jamiej

If you cannot get hold of VAGCOM or do not know where to start with it, you can get a fault code reader from eBay for under £20. It will allow you to read the codes and clear them. I have one in my glove box that I can just plug in, do a quick scan and try and remedy the problems. This is the one I have and it kicks out the same faults that my VAGCOM program found http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Diagnostic-Scanner-CAN-BUS-Fault-Code-Reader-OBD2-OBDII-EOBD-EOBDII-U480-UK-/270848185553?pt=UK_Diagnostic_Tools_Equipment&hash=item3f0fcf54d1

It could be the coil pack, they fail all the time. You can check by getting it running (if possible) in the dark and then spraying a fine mist of water of the coil pack, if you see it arcing lots, then there is a good chance that your coilpack is shot. My car sounded like it was stuttering when my coilpack went, new one on, covered it in epoxy and good as new!

The assembly is under way. Just a quick question,how do you know when the crack pipe is in far enough, i knocked it in with a mallet but don't want to put it all back together and then find out its weeping. Any tips/ideas or will the TStat housing drive it home? Thanks

That does look at good deal.

Daverse, I think you can but I was after somewhere where you just walk in, pick it up and not get ripped off!

In the end I went for the OEM plastic. I thought that the previous one (unless genuine replacement) had lasted for 15 years, then another plastic one would last me for the duration of my ownership ... and it was only £15. I am trying to find the gasket 021 121 119 A which is the TStat housing to the block, but i cannot seem to find it at the usual UK outlets. Monday could be either a huge success of failure, fingers crossed I manage to get the replacements all in OK!

Right, front end off thermostat off and pipe out, once the front was off, it was actually fairly straight forward. only casualty so far is a fog light clipped which I snapped off. Little worried about many connectors I took off but I am sure I will be able to find their homes. New parts arriving Monday the reconstruction will commence shortly after.

Oki doki, Think I am all set. I will have a good go at it tonight then. The parts are not arriving 'till Monday but that will give me enough time to get the old parts off! If i remember (and can find my camera) I will try and make a thread on it, may be useful for someone else. Jamie

Fantastic, cheers guys, I am going to attack it this weekend/this evening. Just to clarify the "easy method", after disconnecting everything which sensibly needs to be disconnected, the 4 bolts behind the fogs will allow the whole front end to lifted out, or is there more too it than that.

Thank you guys for your replies. I think front end off seems to be the best way to do it. It surely cannot be 4 bolts and hey presto the front end falls off! I do not have aircon, is there a guide on here for removing the front end?

Car : 1997 Golf VR6 OBDII Problem : Replacing "Crackpipe" or plastic pipe which comes accross the front of the engine from the waterpump to the TStat. Dear all, I recently found a monumental coolant leak from the oil cooler hose from the "crack pipe". After prodding around, I managed to snap the hose tail from the crackpipe . So I now need to replace both the crackpipe and the small hose from this pipe to the oil cooler. I have trawled lots of forums (most of which seem to be American) to find out the best way to do it but cannot get to a logical answer which everyone seems to agree with. So .

Just whipped the TB off and it was filthy. Gave it a proper clean with a toothbrush, carb cleaner, the works! All back together and car is still running fine so hopefully that's that sorted. Only think is that there is a slight stick cowing off the throttle, so can't be sure if that's the throttle or a vac leak, it's hardly noticeable but you can tell that something is not 100%. Thanks again all. Jamie

What an incredibly useful post, thanks very much. After all this, turned the key this morning and the car started on the button and ran like a dream, very very confusing. I've driven about 100 miles today, stop start cool warm and it's perfect? Very odd. Now as I said, it has done this before but never for this long. The throttle body almost certainly does need a clean, I have never cleaned it and I noticed that was a lot of gunk inside when I had a look whilst trying to diagnose the issue. Maybe a managed to perform a re-calibration of the throttle by mistake. Lesson learned though and also I

Cleared the codes and went for another drive. The only codes that are appearing now are 00282 and 00533. I tried to reset the throttle as instructed but I do not have the permissions to do that. One thing i noticed though was that when the car was idling high, the throttle almost seemed stuck, its was being held open and i could rock the throttle mechanism with no resistance. All this seems to be pointing to the throttle (code 00282 is throttle position actuator), if the motor is playing up then there is a good chance that it wouldn't be able to hold an idle. It makes sense as it drives fine o

Thanks DrRish, that is most helpful. I will try clearing the codes, going for a spin and then re-running the scan. To make matter more annoying, the laptop I have to use (still not totally sure why) only lasts about 5 minutes when not plugged in so i need to do it all pretty swiftly ! I will also try and re-calibrate the throttle body, I am not toally sure of the allowances on my VAGCOM copy but we'll soon see. Re:Throttle body, I will have to wait a bit until I do that as all my tools are currently not with me. If I can drive the car, and it appears that only the idle is the real issue, would