Just to wrap this up, the Golf has been great fun since I fixed it earlier in the year - today it went to new owner who is very happy (I delivered it 20 Kms to him - he gave me a lift home and loved driving it).
Knowledge base info: it is possible to fit an 8"6' surfboard inside (passenger seat laid back, surfboard from the footwell to the tailgate glass). Photo from yesterday at a nearby lagoon with an 11" inflatable stand-up paddle board.
Many thanks for all the good advice and help from the forum, have fun and enjoy what you do
The Golf passed MOT inspection yesterday, 1 minor advisory about a faded EU logo on the numberplate - I'll survive
A joblot of service parts and "bits to fix niggles" have been fitted (cambelt & waterpump, plugs and filters, tailgate struts, lock set ...) and it's a lot nicer to drive now. Wheels were painted before the MOT just to smarten things up a bit and it's worked. The next job is a few more "fix it" parts from AutoDoc, and maybe to remove the headliner and replace or reglue the headlining.
A few folk have mentioned it's worth renewing the gearchange linkages to improve the feel, does anyone have any advice? Seat runners are also needed, both front seats have a lot of slack on the runners so I guess one of the random white nylon bits I found in the boot was originally part of the seat mechanism. What do I need / how does it fit? The high pressure sensor (connected to the "over 2k rpm" alarm) has been bypassed so I guess the sensor is dead, any advice about selecting replacements for both oil pressure sensors?
Now it's just a case of having fun driving it ... I have noticed the cruising speed is creeping nicely up as it gets a few miles on it, I guess as various cobwebs get blown out of the engine
When the head was off to replace the headgasket I took the opportunity to clean under the bonnet and it's come up great
Things are going well today, the car had it's first proper run out, no big faults found and it drives very smoothly
The list of niggles is growing which is no surprise, today it's often cut out when I come to a junction - other times the tickover is nice - some investigation needed. I lifted the top off the aircleaner and the choke is off so that looks like it's working ok.
Things are going well. Today was the first proper run out, no big faults found and it drives very smoothly I called into the local mechanic and have ordered a couple of new tyres to be fitted on Monday, when it's there he'll check the car over for it's IPO/MOT in a couple of weeks time.
Exciting times !
The list of niggles is growing, today it's often cut out when I come to a junction - other times the tickover is nice - some investigation needed. I lifted the top off the aircleaner and the choke is off so that looks like it's working ok. Quick checks showed the blower motor is siezed (which is why it's popping fuses) and the heater matrix seems to be blocked (no heat through the bukhead pipes, and I had a quick attempt at blowing water through the matrix using a gentle hosepipe but no joy). Also found a very small water leak from a perished engine hose after the drive so that's the next job.
I ordered a joblot of service parts from AutoDoc.PT a couple of days ago thinking it might be quicker than ordering from the main AutoDoc.DE website, yesterday I got a tracking update to say the goods had been shipped - from Germany and were on their way to Portugal via Spain. I now know it's not a lot quicker ordering on the local Portugese website
Thanks everyone and apologies for the slow reply - I missed your comments. Will recheck my settings so I get notifications in future
The good news is the car is now up and running happily with a new headgasket.
Headbolts for info, I'm working away from home so had to buy a set of 12-spline sockets, and a torque wrench - the most expensive part of the job. Everything I have read says these are stretch bolts so they were replaced the torqued 40 then 60 then 180 degrees. No problems but I was nervous on the final tightening
When the head was off I took the opportunity to clean under the bonnet and it's come up great
The gearchange was difficult when I bought it so I spent some time realigning the shift rod, it's now 90% there, just need to tune the fore/aft position slightly.
The next few problems : When I'm driving I often get a buzzing from somewhere behind the instrument cluster, I stripped the dash out last night and will try to find the noise in daylight. I suspect it's had different clocks fitted as there are a couple of home-made bits of wiring, and it has a rev counter which I wasn't expecting on a base model. Is there a known fix for badly wired instrument clusters that "buzz"
The blower is popping it's 20A fuse when I turn it on, I've checked and the wiring is ok so the fault is inside the blower motor. Any suggestions?
The wind deflector for the sliding sunroof goes up ok but jams when you close the roof unless you go outside and press the deflector down by hand. The problem is the pins on the lightweight arms at either side of the deflctor are worn, is there a fix / cheap easy source of replacements ?
Yesterday I bought a poorly 1.3 Golf, a non-starter with a blown headgasket. It was delivered mid-morning, The good news was it comes with tax, insurance, and 1 months IPO (MOT) remaining - and they all transfer to the new owner here in Portugal By noon it was up and running and drove nicely on a very short test drive. It took a couple of hours going around the local tool shops trying to buy a 12 point socket for the headbolts, once I had that the head was off in less than an hour. I looks like the gasket blew due to very loose headbolts (do stretch bolts relax over time ?) so it should be an easy fix (famous last words)
I’m looking after a mates place in Portugal and decided it was time to get some transport. This very original 1.3 got delivered today as non-running project.
Due to the way admin works in Portugal the tax, insurance and IPO (mot) get transferred to the new owner - so it’s legal for another month !
It took less than an hour to check it over and get it running, a quick test drive found lots of minor niggles but no big faults - apart from a blowing head gasket that the seller had warned me about.
2 hours spent shopping for a VW12 point socket for the head bolts then an hour to stop the head off and I found the problem - and headbolts not much more than finger tight !
I’ll be ordering a new cambelt, headgasket & headbolts tomorrow.
Before I put things back together, is there an online workshop manual anywhere? Any idea what torque settings are for the headbolts? I can find lots of info about 1.8s / 2.0s but very little about my 1300.
Also, is there a way to upload photos or should I upload them somewhere else then link them here?
