Roger Blassberg

Mrs. B. set off on Saturday morning in our venerable Passat B4, bound for Manchester. 2 hours later she rang to say that things had gone bad and that it had cut out on the M6 with no more warning than a "hot smell". Fortunately we are covered for full recovery, although it took them until 1300, i.e. 90 minutes later, to attend to her, a lone female driver. After 20 minutes bu@@ering about, they trailered the car to Sandbach service area, (Cheshire I think) where it was collected, together with Mrs. B. and brought back to St Albans, arriving at 1730. Within 5 minutes of its arrival on my driveway, I had diagnosed, without any special equipment other than a Mk. 1 Human Brain and a socket set, that there was a fuel supply but no spark and that the ignition transformer was the most likely culprit. Purchase of a new one on Sunday morning cured the problem, by which time her weekend had been thoroughly screwed up. So what are these tw@ts doing? They are a shadow of the former "get you going" types who could fix just about anything at the roadside or at the very least at a garage. On a Saturday lunchtime I venture to guess that they could have located a transformer fairly easily in the West Midlands/NorthWest , undone 2 bolts and 2 wiring connections in 5 minutes or so, fitted the box of tricks and sent her on her merry way. OK, they got her and the car home, safe and sound, but with a bit of extra effort from them I would be here telling you all about what fine people they are. Instead of which............ Best wishes RB

Bolts all start to turn, I just have not yet fully undone them. So it sounds like it might be one of those very rare things, "An Easy Job". Thanks all Best wishes RB

Is it as simple as undoing the four bolts, (two each side) from under the boot floor, and pulling the bumper back from the car, or are there any other fixings to the sides? Best wishes RB

Try checking the ECU Relay. Position 3 on the fuseboard (3rd from left on the top row, probably marked with the number 109). Put your finger on the relay as you switch the ignition on, you should feel it click if it's ok. If not, replace it. Are you sure you are getting fuel or are you just taking the RAC man's word for it? Otherwise, it could be a broken wire somewhere which can be a real pain because of all the tracing you need to do. Best wishes RB

Jon picked up the calipers yesterday, so no longer available. Best wishes RB

As I understand it, disconnecting the MAF does not mean that you need to do a basic settings, only if you isolate the ECU from the battery as The Good Doctor has said. And I have been told that the $99 deal with Ross Tech includes basic settings. Could it be that the MAF connections are somehow intermittent since you fiddled about with it? Maybe a good clean of the pins and the connector socket are your solution. Best wishes RB

I'm using 15W/40 and have no issues with cold starting (although when was the weather last really cold??). 206k miles and acceptable oil consumption. Best wishes RB

I have a pair of 280mm calipers and carriers complete with hoses. You can collect from St Albans for £25 if you want them. Best wishes RB

My VR is just about to turn 206k. I have had it for the last 57k and it has had a replacement cylinder head. I uses a bit of oil (maybe 500ml per 1000 miles, including a very minor leak) but by no means is it oily. The timing chains are now a bit musical and it may be that this is its second set (no record of their having been changed, but I can't say one way or the other), and the clutch will get replaced at the same time. There is a little bit of piston slap for the first minute or so but again this is only to be expected and is by no means excessive. It gave 190bhp at Stealth 2 years ago. As others have said, change the oil and (genuine) filter every 5-6000miles and drive gently until thoroughly warmed up. Deal with any overheating as a matter of utmost urgency. The gearchange down from 3rd to 2nd is sometimes a little obstructive but doesn't grate. My Passat B4 16V (ABF engine)has done 175k with nothing done to the engine apart from a repacement of the cam cover gasket, plugs and HT leads and a breather hose, plus regular attention to the cam belt and tensioner, replaced with OEM parts. All water hoses are original. The hydraulic tappets clatter for about one second on start-up. It uses perhaps a bit more oil than the VR so the valve guides/seals may be tired. It gets a change every 5000 miles. The synchro on 2nd gear can be beaten especially on the up change oddly enough. That's it!! Two living testaments to superior engineering. I wonder if the recently acquired Jaguar will be similarly long-lived. Best wishes RB

You can get an adaptor for a compressed air line which screws into the plug hole and holds up the valves whilst you take off the springs, collets etc. So you can replace the stem seals in situ. I would certainly do this before stripping the bottom end. Best wishes RB

I would strongly advise that you notify your insurance company of the circumstances, and get her details even if you don't want to make a claim from either of them at the moment. She is legally bound to give you that information; if she won't, get Plod involved. That way, if she suddenly disappears or starts to make a claim against you, then you are in the clear. Best wishes RB

Er, I have to disagree. I have an S-Type R which will "waft" if you want it to but it will pick up its skirt and sprint too if you switch to the more enthusiastic gearbox programme and get the supercharger properly woken up. It gets a bit thirsty though. best wishes RB

The very end of the starter motor spindle is supported by a bronze bush which sits in the gearbox casing. This wears and can cause the noise that I think you are describing - mine does the same, after the engine has started for a second or two whilst the starter motor is coming to rest. My local specialist says that, "they all do that eventually". The bush is available for a few pennies, but changing it is a bit laborious. Take out the starter motor and you'll see the bush in the gearbox casing where it supports the end of the starter spindle. Either split the bush by sawing with a junior hacksaw blade (it's soft metal so it shouldn't take long) or fill the bush with grease and drive a close fitting bar into the bore of the bush - this should force it out of its recess. Then tap in the new one. Clean the starter pinion and its guide and re-assemble, then say goodbye to noisy starter misery. Best wishes RB

This is the oil cooler which is integral with the oil filter housing; the oil gives up some of its heat to the water when the engine is hot. There are two water hoses, one in and one out. If one has deteriorated to that extent, you can rest assured that the other one will also give up quite soon unless it has already been replaced so have a good look whilst you're in there. Access is very restricted, you may well need to do a fair amount if dismantling to get at it properly. If you use straight hose, make sure that there are no kinks in it when fitting ; I would advise using the proper moulded hoses, but your location may mean that you have a long wait for them to arrive. Alternatively replace all your hoses with Samco silicone rubber ones (in a lurid colour of your choice) and say goodbye to leaking hose misery. As advised before, the crack pipe may well be fragile by now and may not survive the disturbance, so if you have it all stripped down to do the oil cooler hoses it may be a good time to replace that as well together with O-rings. It's extra expense but would be worth it in the long run. The other leak-prone plastic bit is the elbow where the top hose goes into the radiator. Best wishes RB

It sounds like the plastic water transfer pipe which runs along the front of the engine commonly known as the Crack Pipe, (presumably because it cracks or am I missing something here???). The parts are cheap enough bit it's a bu@@er to get at. If you are going to keep the car for a long time it would be worth investing in a stainless steel one. Best wishes RB

When he was 74 my father bought an XKR Jaguar. He lives in Germany and most certainly does not hang about. I must confess to being rather nervous as a passenger generally, but 270kph with a pilot that old could be a very effective laxative..... Best wishes RB

I would suspect that your insurance company will have something discouraging to say about this WHEN you tell them. And unless you are an olympic-standard weight lifter you will find parking and low-speed manoeuvring all but impossible. I had a Mk 2 Golf GTi without PAS, 185/60 tyres, and it was a real chore to park it; with 205/50 tyres it's going to be hernia inducing (not to mention dangerous). Best wishes RB

The advice on just getting in and driving will change my winter behaviour as I have frequently let the engine idle for a few minutes in the cold weather. Many thanks. It should also have a beneficial effect on fuel consumption overall. best wishes RB

The earlier VR uses a hot wire MAF which is about 3 times the price of the hot film MAF used in later models. You need to quote your chassis number to get the right one. Best wishes RB

The plastic lead removing tool does just that, it removes (and repositions) the lead, not the plug. In my experience the plastic tool is total cr@p as the lugs break off - you would do well to invest in the Hazet metal tool from that nice Mr. VAG. The plug is removed and replaced with a plug socket and extension bar. Don't over tighten; the head is aluminium so fairly easy to strip the thread if you go mad with a long socket drive handle. And be careful not to cross-thread the plugs. On a safety note, it's best not to take HT leads off with the engine running; a 30kV shock will make your eyes water (rather like Michael Gambon but for a different reason) and the bonnet latches will make a mess of your scalp as you involuntarily jump up. Best wishes RB

Sounds like I'm not the only one with this then. Mine (206k miles) does exactly the same and has done so for at least the last 35k. to my certain knowledge. As others have said, it goes away completely after the engine has warmed up, presumably because the piston skirts expand and take up the clearance. I just take it very steadily during the warm up period and it hasn't got any worse for quite a while. Plugs are staying good and clean and there is no excessive smoking or oil consumption so I assume that the oil control rings are still in reasonably close contact with the bores (!!). And on these cold damp mornings she absolutely flies. Best wishes RB

It has been said before, but this bears repetition; "make sure you can undo the filler plug before you drain the oil out". Best wishes RB

This sounds exactly like the situation I had a few weeks ago. The driver's side spindle was very loose and when I took out the mechanism it was clear that one of the rivets holding the spindle to the frame was broken. I drilled the offending rivet out and replaced the it with a nut and bolt (M6 if I remember correctly) with spring washers to keep it all tight. It now works perfectly and the Lupo wipers are good at absolutely any road speed. Best wishes RB

I understand that the other thing that can go wrong is that you damage the extension to the head gasket, the part that separates the two halves of the timimg cover. You need to be very careful when it is exposed. Best wishes RB

Pictures follow tomorrow, if I can work out how to extract them from my phone........ Best wishes RB