Hello All, 

 

New to the forum & not sure where the best place to put this was so Mods please feel free to move.

 

Looking for help/tips/buying guide for a mk2 polo Derby 1989. From the pictures it looks in fairly good shape, few dings around the body work & carb needs some work but interior is sweet & no other major issues that I can see.

 some common problems, 

 

rusty fuel filler neck, tends to go at the bend at the bottom, tanks are not expensive to replace 

rust around the battery tray area

pierberg carbs get a dirty and need a clean / adjust now and again,  mines still going @180k

the rubber gasket holding the carb perishes causing running problems , easy to replace

hot air feed pipe perishes

if overheated in the past the headgasket can fail in the corner, seeps oil onto alternator

check for oil leaks on the gearbox selector shaft

check for wear/play in gear linkage mechanism, rebuild parts available on ebay

it should be relatively rust free but give it a good going over, 

try and find out when last cambelt / water pump was done, engines are really solid if looked after 

 

if you do a search on google for mk2 polo  buyers guide it will bring up some old threads on here, 

 

On 15/01/2018 at 00:23, Retrospoke said:

 some common problems, 

 

rusty fuel filler neck, tends to go at the bend at the bottom, tanks are not expensive to replace 

rust around the battery tray area

pierberg carbs get a dirty and need a clean / adjust now and again,  mines still going @180k

the rubber gasket holding the carb perishes causing running problems , easy to replace

hot air feed pipe perishes

if overheated in the past the headgasket can fail in the corner, seeps oil onto alternator

check for oil leaks on the gearbox selector shaft

check for wear/play in gear linkage mechanism, rebuild parts available on ebay

it should be relatively rust free but give it a good going over, 

try and find out when last cambelt / water pump was done, engines are really solid if looked after 

 

if you do a search on google for mk2 polo  buyers guide it will bring up some old threads on here, 

 

For the previous overheating issue regarding the crack in the corner, is this a common fault on the 1.3 SPI's that you know of? Many thanks, Kieran.

On 06/03/2018 at 23:06, MK2FKieran said:

For the previous overheating issue regarding the crack in the corner, is this a common fault on the 1.3 SPI's that you know of? Many thanks, Kieran.

 

found this link with some good photo's, its the water seal / oil guides in the corner that I have seen weeping, last photo shows it well,

mines currently in the garage getting it fixed!  im sure its the same on spi could be wrong if you find a photo of the headgasket with the seal in the corner then i would say its a possibility.

https://vwgolfmk1.org.uk/forum/index.php?page=topicview&id=small-block-carb-engines_2%2Fhead-gasket-remove-and