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April 04 THE GOLF

W

hen a big box of new parts arrived in the office the other day
we thought Christmas had come early. Sadly we were
mistaken and it turned out that Pete was going to service his

new Mk3 GTi. While we’d all love to to jump straight in and start bolting
sexy bits onto our cars the reality of the situation is often very different.
If you have just bought a new car and are uncertain of its history or if
your old car is just not running right then chances are a service won’t

do it any harm at all. It might not sound impressive or make your
vehicle into a superfly road burner but it will give you peace of mind
and, in the long term, having fresh oil, a clean air filter and a good HT
spark will go some way toward guaranteeing the longevity of your
engine. It’s all straight forward work but it’s also the work that most
people never actually get around to doing on their own cars. Don’t be
slack, do it now and then start saving for rthe sexy bits.

This is what you see when you take the plug leads off. If you buy genuine
replacements, the leads are in length order – longest to cylinder one

Now remove the spark plugs themselves using a spark plug socket. It’s
very important not to force them in or out and to use the correct tool

How to:

Mk3 service

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2

3

4

First pop the bonnet to reveal that very powerful (not) engine.
Remember, it’s not just performance motors that need looking after

Let’s begin with the spark plugs. If you can’t remember the firing order do
them one by one to avoid mixing them up. Firing order is 1-3-4-2

Follow our guide to servicing a Mk3 Golf GTi 2.0-litre 8-valve and you won’t have to
pay for one of those £60 per hour VAG services! Our big box of parts for the job cost
in the region of £60, and most of them are the same bits that VW themselves use.
Our man with the spanners and the know how is Peter Simpson…

Difficulty rating 1 to 5

Big thanks to:

Peter for actually buying the parts

himself and for getting his delicate

little hands dirty

Tools used:
spark plug socket,
screwdriver, left
and right hands,
19mm spanner,
trolley jack and
axle stands

3hrs

Time taken:

1

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THE GOLF April 04

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Having fitted the new plugs (which should come pre-gapped) push the
first two leads on. Leave the old leads attached to the dizzy for now

Locate the dizzy (distributor) but don’t unclip the cap yet. The best way to
replace the leads is to do it with the new dizzy cap hanging alongside

Here are two of the old spark plugs – quite old and more than a little
black. Haynes manuals have a good guide to what you’re looking at

And here is the new set of leads. Seperate them out in the length order
that relates to the originals so you can start to plug them in

Remove this by simply pulling it upwards – it should then look like this (if it
doesn’t you’ve broken it!) Push the new rotor on, it only fits one way

Now you can replace the dizzy cap with the new leads already fitted.
Make sure the cap is round the right way, it has a locating notch on it

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10

12

7

8

5

6

That way you can just copy where the old leads go on the old dizzy and
make sure you put the new leads in the right place

Now do the other two plug leads. Once the new cap is done, unclip the
old one and pull it out of the way to reveal the rotor arm

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April 04 THE GOLF

How to:

Mk3 service

When you replace the air filter push it in evenly all the way round the box
so the edges don’t get snagged when you put the lid back on. Easy

To change the oil, remove the sump plug and drain the oil into a tray
(then dispose of correctly). The oil filter (above) should only be hand tight

Once you have drained the oil, refitted the plug and screwed the new filter
on, refill with new oil through this top cap (use about 4.8-litres).

If you’re unsure how much oil your engine takes, fill it slowly, allow it to settle

and keep checking the dipstick. It is important not to overfill your engine.

You can change the fuel filter too if you feel confident but remember to
clamp the fuel line going in or your tank will soon be empty

Unclip the clips which are located around the outside edges of the air
filter box

Pry the two halves of the casing apart and remove the old air filter
element that you’ll find inside

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Warning and sensible advice

All the how to articles we do in The Golf are jobs we have undertaken ourselves (unless stated otherwise). None of us here are qualified mechanics but we all

work on our own cars and aren’t afraid to have a go. If you’re in any doubt about your abilities then don’t start taking things apart unless you’re sure you

understand what’s involved and are confident you can put it back together. Please be aware there are numerous models of Golf and variations in model, year

etc. so don’t necessarily expect your car to be exactly the same as that we are working on but in general, the principals will be similar. Also, as with any

mechanical job, there will be different ways of doing it and we may not follow the procedure as written in, for example, your Haynes manual. Wherever

possible though we make sure that the method we employ works and that, more importantly, the car works again afterwards. Having a go is the only way to

learn and with the rates most garages charge now you’ll thank us when your only labour charge at the end of the day is your time

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This is the coil. If you’re having trouble locating it, just trace the lead that
runs from the middle of the distributor and then replace with the new one

Now you’re ready to move on to the air filter. Assuming your car has a
stock engine and hasn’t been messed with, this is very straightforward

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