Nigel's GTI - The tale of the jumpy throttle continues...

[Verity]

...well, one of my bulbs didn't look right tonight. Had a look and it was out of it's 'seat' in the projector. Fiddled at it to get it back in and "snap!!"

Whatever it is that holds the headlights at the desired height setting is now gone. Flapping about freely inside the casing.

I can't do anything right

Ouch! Sorry to hear about that, damn headlight adjusters. Crappy little plastic bit. Both mine went on my polo, when the boyfriend owned it. Just had to tape the lights in place for A desired height. But I ended up buying all new light units

[nigelelliott394]

Where was the tape placed at if you don't mind me asking Verity? (I know that's not the easiest question to answer) I may have to do the same

[Verity]

He used tape from the top of the headlight down to the bottom, pulled tight, sticking the ballast in place in the middle of the tape. He also used glue to actually stick the ballast to the tape, so it was nice and stick in place.
It wasn't visible (unless looking for it) and as he got the allinment just right when doing it, it sailed thru 2 MOTs fine!! (Wasn't until I brought that car that a week before the tape gave way, I didn't do anything about it and the car failed so I brought new lights. )

Hope tht makes sense! Let me know if not and I'll try and explain myself better

[joe2612]

If you get yourself a 'donor' headlight from any 6n2, you can use the inards of that to replace your plastic clips.

I broke mine a few months back, however they still seem to adjust ok

[nigelelliott394]

Joe, I thought that was surely just for the electric motor that adjusts the headlight rather than the vertical and horizontal manual adjustment?

However... If I can replace the clips using another (standard) headlight unit then you may have just saved me the £200+ for a new headlight I may have had to pay for the MOT.

[nigelelliott394]

There's always something...

Today my car went in for some work for the MOT. Had new discs and pads all round, an oil change and filter and I got a new clutch cable along with a gearbox oil change while it was in. Everything that was done has improved the car. The clutch no longer sticks and jumps about, the gearbox is completely silent when changing gear and feels like there's actually oil in it now. The brakes work a hell of a lot better than they used to and presumably the oil is doing it's job too.

Everything's great right? Well, no. It sounds like a diesel at low revs. Nearly like the exhaust is blown out and mostly noticeable when decelerating. At first I thought "Great! Gearbox again!" but when you take it out of gear all together and give the throttle a wee blip you can hear it then.

I popped the bonnet and got a mate to give it a wee blip while I looked for something to jump out at me and it sounded really rough!! Other symptoms include a lack of response in the engine and very poor MPG. I'm thinking it's not firing on all cylinders again maybe?

To be honest, I have no idea what it could be. I scared myself googling it and seeing some guys refer to it as the 'cambelt death rattle' but I'm pretty sure mine doesn't need replacing yet. It's really disheartening. I'm just losing love for this car every time I get in to it and I'm not really interested in spending anymore money on it (even though I'll probably have to).

Any ideas?

[Verity]

Urgh! Sorry to hear about the problem,these cars are hard work arnt they
I hope you sort it soon and get some love back for the car

[nigelelliott394]

They really are Verity. I guess it's just the age of them. This noise hasn't got any worse in the last 250 miles and only seems to happen when the engine is warm and has had a run. Maybe just the exhaust blowing ever so slightly or maybe even just rattling in its mounts.

Hopefully I'll get some love back for it soon.

[nigelelliott394]

So maybe 1000 miles later and the noise hasn't got any worse. It's still there and no other symptoms. I think it's just something rattling or blowing. The exhaust system somewhere?

Anyway, enough about that. I don't want to get hung up on all the niggles my car has or else I'll just get down about it.

I took my speaker out of the passenger side this evening to have a look at it. Even a slight bit of bass was sounding like a bumble bee and causing a bit of rattling.



I taped it up first as a temporary repair and it was working just fine. However, having heard the passenger side now working properly it's just highlighted how bad the drivers side is too! Doh!

I brought the speaker back out of the door after a quick test and decided to glue it up as I was worried the tape wouldn't stay stuck.

Tomorrow evening I hope to repair the driver side and then I'll maybe consider replacing the door handles & inserts. They're looking a bit shabby.

[Verity]

Good to Hear the odd sound hasnt got any worse. i hope its a simple fix for you!
Hows things gone with fixing the other speaker?

[nigelelliott394]

Last night I removed the engine cover to clean the throttle body....... Guess what the sound was. Engine cover was a bit loose and vibrating (insert slightly embarrassed face).

Cleaning the throttle body has smoothed out the running of the engine a little but it's still a bit jumpy sometimes. Lifting off the accelerator is sometimes like hitting the brakes.

However, yes, the speakers.... Both are repaired and working much better. No more buzz that was causing things to rattle about. Pleased with that

[Verity]

Good stuff!!! Seriously pleased for you that it was an easy fix!! On the odd noise. And the speakers are all good again!

[Endi_GTI]

Glad you found the problem dude. Let the happy motering continue

[nigelelliott394]

Nothing too exciting... just a picture of some beading I had after giving the car a good going over the other day.

Washed using 2 bucket method
Polished using Autoglym SRP
Glazed using Poor Boys Black Hole
Sealed using Autoglym EGP

I have some Aqua Wax and Hi Def wax I could maybe add to the top of that for extra protection. Maybe gonna get some more RainX tonight because I seriously miss it and then get all the nooks and crannies I missed polished and sealed up (the inner parts of the doors/boot)

[joe2612]

I havan't washed mine in almost 3 weeks the weather is just too horrendous.