Timing 8v TSR 2.0 - No start saga - Head removed - *FIXED*

The whole loom was wrapped in cheapo electrical tape lol.

Unfortunately I cant get to the scrappers to source a mk3 battery cable, there's some on ebay but I was thinking about just picking one of these up when I go to pick up some supplies later, I have measured the +ve cable and it's around 760mm. Do you think it'll be ok?

For the mk3 earth mod then, is it just a matter of removing the existing short wire from the lead and replacing it with some heavy wire that reaches to the stud behind the battery?

 

No worries RJ I have ordered a mk3 set off ebay, saves messing about and I'll just use some new starter cable to earth the battery to the stud.

Got some new wire for that hall sender wire, I'll take out as much as I can as it looks really grotty. My plan it to repair all the bad bits with either new wire and / or soldered joints with heat shrink sleeving to cover the bare wire and I have bought some adhesive wiring loom tape to tape all the loom back up properly

Also bought new cable and ring terminals for the thick red wire that goes from alternator to the starter as well so once done should rule out any wiring problems hopefully.


You know the -ve off the mk3 can I remove the stud wire from the terminal by unscrewing it or are they crimped on?

 

After reading this thread all the way through i cant help thinking the timing is still out somewhere
I realise the wiring issues are not helping much but the car ran before you took the cam belt off
Did you turn the engine over a few times after fitting the belt and check the marks all lined up again after

I think you have the old "cant see the wood for the trees " issue, delving too deep and not going over things you have changed
Check again : No1 plug out , long screwdriver to check TDC, check No1 cam lobes are in the position |\ /|, check the Rotor is pointing to the small cut in the right rear area of dizzy housing, check that the dizzy cap has No1 Lead on that position and the firing order from there is 1-3-4-2 Going Clockwise

I dont mean to teach you to suck eggs but i really think its something as simple as this
Regards
Steve

 

Hi Steve thanks for taking the time to read through it all. I have been back to the timing what seems like a thousand times and it checks out every time.

Screw driver down cyl #1 coincides perfectly with the marks seen through the inspection hole.
#1 lobes pointing straight up in equal amounts.
Dizzy fitted with rotor arm pointing at the notch and starting the firing order from there, clockwise.

I turned it over a few times by hand when I first moved it forward and it lined up fine, I actually checked it before doing the compression test and everything is still lining up.

The car was becoming increasingly un-drivable before I did anything on it, I don't think it would have started considering how it was running. You can see from the pics how it was timed before, it was 2 teeth out and the dizzy had been fully turned to compensate so I'm pretty sure it's not a timing issue, I'll be amazed if it turns out to be the timing that is the problem.

Thanks
Ash

 

Glad you said to get the mk3 battery cables as they look much better compared to the old ones, I have made up a longer piece of wire to reach to the earthing stud behind the battery as well. Decided to look at the coil earth strap again and not sure why I considered it ok before because on further inspection it was full of oil and had a split in the middle about half way into it, so I have made up a new strap out of some heavy wire.

I have fixed all dodgy wiring in the engine bay, that red hall sender wire was connected by 3 strands of wire so I took a few inches of wire out and it looked clean and shiny at both ends so just put in new wire, soldered and heatshrinked. I just need to get the loom taped up and plug it all back in, along with the new battery leads. Hopefully I should see some kind of improvement after this in terms of starter speed at the very least.

Since looking at the engine bay wiring and battery leads properly I have been doing a lot of reading about earth related non start issues and the like and I'm feeling fairly positive that I have the same problem.

The only question I have at the minute is which wires go where for the terminal wires that go on the oil senders as I didn't take note? I think there's;

Yellow
Green
Blue?

 

nice one RJ

It's about back together now, I decided to remove the coil so I could organise the wiring loom better as it was a right mess and upon taking the king lead off the coil the right angle connector snapped and left part of itself in the coil, luckily enough to get it out. Leads were new last year so I didn't expect any problems with them but the part of the king lead that goes in the coil was really brittle. I'll get a new Bosch set ordered later!

The oil is smelling like fuel now as well so that needs sorting but I'll wait till it's actually running before changing it I think.

 

That's the site I used as I saw you recommend it to someone in a thread somewhere, certainly won't be getting any more ignition parts from GSF in the future

 

Lazy starter still

This car will not give me a break

I have swapped over the battery leads to mk3 Golf ones, replaced alternator to starter wiring, replaced coil earth and been through all of the engine bay loom and repaired any bad wiring.

Went to turn it over and it's mega slow, exactly the same as when the battery is dead and you can just about get 4 - 5 slow cranks before it's totally dead but no where near quick enough to start.

With a voltmeter on the battery terminals I get about 12.4 - 12.5 volts but on cranking it goes down to 7 - 8 volts! Now the wiring isn't getting warm but the starter is, mostly around the nut on the solenoid where the wiring goes to.

It's turning over so slow I can hear it sparking on each point, fairly sure it's not the battery as I have tried another battery and a jump start and it didn't make any difference to the speed of the starter.

HT leads have been swapped over now as well, really good fit compared to the old ones.

Is it possible it's the bush rather than the actual starter motor?

Also, before I buy a new starter what would you recommend? Standard PB one or is there a more powerful one I can fit?

 

Tie on a rope and drag it along , 2nd gear ign on and pop the clutch at 20mph . See if it will fire up ... Then change the starter :-))

 

I bought my 8v GTi 89' with a fault.

Intermittently wouldn't start.

Found broken wire inside the loom at the airflow meter.

I cut off the plug and a foot of wire, and jointed (solder/heatshrink) a newer/known good plug and wires - and it was 100% fine.

Check all the immobiliser/alarm wiring is properly cut out of the system and correctly rejoined.

 

slimwadey - I'm on a very busy small street and the car is sorn so I don't fancy my chances with a bump start.

rubjonny - Yeah went with a mk2 starter and new bush from status VW, I just need to get round to fitting it.

foxyjay - I'v had the dash out and sorted any bad wiring inside, no signs of the old alarm unit mostly just old stereo wiring and I have just about been through all the engine bay wiring but I haven't looked at the AFM wiring although I have tested for continuity but worth checking anyway.

Hopefully this new starter will bring some life to the shed!

 

Well, some good news the starter motor is in deed dead! Stupid amount of play in the shaft and it locks up half way round when turned by hand, sounds like something is catching on the casing which is a relief!

However how do you get the new bush in the bell housing? I got the old one out with a tap and die but I have just broken the new one trying to get it in.. The new one looks sightly bigger than the old one as well and is too big to even slightly get it in the hole, couldn't even let go of it without it falling out. I ended up putting it over a socket and tried hammering it in but ended up splitting the new bush..

Tried soaking in oil and applying grease and it's a no go, super tight fit! Any help appreciated!

 

Hmm definitely wasn't going to tap in easily

I've ordered 3 more anyway, the new one is bigger but I wasn't sure if that's just because it hasn't been pressed in?