Hey all

First of all Im brand new to this site so a brief introduction.

I brought a 96/97 Gen 1 2.0se Coupe last year as a inbetween car, I had changed jobs and needed something that would be a bit of fun and was not a lot of money. I found the above car and my wife has been bombing around in it ever since.

The time has come to make a decision, keep it or sell it. Tbh I want to keep it and spend some money on it and give it a boost in its old age, however a couple of things concern me and I dont want to shell out loadsa cash and then find she's beyond economical help.

That brings me to my first problem, On pulling away I get a judder, depending on my revs it really does rattle ya fillings, the more revs the smoother it can be but it sounds like I'm racing away at every pull away. I had the engine checked for compression and all was fine there so I decided that the plugs and ignition leads would be first option, they needed a change so it was a good exercise anyway. Unfortunatly it didnt seem to help, at first I thought it did but it must have been my imagination. So if theres any ideads please let me know.

My second and maybe bigger problem is on the steering, basically my steering wheel does not sit straight, ie when going in a straight line the horizontal of the wheel is sitting at an angle, I thought an easy fix with a trip to the garage for tracking etc but I was told all the wheels lined up fine. Without shelling out x amount of £'s with the garage I have lived with this problem, however if Im gonna do this I want a smooth a ride as possible and that will bug me if its not done.

I will let you guys digest these couple of issues and would be grateful for any ideas or tips, thanks in advance

Daz

try taking it to a different garage for the wheel alignment. if they also say its straight, consider the lower arms.

It can be normal for the steering wheel to be off sometimes as a resault of the camber of the road, and sometimes combined with the tyre choice. the Coupes have been known for being a PITA with regards to tracking.

As for the juddering, have you checked the engine and gearbox mounts??? if they are fine it could also be a rubbish clutch. cheap ones tend to judder and make some noise. do you know if the clutch has been changed at all? and have you had the hydraulic system checked? on my Siii i noticed the clutch seemed a bit juddery when it was low on fluid.

hope this helps

Ta for the rapid response mate,

I see what you mean when mentioning camber etc, seems to have the problem on all roads, motorways etc, will do like you suggest and get a second opinion from elsewhere though.

With the judder, I personally havent had the clutch changed or looked at, and now you mention it I feel a bit dumb for not thinking of it myself, I just took for granted that it only happened when in a low gear pulling away, hmmm a new clutch wouldn't hurt if not too expensive on the project anyway. As for the engine mounts again I'll look into that and see what I find.

Thanks again for your response....I'll update with any progress.

Daz

no worries, im sure there will be more to be added from others on here

make sure they lock the steering wheel in place, put flags on the rear wheels aswell. that makes sure the car will run true and not 'crab'.

as above, take it to a reputable garage. ask them to track the car but that you want the steering wheel straightening, will take about 20-30minutes for them to do, they will need to lock the steering wheel in place and then track the wheels from scratch, i need to get this done at some point, but an off centre steering wheel isnt that much of an issue tbh.


judder, pretty simple on for that, its your transmission, i would guess that either your clutch is on its way out, or you have a worn engine mount. Clutch would be my bet but ask a garage to have a quick look at the mounts first as they are easier to get to.

Hey

Thanks for the advice guys, replacing the disks and pads front and rear tomorrow then off to the garage, thanks again so far.

Regards

Daz