Any VW Golf Experts ?

[markg]

Just on the off chance that we have any golf experts on here. My neighbour has bought a VW camper with a golf 16v gti mk3 engine in it. Car turns over, we have a spark and it appears to be getting fuel. However it wont start. He has been advised by a mechanic who has looked at it that its a common problem and the valves are stuck. So its head off, skim and sort out the valves and replace water pump, cam belt etc in the process all for around £800. Seems a bit drastic to me but I dont know anything about VW's. Any suggestions anyone ?, I guess the first port of call otherwise is a compression test if I can find a tester that fits down the plug holes.

Cheers
Mark

[Nayls]

defo comp test it.

halfords sell them for £15-£20

just pick up a set of plugs for the engine to see what size tester you need while you're there

[Tony Walker]

take a plug out and turn it over just a couple of seconds, not the most professional way to do it but u will be able to tell if its getting fuel. If its got fuel and a spark, next test is compression tester and check timing.

[Os8472]

Hang on valves stuck? if a valve was stuck open everytime the engine turns over the pistons would hit, if they were stuck closed then the cam shaft being a overhead job can't have any lobes left as it presses directly ontop of the valves.

I'd start by checking the timing, if there's fuel and a spark providing the timing is right it would at least splutter abit even with fecked compression, my old S13 had about 40psi of compression on 2 cyclinders and about 90psi on the other 2 but still ran....... just

[markg]

Thanks guys, looks like I will be getting the strobe light and compression tester out.

[Tony Walker]

Check cambelt timing as well as ignition timing. might be timed 180 out or something silly. cant think if its wasted spark on those??????????? think its individual pencil coils.