rado vr engine down on power

[Russvrt 85]

i have a 93 rado vr on 186k and it just feels down on power im going to give it a good service nxt week what should i change apart from plugs and oil,is there anything i should clean ,check??that could be saping pwer?

im also restoring a mk1 golf so cant spent too much££ on rado at moment ,but once mk1 finnished i will be re building the vr engine and either turboing or s charging it ,just want it running well as its my daily driver at moment.,

cheers.,

[Scott 0]

the maf mate lol

it'll be a 5 pin bosch platinum hotwire job, wi an aluminium heatsink and a thick brown hoop inside - will be getting tired or crapped up by now, pins 1 & 2 are grounds, 3 is maf signal, 4 is 12v power, and 5 is the burn-off signal to the wire to heat to 1000 degC for 20 secs after switch off, to clean itself. That may have failed, but the platinum wire erodes over time from the continuous superheat cleaning cycle and becomes less accurate or fails eventually. Also cone filters can lead to rattling and vibration of the element, cracking solder joints inside and upsetting the calibration.

You can try cleaning it with maf or carb spray, very delicate so be careful but if it fails be ready to hunt ebay or here, cos vw want £120 for an obd1 sensor, and even GSF are £81 until you send your old one to them, and they refund £25.

On ebay or here, a second hand one would do if yours fails completely.

Worth checking the compression too, especially on the 2 outside cyls , as the head is prone to leaking at the ends if the gasket is weak from age.