8v starting trouble

[Gem]

Yet another post on starting troubles 

Had to get the AA out last week as been having a few problems starting compounded by a duff battery.  Called out the AA cos whilst trying to turn her over the battery had died on me and although i had jump leads on me I was in a public car park and didn't want to ask some passer by to give me a jump start.

The AA guy came out and basically said I had a few minor things that together were causing a bigger problem.  He said the car is overdue for a service, needs dizzy, plugs, leads and rotor arm.  He cleaned up the carbon inside the dizzy but noticed one of me leads is very loose on the plug so maybe not providing much of a seal.  Also, seems there's some pipework missing running from the airbox to the exhaust, he said this would be causing some of the trouble.  The other thing is my timing is out and she's running rich so if you're not careful she floods before she even starts!  Ran a battery check and said battery was OK but I find that hard to believe as if the car isn't run everyday the battery will be flat on it.

I'm managing to start OK so far (touch wood) by taking the battery off every night and charging it up, then when I turn the key not touching the throttle until it tries to fire up and then blipping it a bit to get her fired up.  Can take a good few cranks of the engine, but knowing the battery seems duff I only turn the key once and keep it going til she starts to fire.

My questions are, what is the part name for the pipework that's missing, any idea on cost of it and is it important to starting the car?  Also, am I best getting proper VAG parts or are blueprints OK from the likes of German & Swedish?  Although the battery test came back OK, I am convinced it's duff but is it likely to be alternator?  There is no battery warning light other than the usual at start up and I can run the car for 30 - 40 minutes drive home, with lights on, and the charge doesn't seem to drop on the voltmeter.  Given it seems to go flat when left too long surely it's not holding it's charge as opposed to not getting enough charge?

Sure you're all sick of starting trouble q's at the mo, but as I'm a newbie I'd be grateful for some advice 

[Gambit]

welcome aboard everybody has to start somewhere and thats what the likes of these boards are for! so dont be scared to ask a question, even if its the simplest of things!!

the pipe missing of the airbox is not required. i assume its the one coming out of the rear of the airbox? this is simply to help the engine heat up that bit quicker by taking hot air of the manifold. it will not be linked to your starting problem!

as for your battery/alternator problems. if the alternator is not charging then the red light will glow on your dash. but the alternator cannot charge a duff battery. what is the battery rating when the car isnt running? try and get a lend of a good battery off a mate or something, just to test to see does it make a difference

defo get the car a good service. especailly as you've only bought it. where abouts are you from? im sure there will be somebody off here who will point you to a good garage in your area. do not be using main dealers for servicing!!

as for parts, generally Euro Car Parts & German Swedish French are grand for parts - though they usually stock a cheaper aswell as slightly more expensive version of the same part. as a rule i usually go for the slightly dearer brand name part.

Craig

[Volkswagavin]

Gambit, you beat me to it....so just to echo Gambit's post...

Does sound like your battery has seen better days - its charging up ok with the alternator, but its not holding its charge very long - may need topping up with ionised water at the very least.

You may be missing a pre-heater hose which goes from the airbox to the exhaust manifold, but I wouldn't have thought this would cause starting problems as passes heat from the exhaust to the airbox, if you are starting it up in the morning there won't be any heat!  The hose costs a couple of quid from any good parts shop.

My advice is to book her in for a well-needed service, get the timing and emissions checked at the same time.  Also, a bit of reddex in the fuel tank every now and again wouldn't go amiss.  Mine has been playing up lately with what appears to be fuel starvation - a bit of reddex should hopefully keep the juice flowing.

I've never been tremendously impressed with the parts I've bought at GSF, though they are cheap - get what you pay for I guess.

[Gem]

Cool, thanks for the reply.  Least I know now that the pipe can be disregarded for the time being and I just need to concentrate on a service and getting the timing sorted so it's not over fuelling so much.

The battery light is never on and I'm fairly certain it stays at around 12v, goes to just under 15v whilst dirving.  I think it's getting charge just not holding it over a long period of time.  Yesterday I put the battery back on in the morning after charging it overnight, and when I took it off last night it was pretty much on full charge anyway.  This was within an hour or so of driving it home.  I might be wrong here, cos I ain't no mechanic, but I would have thought if it was the alternator, having driven for 30 - 40 minutes with lights on, there wouldn't be much charge left in the battery if it wasn't getting any?

[takethefifth]

I would agree with you there, and plus the fact that the volts go up to just under 15 when driving tells me the alternator is definately doing something.

Battery and service! Sorted.

[Gem]

Cheers.  Feeling more confident now that it's just a simple servicing thing and I haven't got some expensive problem to resolve on my £400 car.  Especially since I told the other half it would be a reliable car to run and cheaper than the MR2 

Any ideas on if it's costly to resolve the timing issue?  She's running too rich and over fuelling and can flood herself if I'm not careful!

[Gambit]

get it serviced and ask them to look at the timing & mixture along with it. look for decent garage that knows there way about a mk2 8v

[Gem]

Cheers.

I've just found out there's one my way called Designadubs, it was listed in the Good Guys section. I'm thinking of giving them a try, however, their servicing starts at £125 + VAT which I thought a bit on the expensive side.  For your basic service I'd have expected round the £100 mark and this'll be near as damnit £150 with the VAT on top.  Maybe it's worth taking it there for this service and to get the timing sorted out, but maybe not all the time for a basic service.

I'm a bit wary of garages, I've had a few in the past try and rip me off cos I'm a girl, but lcukily I'm fairly clued up or know where to find out if they are spinning me a line!  Puts me off though and makes me very dubious for trying out a new place unless they're recommended to me.

[Gambit]

it'd probably be worth paying that bit extra first time around to have it serviced by someone who know's what they are doing, that way you know your car has been setup correctly.

then after that, any old reputable garage will do for basic servicing!!

[rubjonny]

visit http://www.vwspares.co.uk, cheaper parts than GSF and their website is much easier to understand.  Do the dizzy cap, arm & leads yourself its dead easy, then get a garage to set the timing up properly.

Dizzy is held on with 2 clips, remove it then you'll see the rotor arm.  Pull this off and swap the new one on 1st.  Next fit the new dizzy cap, it will only fit one way round, if you look at the bottom of it there is a big notch that lines up with the housing.  Then simply line up the old dizzy the same way as the new one and swap the leads one at a time so you don't get em mixed up, dead easy

Last of all replace the plugs, again 1 at a time so you don't mix up the leads.  You'll need a proper spark plug socket to get em out, and dont do em up too tight, just nip em up.  If you have a torque wrench even better, just look up the wrench setting in the Haynes!  I don't bother though, I just do em up pretty tight, but not mega tight

One thing to note on the sparkies is they have a little 'nipple' on the top that screws on/off.  Some leads need the nipple on, some need it off.  Proper VW type cables need the nipple unscrewed

Edit: Designadubs is quite close to me, so if you live anywhere near Bracknell let me know and I'll give you a hand if you like