Oh, GREAT - update, electrical help needed!

[CIH]

If you find yourself having to detach the hub from the strut bear in mind that's where camber is set and there is a huge adjustment range.

Incidentally, I fucking hate setting Golfs. Track rods are always ALWAYS rusted and fucked. Bastard things.

 

Better off knocking the bottom balljoint out, surely?

 

Incidentally, I feel properly guilty every time I read about Pillock's latest breakage on this car. It was fine when I had it, although I did drive it like a pensioner most of the time.

 

For sure but if it's a fighter it's tempting to undo the strut instead and most people are unaware of how it affects wheel geometry.

[Pillock]

Right. Box is back on, all lined up fine. Driveshafts are on, All electrical connections I disconnected, are reconnected. With the front of the car off the ground, turning one wheel spins the other wheel the opposite way as expected.

 

Try to start it, and the first time I gave it a go it turned over once or twice, very slowly, and stopped. Now every time I try it just dims any lights that are on, click from the starter, then nothing else. Flat battery, yeah? Bought a jump pack, hooked it up, no go. Still the same. The battery booster pack doesn't make the slightest difference.

 

So are we looking at

 

a) rubbish jump pack

some other electrical fault

c) hidden third option which is something like "you've done something massively wrong and have to start again"

 

I'm hoping that because the engine turned maybe one revolution, I've not got the starter on wrong. I've not had to "force" anything, it all bolted back together really well. The car rolls backwards and forwards in neutral and not when in gear, as expected.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

has the earth strap been disturbed during the works? Thats probably where i'd start looking.

[dieselnutjob]

get a voltmeter

connect one end to the gearbox casing

connect the other end to the negative terminal of the battery

you should get 0V even when operating the starter motor

if no then you forget to attach the earth strap from the body or battery to the powertrain

[Pillock]

Boll... There's two cables which bolt to the gearbox - one on the bellhousing end and goes on the end of one of the box to engine bolts, and the other on a bolt through the rib along the top of the gearbox. Both these have been returned to where they came off. Did wonder about it myself though, only the fact it turned over slowly on the first go is a bit confusing.

 

I shall try the voltmeter thing tomorrow, thanks DNJ

 

Edit: might be worth pointing out that when I turn the lights on and try to start it, all the lights go out. Head/Taillamps, interior lamp, dash lights etc etc. So not just the engine not getting juice.....

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I'd defo say theres some shitty earthage going on here. Connect a jump lead from the engine to the -ve on the battery and see what difference that makes.

[Timewaster]

Booster pack just as flat as the battery?

 

Booster packs come in two types.

1) Cheap and useless. (and dead flat from new)

2) Cost more than a new battery but actually work.

 

That said, I'd be looking for cracked / loose battery connections or dodgy earth somewhere.

[Pillock]

+ve jump pack lead on battery +ve terminal

-ve jump pack lead on gearbox earthing point

 

Same result.

 

It WAS a cheap jump pack. I'm going to leave it on charge overnight even though the charging light goes out fairly quickly after plugging it in. Try it tomorrow. Meanwhile I'm going to walk to Tesco Express and buy some alcohol, removing my ability to drive it anywhere and thus meaning I don't start doing daft stuff in the dark.

[Timewaster]

buy some alcohol, thus meaning I don't start doing daft stuff in the dark.

 

It usually has the opposite effect on me!

[Pillock]

I swear I'm not as mechanically inept as I seem, and it's other people - usually companies - that make me look that way!

 

Took that jump pack back to the pikey shop and got my money back. I was going to be all menacing and demanding but the lass didn't even bother looking in the box, she was halfway through a refund as I was explaining. Plus, she smiled nicely at me, and if you looked at her blouse buttons they were straining a bit and you could see bra.

 

Then, I went and spent my refunded £29.99 on a battery charger from Halfords, aka "the only place selling battery chargers open at 3pm on a Sunday". I know it was a ripoff, don't even go there. Got home, whipped the battery off, hooked it up and the yellow "charging" and the green "ready" light both came on. Eh? According to the manual, this means it's ready - duh - so this put me in a foul mood as it looked like a needed a new battery. Went for a walk. Contemplated vehicular arson.

 

Came back, and now the green light was off. This apparently means it's totally dead, with the light getting brighter as it charges. Fouler mood. Put battery back on car because it's in the way in the kitchen, out of curiosity turn the key and VROOOOOOM. Bloody Halfords and their bloody wrong-way-around instruction manuals. Twats.

 

So, took it for a spin. Running like a bag of arse, loads of misfire under load. However I got it up to 4th and it doesn't appear to be suffering much from clutch slip. It also does reverse. YAY! I FITTED A GEARBOX!

[garethj]

loads of misfire under load

This is sometimes a sign of the ignition coil going south. You absolutely sure you're getting a good ground connection between the engine and the battery? If so, pull a plug out and do the thing where you check for the colour of the spark

 

Well done on fitting the gearbox

[Pillock]

I pulled a lead off whilst the engine was running, and got electrocuted. Was that meant to happen?

 

Once again nightfall scuppered my chances of thoughtful fault finding so I'll attack it tomorrow. The coil is my first suspect, and I know where there's a scrappy with a 16v in (it gave up the water pipe on Saturday) so I'll try and grab that coil tomorrow, it looked the same (i.e. single output, not a coilpack). Maybe treat it to a new set of leads too.

 

It was still a great feeling to drive round in a car I did some major mechanical work on though

[Pillock]

Bizarrely, I sulked overnight and borrowed Mutha_Pillock's car for work. Came back and started it up..... seemed to be running better. Took it on a drive, misfired a little but nowhere near as much. Got it hot, stood in traffic, gave it a thrash, drove it gently and it seems to be OK. Maybe it was just gunked up from nearly 2 weeks sat on axle stands with the front end in bits.

 

Gonna give it another "Italian Tuneup" now and see how it goes.....