1.9 Gti Issues When In Traffic And Getting Hot

[obrut0002 0]

Team!

I have recently spent a fair few quid on my J reg 1.9 GTI , removing the engine , treating the car to a new cambelt , waterpump and clutch and re installing.

Once back in and running, the car ran fine for one day then I noticed some water leakage , which turned out to be a crappy gasket on the water pump , a weep from the thermostat and a weep from the inlet manifold. These issues are now all sorted but whilst wshe was leaking I would refill the header tank each time to replensih what had been lost.

I have read through the forum and also checked and cleaned the dreaded brown plug, added a new water temp sensor (as the fault was occurring there on the old one) . I have bled everything and on Saturday raised the coolant tank above the height of the rad to ensure no air issues.

 

I took the car out yesterday after fettling the brown plug and tightening a loose earth , fitting the temp sensor, gave it a canny yark around the back roads then pootled home with no apparent issues.

 

I drove the car for about 5 miles this morning at a steady pace then as soon as I got into traffic, the issues started which were: car wont rev up cleanly , the temp gauge starts climbing, the car will only pull after a fashion if you slip the clutch and get the revs right up .

 

I am thinking that when the car starts to get hot does it automatically richen the mixture and its being over sensitive causing the lack of power problem?

If it does this I am not sure what to look at. Pre engine removal there were no running issues at all.

 

Am starting to lose the faith with it (as is my wife) and I was looking forward to rebuilding my 1.6 project but I may instead stab my co*k with a fork as it will be about as much fun.....

 

Any ideas greatly received....cheers Mike

[PhilNW 40]

Sounds a bit similar to my query on the forum

 

http://forum.205gtidrivers.com/index.php?showtopic=153208

 

At the minute the ecu temp sensor/wiring is the main target of my investigations, got a new one on the way, will let you know if it works (probably be the weekend when it gets done though)

[NFS 32]

First thing would be to check you havent blown the head gasket? check:

lossing water

pressure in the header tank

colour and smell of the water in the header tank

compression test

white smoke out of the exhaust

water getting into your oil? mayo

 

maybe check your plugs, they should be inbetween black and white, like a silver colour, if its white then you are running lean and if its black then you are overfueling.

[amusingadam 6 1 Cars]

Maybe of no use to you but when I brought mine it had a similar problem turned out that someone had put the ecu wiring that goes through the bulkhead on the wrong side of a heater matrix pipe there for the wires were to close to the manifold and warming up

[DamirGTI 327]

Mixed connector layout maybe - SAD heater connector to ECU temp. sensor .

 

They're both 2pin connectors , SAD one is black while ECU temp. is blue - check if not plugged other way around .

 

D

[roccorich 16]

Where is the sensor that the blue one should be plugged into?

 

Cheers

 

Rich

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

Head gasket.

Fan not switching on when supposed to.

[welshpug 1,626]

on the rear of the thermostat housing alongside the two single spade terminal sender/switches.

[obrut0002 0]

Just an update, I have noticed that the trouble starts when temp gauge gets to the 4th mark on the dial. It seems to jump around there and then the car starts acting up . Also noticed the oil level gauge moving about (it usually does nothing and sits on the first mark,) and also the oil pressure gauge is erratic, despite a new sensor when accelerating hard.

 

The blue temp sensor on the head is new and it has the correct wiring to it.

 

The gauge movement suggests a wiring issue and maybe something is getting warm and expanding as it gets hotter. What I cant fathom is it ran fine before I touched it.....

 

Its going into my pals shop tomorrow to see if a fresh set of eyes can ascertain the issue. Thanks for all of the very useful advice so far .I will let you know if it is sort-able ..

Many thanks ( I bet its the head gasket.......................)