Somethings Not right

[fidget]

Hi

Im new to the forum , only discovered it last night, and have a few questions.
I have a R reg 8v GTi thats done 72000 miles , when I brought it seemed to run fine , returned a decent mpg every thing fine . I recently serviced it and put on a new exhaust from the cat back ( just a standard one al-beit from quick fit ), fitted new rocker cover gasket and breather pipes . Now it just seems like its running rough , Im only getting 160 miles for £30 of fuel Im only doing short journeys but pre servicing it was better than this . I checked the distributor yessterday  and the cap and rotor were shot so have brought a new ones today, along with a new fuel pump relay as recommended by a bloke at work . When I accelerate it doesnt seem smooth but its not what I would call mis-firing . Its also developed a oil leak from between the block and the gearbox casing , obviously the new oil is thinner so maybe the leak was always there , any ideas? Im going to fit the dizzy parts , relay and clean the throttle body tomorrow but any other thoughts anyboddy has will be gratefully recieved.

thanks

James

[spunkymonkey]

If its only changed since the service and exhaust retrace your steps, check and double check everything. Maybe the breather pipes arent sealed right etc. Could be the wrong exhaust.

[fidget]

Ive got concerns bout the exhaust cause when I first dropped it off to have it fitted they had got the wrong middle pipe , when I dropped it off the second time it was a different chap who fitted it . For a standeard exhaust it does seem noisy . Getting her up on ramps tomorrow and going to have a good look , Heat shields also rattling aswell now  

[alexus1981]

thats why i take my car to a vw specialist!!! good luck is all i can say!!

[Rmachines]

get it on vag-com see what it brings up.

[fidget]

After a mornings toil in the sun , some of my woes seem to have been cured . I replaced the dizzy cap and rotor (which in all honesty was really shot to bits, the contacts in the cap were more carbon than brass). Disconnected the battery for an hour while I worked on her , cleaned the throttle body best I could in situ, replaced the O-ring on the breather pipe that goes into the block, replaced the fuel relay , tightened up the circle clamps on the heatshields , then replaced the rubbers on the exhaust cause the exhaust was resting on the brace at the end of the centre section (why quick fit didnt put on new rubbers I wil never know). p***ed neighbours when I re-connected the battery and the alarm went off and I couldnt find car keys to dis-arm, put splitter back on before reversing off ramps fortunatly me 4 year old stopped me before any damage done :embarassed:.
  For now she seems to be running much better went for a quick spin and seems much more responsive, MFA was up in the 30's after a short trip where as before I had to do a trip of about 8 miles to get it in the mid 20's  . still some noise from the heatshield but nowhere near as bad, think I might have come up with a cure for this tho , Ill let you know how I get on with this as its a bit Heath Robinson but I think it will work .
  Only thing that still eludes me is the oil leak but I want to get the engine cleaned first as I think Im still clearing up the fall out from the leaky rocker gasket.

James

[mattkh]

replaced the fuel relay.James

Hi
Glad you made the most of the dry weather. I need a favour. Can you post me the old fuel relay.

[fidget]

Just a up date to my poor running problem might be of use to some body

A local garage sourced the oil leak for me it was a duff rocker cover gasket the radiused part at the distributor end of the cover wasnt sealing at the back , got a new VAG one problem solved.
   Still using a lot of petrol and misfiring on idle and through the rev range thou , off sick from work yesterday and bored so went and checked me plugs to see if the were any signs of poor running, checked resistance of injectors all fine. I toyed with the idea of going to chelmsford to get some new plug leads and engine management relay . I just thought I would clean the earth wires for the injectors on the front of the block they werent especialy dirty or corroded but I did it any way. Hey presto misfire gone.
   A couple of 16v mk 3's I looked at before buying this one had misfire problems , one was at a garage in southend and the other was a private seller who was a volkswagon mechanic . Both these golfs had all the usual culprits replaced at great exspense but still the problem persisted . The problem on both these was duff earths for the injectors . The VW mechanic found this after connecting it to the diagnostics at his work , and the garage found out by accident.
    It might be coincidence but mine is running so much better and the misfire has definatly gone. Glad Im never bothered going to GSF and the Dealers first.

Hope its of some help to somebody but its worked for me

James

[jamie16v]

interesting stuff, my 16v seems a little lumpy on idle, not sure wether they are like that anyway but i am going to check out the earths you mentioned anyway..  cheers.

[fidget]

Jamie16v

Let us know how you get on , interesting to see if Im right or just deluded

Cheers

James