warning to all mk2 golf owners!

[Sgt_Lemon]

I have no idea where to jack from. The car is too low to jack easy but I try to use a bit of wood on the chassis rail. It's abit squished now but it passed an mot.

[kittie]

My emergency jack (looked to have never been used) worked in an emergency!

This was after losing all brakes on a dodgy Irish backroad at Christmas with no garages open and like 50km from anything resembling a town. Fun times.

I think the warning to mk2 owners should be : warning, it's a mk2!

[Yanny]

the standard jack is awfull.

[gazareth]

My emergency jack (looked to have never been used) worked in an emergency!

This was after losing all brakes on a dodgy Irish backroad at Christmas with no garages open and like 50km from anything resembling a town. Fun times.

I think the warning to mk2 owners should be : warning, it's a mk2!

no there should be a sticker on the dash saying "warning kittie! if you do not service your car it will eventually breakdown on you"

[kittie]

My emergency jack (looked to have never been used) worked in an emergency!

This was after losing all brakes on a dodgy Irish backroad at Christmas with no garages open and like 50km from anything resembling a town. Fun times.

I think the warning to mk2 owners should be : warning, it's a mk2!

no there should be a sticker on the dash saying "warning kittie! if you do not service your car it will eventually breakdown on you"

  It was a combination of failures - rear bumpstops knackered which coupled with bouncy Irish roads caused the suspension to travel all the way, plus a rear brake line had come uncoupled somehow and had ended up in a position it shouldn't have been, and it got squashed and cut by the body of the car loosing the fluid.

Luckily managed to find a garage who could whack in a replacement bit of solid line as a temp fix, and got my other half to put new bumpstops on when we got home (on the drive in the freezing cold bless him!)

[mf44]

The egg cup like points under the car are for lifting on a 2 post ramp only, they will not take the weight of the car, unless all four are used together.

Thom

Sorry but that's not correct - those egg cups at the front are the official points for lifting by a trolley jack (as well as a ramp) - see the owners manual. I do agree though only use them if they are solid, nowadays a lot aren't!

[Thom89]

The egg cup like points under the car are for lifting on a 2 post ramp only, they will not take the weight of the car, unless all four are used together.

Thom

Sorry but that's not correct - those egg cups at the front are the official points for lifting by a trolley jack (as well as a ramp) - see the owners manual. I do agree though only use them if they are solid, nowadays a lot aren't!

Regardless of what it says in the handbook (which I am aware of) the cups on the front should never be used as a single jacking point, they simply are not up to the job of lifting the weight of the car singularly, rotten or not, the floor and/or the cup will simply collapse... my above statement was "advice" for the benefit of anyone that was unclear on this subject, and not a verbatim quote.

To clarify,  if using a trolly jack, under the front, then use the sill lower edges, (as if you were jacking with the jack thats in the boot) and a block of softwood to help prevent damage.
When jacking the rear, place the trolly jack under the body mounting for the rear axle, making sure not to trap the handbrake cable...
Always chock the wheels, and get on axle stands asap...

Thom

[X4MGS]

The egg cup like points under the car are for lifting on a 2 post ramp only, they will not take the weight of the car, unless all four are used together.

Thom

Sorry but that's not correct - those egg cups at the front are the official points for lifting by a trolley jack (as well as a ramp) - see the owners manual. I do agree though only use them if they are solid, nowadays a lot aren't!

Regardless of what it says in the handbook (which I am aware of) the cups on the front should never be used as a single jacking point, they simply are not up to the job of lifting the weight of the car singularly, rotten or not, the floor and/or the cup will simply collapse... my above statement was "advice" for the benefit of anyone that was unclear on this subject, and not a verbatim quote.

To clarify,  if using a trolly jack, under the front, then use the sill lower edges, (as if you were jacking with the jack thats in the boot) and a block of softwood to help prevent damage.
When jacking the rear, place the trolly jack under the body mounting for the rear axle, making sure not to trap the handbrake cable...
Always chock the wheels, and get on axle stands asap...

Thom

+ 100% + 10

I only jack 'em up on the Front subframe & rear axle to make sure the jack don't go through the floor!!

The manual was written 25 years ago and they never expected the cars would last this long - so you have to use "Common Sense" when jacking them up!!!

[JMallows]

Always chock the wheels, and get on axle stands asap...

Thom

This might be obvious but i cant see it... If you jack the car up using the sill (trolley jack), but your meant to put axle stands on asap, where do the axle stands go, i thought they went on the sills?

[Thom89]

Always chock the wheels, and get on axle stands asap...

Thom

This might be obvious but i cant see it... If you jack the car up using the sill (trolley jack), but your meant to put axle stands on asap, where do the axle stands go, i thought they went on the sills?

Good point
On the front, they need to go under the chassis legs... thats about where your feet would go if you were sitting in the front seat, if that makes sense, and again, I'd avoid using the cups on the floor...
Axle stands on the rear, can be placed under the rear sill edge, or placed under the body mounting points for the rear axle, but it largely depends on what you're going to doing under the car
Its also never a good idea to jack up just one area of the car and leave it in the air for a prolonged time, this will put adverse strain on the bodyshell, and can be evident by opening one of the doors, and finding it no longer fits properly! Though the shell should return to its proper shape when placed on the ground again
Extra care should also be taken when extensive welding repairs are carried out, as the shell must be supported correctly, to ensure alignment stays true... but thats another story

Thom