So I just bought this "fat bitch" as SuperHans quite rightly said

http://www.clubpolo.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=113839

I've had so much fun with her already and I haven't even had her 24 hours!

139k miles

It had a rebuild at 113K [what I can remember off the top off my head] and has had thousands spent on her

Very well looked after indeed

But as I'm a G40 virgin I have no idea what's right and what's not, what the do's and don’ts are and what I need to do especially and look out for etc... You catch my drift!

So the things I have noticed i'll list and any help/advice etc would be much appreciated

Bearing in mind I think some off it is normal for a 15 year old car and some are probably just typical woman questions to most off you, be gentle because I do bite

1. Apart from the obvious why would it have had a rebuild... I see it as a good thing?

2. The car is idling how it should be but she shakes like fook from time to time and the exhaust rattles, so I think from inside that's making it sound worse? It's almost as if she's spitting and coughing?

3. Noisy speedo cable and the odd loud rattle from behind the dash, easily fixed? But once I have my stereo etc put it I’m not going to be able to hear it anyway!

4. The temperature gauge sits at its highest until you start to drive!?! Then she drops all the way down - Is that normal?

I drove back from Nottingham yesterday [bearing in mind I flew home, 130mph at times haha] and she was fine, I popped in to show her off to someone so she was warm

Then when I started her up the temp was at peak and it did drop when the fan kicked in

But I’ve noticed that she starts off high and only drops to normal when I drive?

Previous owner also said that you can sit in traffic and it be on 100 but it will never overheat, is that normal?

5. When driving along between 30-40 when I was resting my hand on the gear knob, I can feel it pulsing, like she has a heartbeat haha erm, hard to describe but it’s like the gear stick is moving slightly forwards and back again, why would she be doing that?

6. Unfortunately I’m not that lucky to know the ins and outs of a car engine, though I would love to, so I’m a bit retarded. Where on the charger would be marked to show if it has been serviced?

I know it’s JS... as soon as I have the cash I need to get it in.

Sorry to have bored you with my essay, that’s all I can think off for now I’ll keep updating as and when I need to ask something.

They are so much fun to drive. I went from a GT and couldnt believe the difference.

I always try to let mine warm up sufficently before driving off and never go above 4k unless i'm overtaking and need to.

I'm sure my gearknob pulses as i drive along. I'll check next time i'm out in the G. As for service marker on the charger, sometimes theres a sticker, sometimes not. I know JS used to put stickers on them.

Can't help with anymore of your queries i'm afraid. I'm probably as clued up as you are!

I've gone from a 1.0ltr polo coupe so you can imagine the smile it puts on my face haha love it!

Sweet, thanks for the reply!

Looks like a good condition g40 for the money, i'd love one!

they do run very hot. especially if youve given it some and then sit in traffic.

most of the jabba chargers i've seen have it in the outside casing ner the join of the two halves but a couple just had seriel numbers on the outside and dates scribed inside.

The G40 engines do run hot, but when you say at it's highest do you mean the top of the gauge? If so this is far too high. Check that the fan is kicking in (should happen at around 92 degrees iirc). Just open the bonnet whilst it's warming up and see when the fan starts to spin (sorry if that sounds sarcy ).

The gearknob issue is normal, it's just the engine movement being felt through the gearstick.

If the charger has been serviced by JabbaSport then there maybe a sticker on it, but possibly not. Did you get a receipt for the charger service? If not tbh I would assume it's not been done and spend some cash getting it done.

The rebuild could have been done for a number of reasons, the owner thought it was time, it had a bottom end knock etc. It's not a bad thing though, means you've got many more miles of motoring ahead of you.

The rattling could just be one of the usual mk3 rattles, or perhaps the exhaust is sitting against the heat shield underneat the car (mine is doing this and it really vibrates through the car).

Hope this is of some use :-D

And good to see another girlie owning a G40

Sal. x

Takes more than that to scare me haha

Brilliant, thanks for your reply Sal

A couple of improtant things to know about G40's (and G60's) is are:

1. Try to never hit the rev limiter. Hitting the limiter cuts fuel and the engine will loose revs rapidly, you could throw a charger drive belt or damage the charger internals. If you are driving hard you need to change gear when the rev needle is pointing at the 1/2 red marker and before it enters the fully red marking, when I do this I never touch the limiter. Pay particular attention when pulling away from junctions etc. a bit to much power and the nearside wheel will spin up and the revs will rise rapidly. I learned this from experiance!

2. Be aware that the weakest point / most likely failure mode is the oil seals inside the charger. The oil seals stop the oil that lubricates the bearings from getting into the compression chambers where the induction air is flowing. If the oil seals are old and weak you can break the seal through rapid rises in oil pressure. In reality this means accelerating hard in low gears with cold oil; cold oil is thicher than hot oil and the pressure rises normaly with revs because the pump is driven at a speed relative to the engine revs.

3. G40's are massivly addictive. you will think that you have enough torque now, but you will learn how to tame the beast and then you will be ready for more! Everybody else will under estimate the potential of your rocket, and you will smile while you watch you hard earned dissapear off the fule gauge!

4. The best web resource for G40's is www.polog40.co.uk

Edited 9 July, 200818 yr by RAW

1. Apart from the obvious why would it have had a rebuild... I see it as a good thing?

Charger rebuilds are said to last around 30k, and many older 1 or 2 owner G40s have had the same charger unserviced for 90k or more.

Its usually worth sending your charger off to be looked at by G-werks or similar to find out if it has or not, they will advise you of any previous rebuilds and if they have included any porting on the chargers internals, condition of the seals and scroll and let you know how much life is left in it, and then you can get them to rebuild it for you if neccessary.

Failing that speak to the SupaHands and ask him if he ever found out in his time of ownership.

They could mean Engine Rebuild, as its had an uprated camshaft the internals of the engine may have been looked at and replaced. Or they could just mean headgasket and cambelt was done.

2. The car is idling how it should be but she shakes like fook from time to time and the exhaust rattles, so I think from inside that's making it sound worse? It's almost as if she's spitting and coughing?

It could be the mild cam thats fitted making the idle fluctuate ever so slightly and as this happens your exhaust will rattle aswell, the rubbers tend to perish over time so slide under the car and check out the condition of them on the hangers on either side of the exhaust, they are pennies to replace. It could also be the heatsheild rattling against the exhaust.

Does the spitting and coughing come at idling or when you take your foot off the accelerator? The car may have had the Boost return valve which causes the car to dump the excess boost pressure into the atmosphere and resembles a sneeze

3. Noisy speedo cable and the odd loud rattle from behind the dash, easily fixed? But once I have my stereo etc put it I’m not going to be able to hear it anyway!

Speedo cables are cheap to replace and mk3s are rife with speaks, just try and get someone to hold bits one when your driving to try and locate the squeaks, failing that get your tunes in and on loud

4. The temperature gauge sits at its highest until you start to drive!?! Then she drops all the way down - Is that normal?

I drove back from Nottingham yesterday [bearing in mind I flew home, 130mph at times haha] and she was fine, I popped in to show her off to someone so she was warm

Then when I started her up the temp was at peak and it did drop when the fan kicked in

But I’ve noticed that she starts off high and only drops to normal when I drive?

Previous owner also said that you can sit in traffic and it be on 100 but it will never overheat, is that normal?

Not too sure, you could check the theromostat is working properly by popping it in a tub of boiling hot water to see if it opens. Could also just be a faulty temp sensor, i think the VAG-COM plug in computer will tell you that, KarlCLCoupe has one so you could ask him to give you a demonstration at a show and tell you if its kicking out any errors

5. When driving along between 30-40 when I was resting my hand on the gear knob, I can feel it pulsing, like she has a heartbeat haha erm, hard to describe but it’s like the gear stick is moving slightly forwards and back again, why would she be doing that?

As said above its just engine movement usually, your gearstick is connected via a series of rods and levers to the gearbox on the side of the engine. as the engine rocks about under acceleration and when you take your foot off the pedal is causes the gearbox to seeming pulse. Usually constant pulsing means you could consider replacing your engine mounts to help minimise the transfer of energy into lateral motion of yer engine rocking it back n forth

6. Unfortunately I’m not that lucky to know the ins and outs of a car engine, though I would love to, so I’m a bit retarded. Where on the charger would be marked to show if it has been serviced?

I know it’s JS... as soon as I have the cash I need to get it in.

I'm pretty sure one of the charger rebuilders paint the charger a different colour but I'm not certain, failing any stickers on the charger you cant tell without taking it apart, a trip down to Jabba/G-Werx and I'm sure they would have it out for you and tell you what the charger is like

Sorry to have bored you with my essay, that’s all I can think off for now I’ll keep updating as and when I need to ask something.

Also speak to Cam and TainMk3Polo, Cam had a g40 and Tains brother is always sticking a G engine into something stupid, so they should be able to help give some helpful advice and a look over the car in person

Thanks RAW, done

Thank you so much Grunge

with regard to servicing it when i get a new car i always give it a full service no matter where the miles are at and then continue as normal after that i.e. if i got a car with 46000 on it i would give it a full service then another full service at 50000 then back to the usuall oil and filter change every 5k and full service every 10k.

its worth the cost of 1 extra service to make sure it has been done imo. didnt you get any service history? for a car that supposedly had so much spent on it id be surprised if you didnt

Guys,

Can we keep the bitching to PM's, she only wants to know a few answers to her G40 questions so lets play nicely :-D

Sal. x

Don't worry about it, made me chuckle

Don't worry about it, made me chuckle

Oh, i missed out, were they bullying you??

Used to see this G roaming around Ilkeston, mint car.

Above advice is very good, as said main thing is not hitting the limiter and letting it warm up before thrashing it.

Don't worry about it, made me chuckle

Nothing I can't handle kerrly

Don't worry about it, made me chuckle

Nothing I can't handle kerrly

I wanted to join in the bullying thats all

----> polo3

I was so sorry to see it drive away. I only bought it as a stop gap type of thing when i'd just got back from travelling.. but predictably I fell in love with it! It had to go though because i'd bought a dirty Fiat:

Fiat Coupe Limitd Edition

20V Turbo

It remains to be seen if this turns out to be as reliable as the Polo(i'm guessing not) but for me, performance and looks wise it's ace.

Just a note on the temperature - it shouldn't get anywhere near to the red. It always sat at about halfway for me in traffic and lower still when moving.

Shame i never got to see your old G at a Derby meet ..

Looks like abit of a beasty you have now though a bit of a change form a 80's pocket rocket ..

I was so sorry to see it drive away. I only bought it as a stop gap type of thing when i'd just got back from travelling.. but predictably I fell in love with it! It had to go though because i'd bought a dirty Fiat:

Just a note on the temperature - it shouldn't get anywhere near to the red. It always sat at about halfway for me in traffic and lower still when moving.

I actually felt bad taking her away from you haha your face when I went to leave

One last picture too

Temperature has settled down now, actually normal

But it was sat real high for a few days, strange

I actually felt bad taking her away from you haha your face when I went to leave

One last picture too

Temperature has settled down now, actually normal

But it was sat real high for a few days, strange

The G punches well above its weight. I certainly will miss embarrassing the reps in their Passats and 3 series' down the A52 in her.

The temperature thing might be down to me opening the expansion tank when it was hot like a complete noob and it spraying everywhere. Have you checked the levels since we topped it up that day? It could be slightly low?

Shame i never got to see your old G at a Derby meet ..

Looks like abit of a beasty you have now though a bit of a change form a 80's pocket rocket ..

I am sorry I never got round to going to a meet too. There's much more of a scene with vdubs.

The coupe is my new fat bitch it's nice having the leather and climate control and more actual car surrounding me.. i've got a feeling she's gonna be a hella lot moody than the Polo though!

I actually felt bad taking her away from you haha your face when I went to leave

One last picture too

Temperature has settled down now, actually normal

But it was sat real high for a few days, strange

The G punches well above its weight. I certainly will miss embarrassing the reps in their Passats and 3 series' down the A52 in her.

The temperature thing might be down to me opening the expansion tank when it was hot like a complete noob and it spraying everywhere. Have you checked the levels since we topped it up that day? It could be slightly low?

Course I have Yeah she's fine

Give me some time to get her the way I want her and i'll come visit and you can take her for a spin

I don't think I could bear to see it drive away twice!! But yeah if you find yourself in the area it'd be good to see it again in its new form once it's done.

Edited 14 July, 200818 yr by SuperHans