briggy

I don't know enough about this kind of stuff to decide for sure if it's bull****, but the fact that he lives in "goobely gop" makes me think it is. Isn't that slang for bull****? Cheers, Bryan

It looks like the woooot noise was the clutch release bearing. I've now sold the Corrado but get the same noise on my new car! Fortunately for me, this is under warranty (BMW 330 coupe) so I've dodged a very large bullet there. Mechanic diagnosed the noise straight away when he heard it. Cheers, Bryan

Changing the hydraulic tensioner bolt hasn't cured the problem. Out of ideas now. Cheers, Briggy

The oil pressure switch is on top of the oil filter. There's a rubber cover on it. Take that off, then slide the wire off the top, unscrew the old one and refit in reverse. Cost £2.50 + VAT from GSF. There's aleast 2 different types - blue and black. I too am looking forward to a drive with no oil patches! Cheers, Briggy

Ok mate. I misread your reply and thought you were having a bit of a pop at me. I feel a bit red faced now! Anyway, my problem was caused by water getting in, so once I fixed that, it went away. I also opened all the doors and left it in the hot sun (last summer) for nature to take its course. I'm not really sure what specific course of action to suggest, but I guess you could hunt for any sitting water and make sure its drainage path is clear. Let us know when you get to the bottom of it. Cheers, Briggy

Feel free to ignore my suggestion, but sarcasm is not required. You said your car had been sat for a while, but didn't say how long. Last time mine sat in heavy rain for a few days, it wouldn't start easily. It also ran badly for the first few miles. Since I replaced the leaky windscreen & the bottom window gasket on the driver's door, it's been fine. My point was that water in the electrics can cause unusual behaviour and the fact that the car had sat for a while made me wonder if this was the case. Best of luck finding the cause. Cheers, Briggy

Could be water in the electrics causing a short circuit?

Not exactly hot topic of the day judging by the number of replies, but I thought I'd post about the progress so far. Been to Vince at Stealth Racing. I do NOT have a faulty head gasket. The mayo is caused by condensation. This itself is caused by short journeys. Only gets to 76C when driving home from work. Makes sense in principal, but makes even more sense when you consider that it's only started since I did an oil change myself. Imagine all that lovely cold air coming in through the open oil filler cap while I'm draining the sump. Of course normally its effectively sealed, hence why there's normally no mayo. Gave it a good thrashing on the way up there and guess what? Less mayo. Got home and guess what? No mayo at all. The oil around the seam is normal. Mine just has a dark line, but no oil trails running down. Phew. The clutch is making the wooot noise. The bite point is still very low which means there's plenty of meat left on it. He told me not to do anything about it until the timing chains are done. Currently on 117,000 miles so won't be that long. The whining may be caused by the timing chain tensioner hydraulic bolt. We think this is on its way out, therefore struggles to pump cold, thick oil. As the engine warms up & the oil thins, it's fine. This means that it's not tensioning the tensioner properly when cold. Ouch! I've got a new one and will report back when it's been fitted. Cheers, Briggy

Ok technical problem with photos now sorted. Wasn't sure if I should continue my previous topic as I was talking about new stuff too. Figured that some people who may be able to help with new problem wouldn't read an old subject unless they'd previously been following it. Sorry if this was bad form. Cheers, Briggy

I have a 1995 M reg VR6 with 117,000 miles on it. Original clutch & timing chains / tensioners. I've been investigating several noises recently and I think I've got to the bottom of one, plus discovered some other problems. 1. A "wooot" noise when setting off in first (about 30% of the time), somtimes when changing to second (about 5% of the time) and very rarely when changing to third. It happens as I take my foot off the clutch. It's been like that for ages and I've always suspected the clutch. The other day, the clutch slipped. I floored it in 3rd at 60mph. Normally a very pleasant experience, but this time, it took off, then I lost power but the revs continued to rise, then regained power and all was well again. Sound like a slipping clutch? 2. A whining noise when the engine is cold. The pitch increases with the revs. It's not the PAS pump, the alternator or the water pump. I know this because I disconnected the aux belt and the noise was still there. Apologies for going over these 2 points again as I've already posted about these noises. Now I've noticed something else : 3. Mayonnaise on the oil filler cap. Does this always mean a failed head gasket? The photos attached (hopefully) show what I think is oil leakage from the engine where I guess the head gasket lives. These are taken while standing by the driver's side wheel arch looking across (& down) the car. Can anyone think of a good plan of action? I'm thinking a disappearing car and an insurance claim. Only joking, but I can see this is going to hurt my wallet pretty badly. I still owe £3000 on the car which is worth £4000 tops. I'm also moving house next weekend with a huge mortgage increase. To top it all, I came in to wash my hands and found there's no hot water - the central heating has packed up. Not looking for solutions to all life's problems, but some advice on how to get my car sorted would be really useful just now. Cheers, Briggy

Ok I've completely removed the belt and the noise is still there. So we can rule out the PAS pump, water pump & alternator. I'm really a novice mechanic so what else could it be? Cheers, Briggy

Good idea. That'll narrow it down. Will try that over the weekend. Cheers, Briggy

I've recorded a movie clip on my digital camera. I've no idea how to extract just the sound from it. The file is too large (2.3M) to load onto here. If anyone thinks they could diagnose the problem from the sound and is prepared to send me their email address, I'd be very grateful. Cheers, Briggy

I should add that mine does it when out of gear and also the alternator belt was recently changed. Cheers, Briggy

I'm slowly getting round to sorting the things that annoy me, but don't cause too many problems. Next on the list - I get whining noise when the engine is cold. The pitch varies with the revs and goes completely after about 5 minutes of driving. Has anyone come across this and how did you fix it? Cheers, Briggy