Buying used GTI - what should I look for

Common A2 issues:

1. Transfer fuel pump. OEM VDO brand pump bad, replacement Pierburg brand good. The pump is part of a larger assembly with the fuel tank level float and other parts of the assembly may still say "VDO" on it. It's only the actual pump that often needs replacing. Pump is under the carpet in the trunk floor. It feels the main pump under the car. Main pump usually is fine if the transfer pump hasn't failed (a failed xfer pump will starve the main pump of fuel and it can overheat).
2. Ensure that timing belt is in good shape.
3. Shift linkage gets sloppy but is easily rebuildable for under 0 and a few hours of your time.
4. Check for broken or unconnected exhaust hangars They're just simple rubber rings but can break or dry rot. They're inexpensive to replace though so no biggie if they need replacing.
5. Crappy US-spec headlamps coupled with aging and inefficient wiring system often mean pretty weak lighting at night. Consider installing a relayed wiring harness (under ) at the minimum and an additional item...Euro-spec headlamps (a bit spendier, probably 0).
6. Front engine mount on later A2s is usually bad by now, but yours is probably the older design which is actually better.
7. Check for hairline cracks in exhaust manifold. May be hard to see so see if you can smell leaking exhaust.
8. Older A2s often will last well over 200K miles. The engine may smoke a little bit, especially when cold, but a heavier oil like 20W50 seems to take care of that whereas lighter ones such as 10W30 will almost always cause some smoking on a high mileage A2.
9. Hydro valve lifters are usually noisy, especially when cold. This even happens early on in this engine. If when warm they quiet down, they're probably OK and "livable". If they continue to clatter, they probably need replacement (or are gummed up a lot).

I guess that's about all the A2 stuff that I can think of. Otherwise, just check the usual used-car stuff.

Bob V wrote: : Have a chance at an 86 GTI 5 spd. It's got 186k on the clock, new : brakes and clutch, lived on the west coast. I'm offering $700 but : before I go test drive it, I'm trying to find out what is common to : fail around this mileage... I'm pretty mechanically inclined, so feel : free to get technical ;) Figured this would be a good place to ask. : Thanks,

Speaking as the owner of a 86GTI (bought it 13 months ago). Ours had 97k miles on it and I paid $810 for it. (Checked via carfax, and had passed all it's emissions tests)

• Check all the rubber. Replace hoses and belts if they haven't been replaced recently, otherwise they are just gonna pop and cause trouble. Some claim it's a interference motor, others don't... we changed the timing belt too. Remember, if it's gonna pop, it's gonna pop when it's 20 below zero and the garage isn't accessable due to snow...

• Radiator, waterpump, both cheap, but a pain to replace when you lose them in January in Chicago (nothing like fishing around in the snow to find your screwdriver)

• Check clutch freeplay adjust cable to make sure it's not wound way up, we didn't realize we were near the end until I got a bentley manual.

• Brake lines... they burst, calipers freeze (and are a bit expensive).

1. Give the shocks a test. Press down on each corner and see if there's any excessive oscillation.
2. Sometimes when driving during the summer and running Xw40 weight oil, the oil light will come on. Most people say you can just ignore it. I run

1. Does the odo still work? If so you're lucky.
2. If you do get smoke on startup. It's probably valve stem seals. Do this job as early as possible. I dealt with it for 2 years before I got the courage up to do it. Damn near easiest job I've ever done (just requires patience and time). No more SMOKE! no more fouled plugs!
3. Motor mounts are a big one. If these are bad, expect your exhaust system (no matter the condition) to fail in the next while. Mine got so bad that I metal fatigued the down pipe in 1/2.
4. On all 3 of my A2's AC has never been great.
5. Buy the Euro lights. You'll never regret it.

I had a '86 for 14 years (2nd owner), , believe it or not). It was very reliable car, besides the problems mentioned previously, though:

- I didn't have the problem, but be aware that the close ratio transaxle in the GTI can have a problem where lack of circlips causes it to grenade the transaxle housing...not much you can do, other than ask if anyone ever added the circlips...it may or not happen to you, but is a possibility.

- I live in south, and had problems with cooked weatherstripping...in particular the rubber piece that goes up the A pillar and along the roof has weatherstripping attached to it, which like any rubber part down here gets degraded by ozone...the part is very expensive, think it was $280 for one side from the dealer...if you live up north, maybe you won't have this problem, or can get spare from salvage yard...down here all the cars in yards were same or worse than mine.

-Odometer might be busted (even if speedo works OK)...A2s are known for this, so mileage might/might not be right. It can be fixed, there are FAQs for this. This is only mechanical odometer, the electonic odometer as part of the trip computer continued to work OK for me

-Leaky seals...I had to replace clutch due to it being oil-soaked...I replaced engine rear main seals and all transaxle seals while I had the clutch out.

- One big caveat on GTIs...they have unfused 12v line to heated oxy sensor in cat converter...make sure this line is separated from ground (esp. if you use a universal sensor) or better yet install an inline fuse in the line....when I had a muffler shop put in a new sensor, they weren't careful with this, and it ended up burning up my engine wiring harness (about $1700 damage, mostly labor). The sensor with custom connector is more expensive, but probably a good idea to use to avoid this problem

- Misc problems (alternator brushes/voltage regulator)...normal issues for old car (sagging springs cause rear brake proportioning valve to cause rear brakes to lock up)...lots of small problems (vaccum lines leak, causing engine to run rough, nipples to heater control valve break off, sagging headliner, frequent replacement of front seat upholstery needed, etc....but this car gave me great service, inexpensive to own, and fun to drive (one of my favorites)

--

--------- Tom Flynn '78 Scirocco (sold 1988) '86 GTI 8v (sold 2000) '00 Golf 8v 2.0 I speak only for myself

Replace hoses and belts changed the timing belt too. Radiator, waterpump, both cheap, Brake lines... they burst, calipers freeze (and are a bit expensive).

lots of small problems (vaccum lines leak,

nipples to heater control valve break off,

frequent replacement of front seat upholstery needed,

So in 13 months you had all these problems to deal with, and you call it "inexpensive to own"??? On my '87 Fox (235k) I had less than half of your problems (none of the big ones). Lately I had to replace an injector, but it looks that it needs the other 3 too, which brings trash-it/fix-it question.

'86, 186k,... $700??? Look for a lower price, but it's your money. I'd look for another car...

Bob V wrote:

Same here. Pretty much anything in decent shape and running and all the safety items working is worth $1000 no matter what it is.

This IS an 8V not 16V right????

Should be...the 16V didn't appear until mid-1987 (in the US anyway).

Maybe it is just me... but you sort of come off as an asshole.

Has anyone pointed out the ignition switch problems yet? Oh yeah, and the vapor barriors (to which I hope to re-make a Step-By-Step of that this weekend).

For all the problems I've seen listed, they are all pretty simple things to repair... not like he would have to machine the cyclinder head or anything.

Tom Resi wrote:

: Tom Flynn wrote:

:>>Speaking as the owner of a 86GTI (bought it 13 months ago). Ours had 97k :>>miles on it and I paid $810 for it. : Replace hoses and belts : changed the timing belt too. : Radiator, waterpump, both cheap, : Brake lines... they burst, calipers freeze (and are a bit expensive). :> - I didn't have the problem, but be aware that the close ratio transaxle :> in the GTI can have a problem where lack of circlips causes it to grenade :> the transaxle housing...not much you can do, other than ask if anyone ever :> added the circlips...it may or not happen to you, but is a possibility. :> :> - I live in south, and had problems with cooked weatherstripping...in :> particular the rubber piece that goes up the A pillar and along the roof :> has weatherstripping attached to it, which like any rubber part down here :> gets degraded by ozone...the part is very expensive, think it was $280 for :> one side from the dealer :> :> -Leaky seals...I had to replace clutch due to it being oil-soaked...I :> replaced engine rear main seals and all transaxle seals while I had the :> clutch out. :> :> - One big caveat on GTIs...they have unfused 12v line to heated oxy sensor :> in cat converter...make sure this line is separated from ground (esp. if :> you use a universal sensor) or better yet install an inline fuse in the :> line....when I had a muffler shop put in a new sensor, they weren't :> careful with this, and it ended up burning up my engine wiring harness :> (about $1700 damage, mostly labor). The sensor with custom connector is :> more expensive, but probably a good idea to use to avoid this problem :> :> - Misc problems (alternator brushes/voltage regulator)...normal issues for :> old car (sagging springs cause rear brake proportioning valve to cause :> rear brakes to lock up)...

: lots of small problems (vaccum lines leak, :> causing engine to run rough, : nipples to heater control valve break off, :> sagging headliner, : frequent replacement of front seat upholstery needed, :> etc....but this car gave me great service, inexpensive to own, and fun to :> drive

: So in 13 months you had all these problems to deal with, and you call it : "inexpensive to own"??? : On my '87 Fox (235k) I had less than half of your problems (none of the : big ones). Lately I had to replace an injector, but it looks that it : needs the other 3 too, which brings trash-it/fix-it question.

You need to work on your usenet skills... you screwed up the attributions...

I have owned the car for 13 months, not the person you attributed the comments to...

It's one thing to pick on stuff when your perfect, it's another thing to pick on things when you lack basic skills...

In the case of our little GTI, it had one owner since 1990 and looks like it sat for a few years (carfax seems to bear this out as well since it missed a emissions test cycle in 2001 and you can't do that unless the car is registered as inactive, you can fail, but can't totally miss the cycle). We should have replaced the rubber parts when it was warm, but my son was dying to drive it, and over the course of a few weeks, managed to get most of the hoses to burst, one hose at a time during a week or so that we had temps below 0.

Also, I was pulling out of a local gas station one day with my wife and saw a car stalled in the left lane at the stoplight. I looked at my wife and said "Hey, that kinda looks like our car...". As I passed it I realized it was our car (alternator belt had broken). ;-)

This is the coveted GTI. We owe it to the car to buy it if a) if has a good body and b) there are 15 million things wrong with it. Nevermind that, it's NOT a Digifant. Wooooooohoooooo.

Digifant mops the floor with CIS....It just those who can't tune it that have issues....I love Digifant...runs like a dream compared to CIS...

- Pete

I like to give Digifart a hard time. Afterall, that's what I'm driving right now :) My main point is that it's a coveted GTI.

You mentioned that you work at one of the dealers...which one?

Darryl.

Parts should be cheaper. It should be worth the money.

Okay, so what causes the idle jumping up and down? I've replaced all the vacuum hoses.

The worst way to troubleshoot a electronically controlled system is by replacing parts. Get a Bentley manual. It'll tell you items to check and how to check them.

Most likely you have bad spark plug wires or a bad ground if your vacuum system is a-ok.

Could also be that the timing is off and the computer keeps bouncing the idle by overcompensating.

Clean the idle stabiliser bypass valve. Put a new grommet under the PCV valve (you should flush the crap out of the PCV valve as well) and seal the grommet connection ends with a smear of motor oil.

While you're at it; check that the common return ("ground") strap at the corner of the cylinder head is in good condition.

Warm up the engine, stop it and unplug the lambda sensor. Restart and rev the engine above 2400 rpm 2 or 4 times to terminate the hot start cycle. If the engine then idles smoothly, the sensor is on the way out.

If you're sure that the engine is otherwise mechanically OK; especially that oil level is correct and cooling system working, then it may be time for the Italian tune-up.