ChrisGT's Black 5 door GT TDI 170

[ChrisGT]

Sad times Andy, hate seeing my old cars about once I've sold them... 

Chris

[ChrisGT]

So, had a call from the garage fitting my clutch & flywheel today. They have had a problem with the Sachs flywheel I got from Darkside Developments. There are apparently welds on the back of the flywheel (which is otherwise identical to the OEM one removed) which are fouling on a plate between the gearbox and engine...

Phoned Darkside and explained the situation and they spoke directly to the garage, they have looked at one of their other kits which also has these welds but say they have not heard of this problem before.

Unfortunately it means the gearbox is going to have to come off again... 

The garage is going to take the flywheel out and then decide if grinding the welds down is the best option or if it needs to be sent back to Darkside and replaced.

I am hopeful that Darkside will help cover some of the cost for the gearbox having to come off again but I know that is probably just wishful thinking.

Inconvenient to say the least...

Chris

[Andy]

So, had a call from the garage fitting my clutch & flywheel today. They have had a problem with the Sachs flywheel I got from Darkside Developments. There are apparently welds on the back of the flywheel (which is otherwise identical to the OEM one removed) which are fouling on a plate between the gearbox and engine...

Phoned Darkside and explained the situation and they spoke directly to the garage, they have looked at one of their other kits which also has these welds but say they have not heard of this problem before.

Unfortunately it means the gearbox is going to have to come off again... 

The garage is going to take the flywheel out and then decide if grinding the welds down is the best option or if it needs to be sent back to Darkside and replaced.

I am hopeful that Darkside will help cover some of the cost for the gearbox having to come off again but I know that is probably just wishful thinking.

Inconvenient to say the least...

Chris

That is bad news Chris and hope it is sorted out quicky and am sure darkside will sort some thing out

[ChrisGT]

Yeah, hopefully the garage will have a chance to take the gearbox off again tomorrow and sort the problem. They said the car selects gear and can be moved but that there is definitely something binding/fouling inside and the only difference between the old flywheel and the new one is the raised welds (of which there are about 5 or 6) on the back of the flywheel.

Hopefully they'll just be able to grind them down and refit the box and it'll all be ok, which would be a lot less hassle than sending the part back to Darkside and waiting for another part which may have the same problem... surprised no one has had the same problem though with this kit... anyway, Depending on what they find then I'll get in touch with darkside and hopefully be able to sort something out with the cost of having to remove the gearbox again. If it has been fitted incorrectly by the garage, which I doubt, then i'm sure they'll be honest with me and not charge me for having to remove the box again.

Chris

[ChrisGT]

Got the car back on Saturday evening from the garage and they confirmed it was the welds on the flywheel that were the problem, they had to take the box off and grind them down then put it all back together again. I've not got the bill yet but when I do then I'll get in touch with darkside/sachs and let them know what's happened, and maybe possibly get some kind of financial compensation (although I know that is still wishful thinking).

Having said all that, the car is generally running good, new clutch feels super smooth and car is pulling very smoothly. No warning lights on the dash and so far no abs/esp lights have come on so I'm fairly hopeful that replacing that rear wheel bearing has been the right call on that one rather than needing to replace the sensor. Car is much quieter on the road too so both the clutch release bearing and the wheel bearing were definitely going bad. New exhaust gas temp sensor seems to have sorted the engine management light too.

One problem with the golf is it is finding it difficult to start if left over night/for a long time. It'll be slow to turn over at first and then after about 4 or 5 seconds it'll fire and run fine. I have tried priming the heater plugs for longer or on and off a couple times and doing that has maybe helped a slight amount. I believe the car had a new battery around a year ago so don't think it's that. This morning while starting the car then it almost fired up and then an "engine fault - garage" message came up. Checked with VCDS when I got home and it threw up this:

000801 - Engine Speed Sensor (G28)
               P0321 - 006 - Implausible Signal - Intermittent


So will keep an eye on that and see if it pops up again and replace it if needs be, will order a set of glow plugs anyway and get them fitted to see if that helps.

Chris

[ChrisGT]

After a little digging online then that engine speed sensor fault code could have been thrown up just because the car cranked but didn't fire for longer than it liked.

It's not come up again although still have the slow starts so going to replace the glow plugs and see if that helps.

Chris

[dubvrs]

Could be worth checking your battery. Mates TDI mk5 had the same when it started to go cold and battery was not holding its charge.

[ChrisGT]

Yeah, will keep an eye on it too over the next couple of weeks and see if the charge drops when left sitting. I think it had a new battery about this time last year before I bought it but will need to check with the previous owner 

Chris

[farhan.ali]

Just got that error today, will be changing the crankshaft sensor as its cutting off power for me

[DOBERMAN19]

Thanks Maxitrol, much appreciated.

I wanted to let people know what's really involved with this as it's hard to find much info on it. Took us about 4 and a half hours from meeting at his garage to driving away again. We both had a lot of different tools with us too and think we tried every combination of extension bars/bits to get to some of the bolts. haha. A lot of the time was spent modifying the brackets to fit the new manifold.

Car blew out a bit more white smoke this morning but cleared up after about 2 minutes of driving. Can't wait to the remap done now!

Also in the process of buying some new wheels and have been exploring the options for upgrading the stereo. Nothing fancy but think I'm going to go for an rcd510 with Aux/usb in down by the gearstick.

Chris

Hi Chris, Excellent right up, I don't know how you found time for all these mods, and still compile a detailed work in progress. may I inquire.  My motor is 170. would the manifold conversion eliminate the rough start up when cold, other than this she drives faultlessly. I have a little play in the actuator side and wondered if this was the cause, and is it worth it with having make  to the new manifold  fit. thanks.

[ChrisGT]

Thanks Maxitrol, much appreciated.

I wanted to let people know what's really involved with this as it's hard to find much info on it. Took us about 4 and a half hours from meeting at his garage to driving away again. We both had a lot of different tools with us too and think we tried every combination of extension bars/bits to get to some of the bolts. haha. A lot of the time was spent modifying the brackets to fit the new manifold.

Car blew out a bit more white smoke this morning but cleared up after about 2 minutes of driving. Can't wait to the remap done now!

Also in the process of buying some new wheels and have been exploring the options for upgrading the stereo. Nothing fancy but think I'm going to go for an rcd510 with Aux/usb in down by the gearstick.

Chris

Hi Chris, Excellent right up, I don't know how you found time for all these mods, and still compile a detailed work in progress. may I inquire.  My motor is 170. would the manifold conversion eliminate the rough start up when cold, other than this she drives faultlessly. I have a little play in the actuator side and wondered if this was the cause, and is it worth it with having make  to the new manifold  fit. thanks.

Hey @DOBERMAN19

Really sorry I didn't see your message until now! The manifold conversion certainly helped my slightly rough idle and I felt that it made the low down power smoother but the improvement is quite minimal. The main reason I replaced mine was because it was leaking at the actuator and I knew there was a lot of gunge inside it. Cleaning out the ASV and EGR valve could be the reason for the improvements I felt and would highly recommend getting them and the intake manifold off and cleaned. As for changing it to the aluminium one then, it was a pain in the arse to fit right but I'm glad I did it.

All the best,

Chris

[DOBERMAN19]

Hi Chris. many thanks for your reply,  my egr and the inlet manifold are clean, but i still suffer from a rough cold start, but to be honest i think that i'd rather have the rough cold start, than part with about £600 to replace it with an oem manifold, after all there's no guarantee that it's the manifold thats at fault. Regards.

[ChrisGT]

Hmm, not sure what your cold start issue might be... Has the car been remapped? Heater plugs been replaced? Have you got VCDS to see if there are any fault codes?

Yeah the OEM Plastic inlet manifold is very expensive, I see that Darkside developments has the for sale for £400. But yeah, not really worth it unless that is definitely the part that is causing your cold start issue.

Cheers,

Chris

[Matto]

Couple more bits arrived for the golf today so hopefully get them changed soon.

Subframe bolts and spacers as there is a bit of knock from it and a short shifter (don't really need it but that's the danger of shopping when tired and bored on night shift...  )



Hopefully the rain will stop soon and I'll be able to finally check my fuel filter and see if the tandem seals have cured my fuel contamination problem. Hate to jinx it but the car is smoking a lot less and not used any oil since I changed the seals. Will get some pics up when I get a chance to check it.

Chris

Hi Chris, where did you get the subframe bolts and spacers from?

[Pesky jones]

Matto, at a guess - Awesome Gti. Can be picked up for around £15 iirc