Nov 1 2006 I needed a new/old disposable car for London and quite fancied another Mk2 golf, did a bit of research and decided to get a GTD. Having discovered that they were rarer than hobby horse poo I settled on getting a standard TD, and in some ways this was better as I didn't want a car with the plastic arch trims.
I spent a couple of weeks browsing ebay and autotrader and ended up travelling up to Yorkshire to buy this - a 1988 E reg Mk2 1.6 td.
When bought -
Had apparently been owned by the same family for fifteen years, and seemed an honest enough car. The previous owner was kind enough to include some lowering springs in the sale, which sweetened it slightly.
Not having owned a diesel before I took it straight onto the A1 and hammered it back to London. All seemed fine on the journey, until approaching the Blackwall Tunnel I hit a bit of traffic, and the temp started to rise, and rise, and then a bit more. By this point I was pretty shattered from travelling all day so stuck the heaters on full pelt and kept going....for about an hour until I was home. I was pretty hot in the car by this point, but by opening the windows and sunroof it calmed things down to a less tropical level.
The next morning I arranged the tax and insurance and thought I ought to have a look at the engine, big mistake. The one piece of advice I had received from Central VW was 'watch out for oil in the coolant' - and yet here I was dipping my finger in a nice exxon type slick in the header tank [belm]. A quick call to Central VW and the advice given was a) never sit at max revs (indicated 100mph) on the motorway in a td for four hours probably the oil cooler or head gasket was shot.
I topped the coolant up and decided to use it and see if the problem sorted itself out....which proved not to be the case. It dumped its coolant everywhere - in traffic, stationary, when cold, when HOT and even at night when supposedly resting.
I dropped it off at a garage I had used for my 16v - (SVS Autos in Bromley, UK highly recommended) and asked them to sort it.
Thankfully the headgasket was safe, and indeed the oil cooler needed replacing (along with the radiator which had literally crumbled and a load of hoses).
Now it was healthy I could see what it was really like, tbh I'm pretty pleased. It pulls ok'ish and doesn't kick out too much smoke (yet). The following week the some friends helped me fit the suspension and drilled the airbox which allows a bit more of the whistle.
I was the process of sorting out some better 13in wheels, a gti lower spoiler and a few other bits. Planning on taking it up to Simon Cooper at some point for the pump to be sorted, but want to run it for a couple of month first to ensure nothing else goes pop first.
Nov 13 2006Shopping in central London, so tried an arty shot with my mobile phone camera.
TodaySpent a couple of hours yesterday fiddling with the wiring, the fuse for the brake lights was blowing as soon as the peddle was pressed. Managed to find where the short was occuring and fix it .
Also finally fitted the £1 ebay special front spoiler, was taking me ages with no tools so in the end drove to halfords with the old spoiler half detached and bought a ratchet thingmy. All sorted and then went to see how I'd fare with my local speed bumps, seems slow is the best approach
Going through its MOT at the end of the month, and will mess with the fueling afterwards. Got my eye on an intercooler setup as well, will see how high it goes on ebay as I have a few options.
Still got to fit my new wheels, need some less balloon style tyres and the black centre caps fitting (jobs for next month).
Will keep it updated whenever I get round to making more changes.
Cheers Bri
