Help wanted 2.0 16v beastie

[Ashley]

Hi there ive just joined the cupra clan and have bought a standard 97'2.0 16v That light met blue colour (yes there is more than 2) what a car!

I have a million questions but i'll just ask a few for now,

1:) I need the standard white 16" wheels reconditioning

2:) when driven hard and changing gear the engine speed will rise when the clutch is pished in (no it not my bad driving) this also happnes if you rev it at about 2k then take you foot of the accelorator the revs rise then go down to 1.5k then a little rise than down to normal ??????

3:) I need a new gearstick nob do any of the newer ones (round silver) fit easily?

4:) has anyone tried the ecotec dongle on this specific engine?

5:) ABS light comes on intermitently (senser may be) are they easy to fit yourself ???

6:) fuel gauge sensor are they easy to fit??

any help would we ver very cool the main one being question no 2

See you around west London!

[cordobabrendy]

1 the white wheels are a bugger to keep in good nick, reconditioning is a good idea tho it costs around 200 - 250 to get them done.
2 probably just the ecu taking a sec to realise the clutch is in, mine takes upto 20 secs to return to idle if parked and revved to redline.
3 most gear knobs will do, its the better ones that stay on without having to be tightened with the allen key every week.
4 ekotec is shite dont buy it, i had it and its rubbish, the only things you will notice is a, loss of braking pressure a little and b/ a horrible squealing noise on liftoff of throttle. trust me on this, i had one and its gathering dust now.
5 abs light isnt uncommon tho it does usually mean either a sensor or the control unit is on its way out, if its intermittantly clattering even when braking from very low speeds its probably the control unit located behind the middle dash, warranty work if you can get it done, otherwise it might cst you a bit, dunno how much but if you can get a second hand one , good!
6 pass
good luck with the car, btw get a pipercross induction kit, you'll thank me for it, just for the growl!!

[edc]

1) wicked wheels circa £50+ per wheel
2) something wrong there
3) easy change, i have a polished steel one
4) no
5) check brake fluid level and handbrake sensor under the trim
6) dunno

I'm in West London, well Northolt and Shepherd's Bush every now and again btw. Watch out for the blue 16v ;)

[Ashley]

Cheers mate for the advice think maybe an ECU remap may help

:p

[cordobabrendy]

heard good things about unichip, it can be reprogrammed while most others cant, really helps if you decide to get something else done to the performance of the car and the chip can be fine tuned again.
bloke about 50 miles from my home does them and im seriously considering one to pluck out some more grunt.

[WeeJase]

on the bottom of the inlet pipe check the little plug on the left ,this has been the cause of some probs before.
check the wiring is ok,and take out the sensor and give it a wee wipe with a clean dry cloth,they get shitty sometimes.
check yer airfilter too,may be cacked up:cheers:

[cordobabrendy]

the gauge sensor btw is under the rear seat if i am remembering rightly, shoud just be a case of dont smoke when your unscrewing the old one.

[RobT]

Hi

ABS light used to fire for no reason on my Ibiza 8V - dealer traced to dodgy earth connection to ABS unit
Cheers

Rob

[max_torque]

Dashpot calibration (the term for engine speed control when you lift off the accelerator) is notoriously tricky on a performance car. from the 16v i drove i though it wasn't really that good for 2 reasons:

1) i sure that the germans (who will not tollerate oversteer) have put loads of damping into the 2nd and 3rd gear throttle shut dashpot. This prevents a large negative torque reversal at the wheels, slowing the weight transfer from back to front and making car less lift off oversteery

2)Difficult to resolve the 2 opposing aims of having a rapid drop in engine speed for when you are really ripping up the gearbox, to when you are just going shopping and gear changes take much longer (3 mins if you're my mum!) Most customers will tollerate some jerkyness when they are really going for it, but gets seriously annoying when you just pootle around.

Unfortuantely when 16v was around ecu's were a bit dumb, and could not learn the drivers style like modern ecu's with electronic throttles so there were more comprimises in the calibration.

However check for any air leaks etc as these will amplify the effect.