admit that the car is running smoother! 

The car is idling/ruuning and sounds smoother than ever (loving it). When speaking to the VW guy he also said that the rattling noise may be your heatshield so after replacing the ecu i drove down to my local tyre centre and they placed the car on the ramp, had a look and said that the heatshield is a little loose! I believe the heatshield was on the downpipe and he secured it with some jublee clips!

I have to say by replacing the ecu relay really has done wonders! And all credit goes to this forum as without it i would have never known about the ecu relay! (the gremlin).

Can someone tell me what exactly the ecu relay does and how it operates?

[Andeh]

*cough - cough*