Just bought a mk3 gti '98 R

[totzo]

Hi folks,

I just bought a MK3 Golf gti 8v on an R reg with 130k on the clock last week. It's got mot till Feb 08 and seems pretty well looked after, fsh till 2 years ago. As with any used car I'm just finding all the problems and need some advice with how urgent they are to sort out. It looks from what I've seen on this forum like it's all common faults so far.

1: the abs light doesn't go out, (it was unplugged when I bought it, prev owner didn't say) I'm assuming this wasn't a problem for the mot though and the brakes are still nice and sharp. I've never owned a car with abs before so I don't know if it actually works or not!

2: reverse gear is missing a tooth, or so I'm told by a gearbox specialist. It makes a clicking noise when reversing but is fine in all other gears.

I'd like to know if I should get the gearbox sorted immediately or not? I was quoted £400 for a strip down and re-build and the guy said that if there's a broken tooth in there  it could screw up the rest if I don't get it seen to. Obviously having just forked out for the car I'm loath to throw loads more at it straight away if I can avoid it!

ta for any advice in advance 

[DubFan]

If a rebuild on the gbox is only £400, get it done now cos if it gets worse you'll be spending even more money on a new box (probably £800 or more).

When looking at a Mk3, the ABS light should come on briefly when starting the car, then go out, if so, then it's fine, if not then you have ABS problems, could be anything from a sensor to an ECU problem. Not nessesarily a cheap fix.

With my old Mk3 16v the ABS used to kick in sometimes when cornering heavily, coming in fast on the brakes (so that one wheel has less grip than the other) and it would beep to say it's kicked in.
If the light is on permanently I doubt the ABS will do anything at all.

[stomper]

In terms of the abs light, unplugging the light is the oldest trick in the book.

First off get the diagnostic's checked to see if there's any errors.

Could either be wheel sensors (not too bad) or pump.

I think the pump's gone on mine and i'm looking at £440 just for the part  

I've had a look and it should be an MOT failure if the light doesn't come on when starting up then go out after a few seconds.

Might not be picked up if the light doesn't work.

Don't know on the gearbox i'm afraid chap

[totzo]

ta guys, I'll get the gears done next week in that case. abs can wait for now me thinks!

[DubFan]

My N reg Polo 1.4 needed a new gearbox, VW said £1200 for the part    Mr Clutch said £750 for recon box, fitting and new clutch (easy time to replace as it's very little extra labour when you already have the box out).

As for the ABS, if you have a current MOT, then you'll be ok for a little while, but you may get caught out on the next MOT. It's one of those things, if the car has it, it should work.

[spankyVR6]

I got a recon box with a 24k miles/2 year guarantee for my VR6 last October and it cost me £550.

[monkeyalan]

In terms of the abs light, unplugging the light is the oldest trick in the book.

First off get the diagnostic's checked to see if there's any errors.

Could either be wheel sensors (not too bad) or pump.

I think the pump's gone on mine and i'm looking at £440 just for the part  

don't assume it's the pump just cos a diagnostic has said so.

I had this problem last year.
Fault code reader was saying it was the ABS pump but it turned out to be both front sensors.
Fortunatley the pump I replaced was a freebie so I didn't fork out £400 to find out it wasn't that in the first place.

totzo, sort the gearbox asap mate. The last thing you want are stray bits of metal rattling around in your gearbox.

[irmscher]

we have the same problem on my brother's MK3 p reg (142k miles)

We've had it since september 2006 and covered 2.5k miles without any problems (touch wood).  Obviously the noise isn't good but it only does it in reverse.

I'd save the cash and get the brakes done first.  I found a local gearbox specialist in Dewsbury/Batley that said if it's just the reverse gear then a fix was around £115 plus cost of removing the box.  Probably a good idea to do the clutch at the same time..

As you've just bought the car, i'd run it a little while and see how you get on with it.  Unless you got it pretty cheap, it might be a false economy spending so much on it.

[totzo]

Hi again,

I got myself a cable and the shareware vag-com program, what a find! Anyway, it's complaining about being unregistered but comes up with 2 fault codes for my abs.

1 00285 (program tells me this is the front offside sensor)

2 00287 (program tells me to go and buy the registered version, looked it up on gendan, rear offside sensor)

Can anyone tell me what the best course of action would be now?

The good thing is it comes up with no faults on the engine.

But, it's just started the (common I'm told) cold start issue, ie. it needs throttle to start, idles too slow, needs revs to keep going  and sounds rough. Once warmed up (2 or 3 minutes) it runs fine though. Any suggestions?

 

[boneybradley]

Try this link for mk3 engine problem's   http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=52692.msg412285#msg412285

and It could be worth taking the sensor's off and giving them a little clean up (as I have found they can get full of all kind's of road shi7e) and my fault code disappeared after cleaning and my abs work's correctly