The joy of running a 1989 Volkswagen Golf Mark2 1.8 GTI 16V. All the experiences running an iconic 80s car as a daily vehicle. The VW Golf Mk2 was introduced in 1984 and my 1989 16V GTi model was released just before the "big bumper" revisions which were sold from late 1989.
The original scuttle covers in the MK2 Golf were made of flimsy plastic. These were changed from around 1990 onwards to a more robust hard plastic so I decided to replace mine with one of these as the scuttle protects the ECU and the heater motor from water coming in.
The hard plastic scuttle covers are no longer available from VW but I managed to pick a secondhand one up from a VW forum which was in excellent condition.
I took the Golf for it's annual MOT today and it passed first time! I shouldn't have been surprised with the amount of work that we've done on it over the last year some of which was to rectify all the advisory points on the last MOT.
The car has now done 179,000 miles, from previous MOTs that's only 9,000 in the last 3 years.
When you look at the list of work done all the main MOT items have been covered so the car should have been in a good state for the MOT, as it obviously was!
New brake discs and pads all round
New suspension all round (springs, shocks and top mounts)
I've thought for some time that the radiator fan on my VW Golf Mk2 GTI 16V didn't seem to be cutting in when the car had warmed up but as most journeys I do are on the motorway it's not been too apparent.
When driving in town recently I found that the fan is definitely not coming on and the car does start to overheat if driven in traffic. I needed to check if the fan motor had broken or if it was just the thermostat switch that needed replacing.
Fortunately it's an easy test to do, all you need to check is that when you remove the plug to the radiator and connect the two terminals the fan comes on. This is the same as if the switch was working and turning on if the radiator gets hot. Luckily the fan did work when the terminals were connected so next on my purchase list is a new radiator cooling fan switch which is much cheaper than a new fan motor!
When checking the engine on my Golf 16V I noticed that the injectors seemed to be quite loose in their mountings. I've bought some new seals for them so my next job was to remove the Injectors for the Seal Replacement. As usual B&B Conmponents on Ebay were the supplier I used for the seals, they seem to stock most Golf parts and deliver very quickly.
How to Fit Golf 16V Injector Rubber Seal Replacement
As you can see in the above photos there are 2 different types of seal, the small thinner ones fit near the injector nozzle end and the fatter ones further up the injector.
The injectors just unplug and when I removed the first injector I found that only one seal was actually present (there should be two, a large and a smaller one) and even that one was badly perished and distorted.
Old worn rubber seal from 16V Golf GTI
Once removed it was then possible to fit the new larger seal. This is a VERY tight fit over the injector and takes a lot of pushing to get it in place.
Once fitted the seal needs to be pushed into place along the injector body.
Video showing how to remove injectors and replace the seals
I bought a set of BBS alloy wheels for my VW Golf GTI 16V late last year and since then they've been sitting in my shed. I've finally got round to doing something with them and today dropped them off to Lepsons to be refurbished. Lepsons are based in Gillingham so very convenient but deal with alloy repairs and refurb for customers across the UK.
VW Golf BBS Alloy Wheels Before Refurbishment
I've decided to only get 2 wheels done so far as the other 2 look in much better condition. They may look far worse when compared to the refurbished ones I get back!
VW Golf BBS Alloy Wheel Before Refurbishment
The BBS wheels were available as standard on some MK2 Golfs and you can see the VW logo stamped onto the wheels.
I'm looking forward to seeing how they look once returned - not looking forward so much to the bill which will be around £144 plus VAT.
One of the advisories on the last MOT for the car was that the bump stops were deteriorated. When we took the suspension apart to replace the shocks and springs it became apparent exactly how bad this was. Amazing that this is just an advisory, I can only assume to fail they would have had to be totally missing.
MOT Fail Bump Stops Deteriorated
These are photos of the bump stops from my VW Golf that had an MOT Advisory Bump Stops Deteriorated
Over the last few days my VW Golf GTI 16V has started to rev much higher than normal at idle or in traffic so rather than 1000rpm it can jump to 2000rpm or more.
Interestingly a problem that I'd had with the idle not holding when the engine was cold for the first 30 seconds or so has now resolved itself so I'm guessing the two are linked.
I've disconnected the ISV (Idle Stabilisation Valve) and the engine now idles correctly when warm - but still struggles when cold first thing.
Looks like more investigation needed this weekend!
When I bought my VW Golf GTI 16V the rev counter intermittently stopped working along with the MFA display. It appeared to be some sort of electrical connection problem with the dash module but there was no apparent damage to the circuit board at the rear of the clocks.
Eventually the rev counter and MFA stopped working completely so I managed to source a replacement from Ebay as many of my Golf related purchases are!
There is an excellent YouTube video by Richard Dane showing how to separate the speedo from the rev counter so you can swap the original speedo into the replacement unit and retain the correct mileage for your car. The series of 5 videos linked below will show you how to remove the speedo and replace it with the one from your existing car to keep mileage correct.
When I got the bottle top wheels for my MK2 Golf only one of the centre caps was in a decent condition, all the rest were scratched and peeling so another job I've had on the list has been to clean and repaint them. With the better weather today seemed an ideal opportunity.
After a delayed start due to the first spray can being defective I managed to get them rubbed down and several coats of paint applied.
