Roger Blassberg

The bulb for the heater controls is behind the middle of the three dials and lights all three (well, sort of). Pull the rotary control off gently, all that stuff is a bit flimsy and easily cracked. Spares from German Swedish and French (known as GSF) which has branches all over the place , or Eurocar Parts in Wembley. Stevemac on this forum will advise you on the nearest GSF, as he is one of their managers. VAG parts tend to be a lot more expensive, but in some cases are of significantly better quality than "pattern" parts. Expect to become a lot more technically adept in the short-term future, out of necessity !! Your first two mods., if they haven't already been done, are 1) Lupo windscreen wipers and, 2) a relay controlled headlight wiring loom. Both are covered in the most intricate detail in the "Sticky" section at the front of the Forum, and will enable you actually to see where you are going in the dark/rain/both. Best wishes, and welcome. RB

I've seen lamda, lambda, even lamtha. And lambada, but that's a different thing altogether.... Best wishes RB

Probably the rubber seal gets harder as it gets colder, and creaks on the surround as the body flexes. Try wiping a very thin smear of grease onto the seal. Best wishes RB

Unclebuck, is it possible that the wiring was damaged when you had all the damage and repairs, or has it only just started playing up? Best wishes RB ps suggest that YOU drink half a bottle of Calpol. Then you won't notice the coughing....

I read somewhere that it is advisable to change the oil after using injector cleaner in the fuel - maybe a bit neurotic, but passed on in good faith. Best wishes RB

Could be the fuel pump relay. I have had 2 fail in the past; one failed dramatically, burning out and wafting a cloud of smoke into the car, the other just became very unreliable. Pull the relay out - I can't remember which one it is- and check that the connector pins are not corroded, (they shouldn't be, the relay is in the fuse box inside the car), or it may be just loose. Does your fuel pump prime when you switch the ignition on to the first position? You should hear it whirr for a second or two and then cut out before you start the engine. Best wishes RB

This was the factory fitted no-cost optional extra which anticipates that you are stopping, and automatically switches on the parking lights half an hour after sunset outside of a built-up area. This is not to be confused with the highly sophisticated system fitted to most white builders' vans: this causes all the tail lights to dim and flash erratically in the extremely unlikely event that the indicators are ever used. But seriously though, folks. I agree that there is an earthing problem somewhere in the front or, more likely, rear bulb holders. Best wishes RB

Brilliant! Best wishes RB

Don't use pipe grips, you'll gouge the surface of the piston and damage the rubber dust seal. The caliper will then be much more susceptible to seizing up The piston needs to be wound back down a thread, (conventional right-hand thread) into the caliper; there is a slot or a pair of holes in the face of the piston into which the pressure plate of the winding tool engages as it is turned. It is quite stiff to turn the winder unless you release the hydraulic pressure by undoing the bleed nipple and directing the fluid through a tube into a jar. You really need two pairs of hands, one to hold the caliper without straining the flexible hose and the other to turn the winder. The winder, made by Sykes Pickavant, is about £20 from Halfrauds; make sure you get the right pressure plate with projections to match your particular piston slot arrangement ; there are all sorts. There's a universal kit but it's a lot more expensive. Once the new pads are in place, offer up the caliper and nip it up using the old bolts. Check that the clearance between the backing plate of the pad and the piston is approx. 1 millimetre (obviously with the handbrake fully off!!!), and adjust if necessary. When you have at last reached correct adjustment, after about 5 goes and much swearing, bolt it all back to full tightness using the new bolts. Reconnect the handbrake cables and then stand on the brake pedal a few dozen times; all this procedure is to set the handbrake adjustment. There is a real possibility that you will find one or other or both calipers are seized up if they are the original cast iron items, so be prepared to get new ones. The demon tweak is to use Mk 3 Golf alloy calipers, and I believe you need to use matching flexible pipes with these (I'm at the ragged edge of my knowledge here and welcome any alteration to this information). It's amazing what a difference this all makes to the braking, especially the handbrake operation. Of course it's even better if you replace the discs at the same time, and the hub bearings, and the ABS rotors........... Best wishes RB

......and another thing ! A very good tip, (found somewhere in here - acknowledgements to the originator), is to make sure you can undo the filler plug before you drain all the oil out. Best wishes RB

You can mis-judge the correct level if the car is jacked up or on a slope - it's best to do it on a hoist, keeping the car level. Best wishes RB

I disconnected the MAF and the idle became unsutainable, so it must be doing something, even if its not doing it exactly right. So. I'll reset the ECU and take it out for a tutoring session. Best wishes RB

Looking at the thread "VR6 ECU reset". Maybe I'll do that as well and see if the MAF settings are adjusted. All you have to do is wait long enough, and the answers turn up eventually.... Best wishes RB

Mine did strange things when the flexible section of the down-pipe developed a split - it confuses the lambda probe. New down pipe was about 120 quid , plus vat, from VW. Best wishes RB

No, the head was a VW exchange unit, complete with cams, followers, valves, the lot. I assume that that means it was a standard-spec combustion chamber volume and therefore a standard CR. I had bl@@dy well better be for the money I paid for it !! I'll do the MAF disconnect test tomorrow, when it has stopped raining, and let you know. Ironically, today the pinking has been much less notieable in the cold, damp air. I greatly appreciate everyone's advice. Best wishes RB

Anyone in the Herts area with a known good VR6 MAF would be welcome to contact me - Timo, you are a bit too far away, but thanks for your suggestion. I have a horrible feeling that a new MAF is expensive - anyone have information, please? Best wishes RB

The pinking is fairly constant on acceleration, probably worse on full throttle, and definitely temperature-dependent (worse at higher engine and/or ambient air temperatures). It doesn't seem to be so bad in the upper rev range, say above 4000. I can't say if there any MAF problems for sure, but fuel comsumption is about 28mpg on my 20 mile commute through moderate traffic, up to 32 on a decent motorway run, driven at a speed where nobody overtakes. :) Maybe that is indication of a lean mixture. (These figures are from the MFA, not corroborated by long-term records of fuel consumed vs. miles driven) Certainly the exhaust analysis figures are well within limits. The engine runs evenly and smoothly, but stalls very occasionally as you coast up to set of lights..."they all do that". Would a MAF fault (other than an outright failure) come up on 1551 / VAGCOM? Are there any tests, other than substituting another one into the induction system and comparing results? This certainly is an avenue for further investigation which had not occured to me up to now. Water temperature is 70 - 80 when bowling along, goes up to 105 max in heavy traffic. Oil temperature is around 100-102 at constant open road driving, but approaches 120 if really pushed. The oil reading, gave me cause for concern when I first had the car; my ABF engined Passat oil temperature gives much lower values. Reading through many threads here has reassured me that this is not unusual for an ABV however. I don't recall the torque figures exactly, but the peak value and the shape of the graph were unsurprising one way or the other. I agree absolutely with your comment on liability for checking the cam timing; it just seems unlikely to be a cause of pinking. Quite honestly, I trust the people who did the cylinder head to have done a good job, but of course mistakes happen... All further contributions to the solution of this will be gratefully received and acknowledged. Best wishes RB

I would think that its more likely to be the water pump, or perhaps the power steering pump, the grinding being the pump bearings and the squeeling being the drive belt slipping on the pulley as it gradually seizes up. So far as I know, the oil pump just wears out as clearances increase but won't get noisy - it is after all bathed in oil the whole time. Are there any symptoms of low oil pressure, such as the warning light flashing on during normal running? Best wishes RB

I believe it lives near to the thermostat housing, and is blue. Best wishes RB

This is becoming a long-running saga. I had the complete cylinder head replaced a year ago. Ever since, the engine has pinked on acceleration, especially badly when the engine is hot after sitting in traffic and/or hgh air temperatures. I run exclusively on 97/98 RON fuel. The knock sensors give no fault on 1551/VAGCOM. New plugs. The ECU has the standard chip. I had a run on Stealth's rolling road and had acceptable power and torque figures (190.1 PS). Following a recent thread from ChrisP, I suspect a faulty injector as a possible cause and rang my local Bosch specialist to ask for a check on them. He suggested that he would need to check the cam timing first to eliminate that in view of the recent top end renewal. Questions; is it likely that cam mis-timing would cause pinking? Would the engine run smoothly, idle well and give full power if the cam timing were out? Is he looking for an extra couple of hours on the bill.......? Best Wishes RB

Lamda probe or its wiring have to be the first suspects, especially if it's stalling and running roughly. It could also be a temperature sensor controlling the mixture enrichment. Best wishes RB

I'm thinking that there may be a similar or related problem with my coilpack VR. It pinks under acceleration despite using 97/98 RON petrol, new plugs, knock sensors cheked on 1551 and VAGCOM, new cylinder head including injector seals, standard ECU. How much are injectors? Can they be serviced? Are they easily removed? Thanks in anticipation of anyone's advice. Best wishes RB

Suggest you have the electrician sitting in passenger seat without seatbelt on when you do the brake test. It might break your windscreen (you probably could do with a new one), but at least you won't hear any more cr@p.... Best wshes RB

That cheers up an otherwise grey afternoon :D Let's hope the "Nice lady in the Mercedes" has a few points on her licence as a result. Best wishes RB

Brake fluid is most certainly not alcohol based. The boiling point of ethyl alcohol is about 80 deg. C, much too low for it to have any place in a braking system - water is useless for the same reason and we change our fluid regularly to get rid of any that may have been absorbed. Brake fuids are either mineral oil or silicone based, with boiling points high enough to prevent vapourisation (and loss of pressure) at the very high temperatures generated by braking. Best wishes RB