> 1) the car is not heating up fast
>I still have this problem myself in Canada, and I have done change of
>radiator(was dead), flush of cooling fluid, change water pump, and heater
>core..
>when its -20'c outside... its just damn hard for this rocco to warm up. I can
>only get 10'c into my car, if I let it sit on the corner of the street for 20
>mins idling until
>it warms up the cooling system, but once I hit the road... That water temp
>needle drops like a rock to the coldest part of the gauge, and I get barely
>tepid air.
Been there - also Canadian, but not so cold :) I have found in the winter you can run a mk2 (at least around here) with a disconnected waterpump and the air cooling keeps it running just fine. Wouldn't suggest idling too long though :) Solved most of that problem by building a few slide in lexan inserts that you can attach to various spots air flows into your engine bay. Keeps the cold air from freezing everything up inside.
> 2) hard to start
>Now this I had recentrly problem with, you changed the battery, does the car
>turn over? or does it turn over and sputter then spots (and so on and so forth
>unto noseaum)?
I have had many problems with the grounding in the MK2's I have owned. I always run an extra ground from the engine block direct to the battery now, and have not had a hard starting problem in a long time. Easiest route I have found is from the valve cover to the fender to the battery. Just make sure it is good gauge wire.