New member; New mk3; New concerns..

[btwilson86]

Sounds like your timing could be off. Little bit of worked involved to check this, but if you spend a little time to get the upper timing cover off, use a 19mm socket and rotate the engine over until the timing mark on the crankshaft meets the "0" on the lower timing plate. If your timing is good, every other time the crank mark hits "0" the little mark on the cam gears will line up with the vertical marks on the plate behind the cam gears.

Keep in mind that wont check ignition timing. Ignition timing is set by the distributor (on N.A models) or the cam position sensor (on turbo models). Both of which will require the use of a timing light to check. Basic timing lights are relatively inexpensive, and are fairly simple to use. Adjustment of the distributor or CPS is a matter of loosening one screw and rotating the assembly.

Now that I think of it, you might wanna just see if yours is lose. Grab a hold of it and see it you can move it by hand, if so that could have slipped causing your issue.