stevemac

The belt that I fitted was standard equipment on an Audi 80 a few years ago. Identical in every way to the original G60 belt, just over 20mm (may have been 22 or 23mm) shorter. Tension looks good, although this belt is possibly still very slightly too long.

Can't remember exactly but the belt is approx 25mm shorter than standard. Using standard tensioner & idler pulleys. Replaced all pulleys approx 3 weeks ago (idler pulley, tensioner pulley & cambelt tensioner pulley) as part of my diagnosis. "dubster82" - Charger pulley is 68mm and not 65mm as I thought, so warranty is still valid. I'll re-post in a couple of days, after I've had chance to speak to the company who did the rebuild.

No comment - and I don't really care which forum he reads

Didn't get any of the old parts back at all. If this thing blows before I can take it back - they WILL warranty it (I can be very persuasive when I need to be). They fit smaller pulleys & re-chips in their own workshop.

More noise is to be expected but this sounds to me like a faulty bearing. The rattle (at idle) when the engine is warming up is clearly audible both inside and outside the car & makes it sound like a right "shed". It is this rattle which concerns me & makes me think there is a problem. The rattle sounds very much like a faulty bearing. The sound when hot is very similar in volume & tone to an old "air raid" siren as used during WW2.

Since I recently (April) had my 'charger modified to R1 spec, it seems to have developed a strange noise. When I start the car from cold the charger is quiet. After a few minutes, when it starts to warm up, at idle it rattles like a loudish "bag of spanners". When fully warmed up, it screams VERY LOUDLY. The noise (even at idle rpm) when hot is like an extremely LOUD faulty bearing whine. I kept the revs below 3k for the first 500 miles and after 1k miles, I fitted a 65mm pulley & shorter (genuine Audi/VW) belt. It has taken me a while to locate exactly where this noise was coming from (due to the volume) & mpg is now starting to drop.

Sounds like a very unfortunate experience. It is very unlikely that you will get any kind of refund from this garage. Do you have a local newspaper ?? I would contact them as this may be your "lever" to use against the garage. Tell your local 'paper the situation. They may decide to run a "story" and ultimately may ruin whatever good reputation this garage may have had. I would imagine the 'paper will be pleased to hear from you as this kind of story will be of interest to many local people and therefore sell more newspapers. Remove your car from this garage (if you haven't already) and use a more reputable dealer/specialist. Any offers from this garage of either compensation or re-doing of any work should be obtained in writing as this is technically an admission of guilt/wrongdoing by them.

Spare bulb kit is usually a good idea

Looks good, Hans....... :thumbleft:

I've calmed down a bit now. Like "Valver" says I can't really go into too much detail. The problem with "insured losses" is that the police don't really give this type of crime much importance. I'm a big believer in "what goes around - comes around". If people want to burgle houses or steal cars then they must be prepared to accept the consequences and I don't mean just a slap on the wrist by the police !! Fortunately my Scirocco wasn't worth too much money & the excitement of last night easily compensated for the loss of the car... :wink: Happily, my Corrado has an alarm/immobilisation system which means that to steal it the thief would need a low-loader.

Some, rather unfortunate, guy decided to steal (and write-off) my Scirocco 1.8i on Saturday night....... :( A neighbour of mine managed to grab hold of the thieve's accomplice. After a shortish period of "interrogation", this accomplice was "very happy" to provide the name & address of the thief. Just got home tonight...............don't think this thief is gonna be stealing any more cars for a while....... :wink:

Darkish wheels suit black cars much better than chrome IMO.

I can usually get around 350 miles from a full tank (15 gallons) of optimax. My car is not yet set up correctly & I'm running what I suspect to be a "dodgy" chip.

Your car should run very badly with the blue temp sensor disconnected. The automatic timing advance mechanism in the ECU will not be functioning. This should mean that when your engine revs rise, the running becomes progressively worse - holding back etc. Try connecting the plug which should plug onto the blue temp sensor onto the black temp sensor instead. The black temp sensor is essentially the same part and only controlls the dash temp indicator. If this makes your engine run correctly then your blue temp sensor is faulty. Set the timing to approx 6 degrees BTDC (depending on the octane rating of fuel that you use - high octane = 7 degrees BTDC) with the blue temp sensor disconnected. Connect plug to a correctly functioning blue temp sensor and you should be okay. Also check the condition of your "knock" sensor & cable. This will be bolted to the front of your engine with a thickish black cable coming from it. Visually check the condition of the cable - it is fairly common for the this to wear. Hope this makes sense

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That's exactly the setup that I've got. Works great & well worth the £40 (genuine VW) that I paid for the whole lot... :lol:

Shouldn't be pinking as the G60 has a anti-knock sensor which would automatically retard the timing. G60 timing check or adjustment must be done after disconnecting the blue temp sensor while the engine is running. This will disable the corrective timing controlled by the ECU. If it is pinking then you have a fault either with the blue temp sensor or the anti-knock sensor/cable. Blue temp sensor can be checked by connecting the plug to the black temp sensor instead - it this cures the fault then you need a new blue temp sensor. If your engine cuts out while you're disconnecting the blue temp sensor then your timing requires adjusting. Timing should be set to 6 degrees BTDC (7 degrees if using Optimax)

Gonna start shopping around during October - I'll be telling my current insurance company to go and fu*k themselves... :lol:

Mine's now about as low as a Corrado will go - approx 80mm drop. I can't even get it into the local Asda car park !! The improved handling really does make up for it though. It corners like a train with absoloutely no body-roll whatsoever. The grip (dry or wet) on my Eagle F1 205/40wr17's is absoloutely fantastic.

Mine's currently (until November) £1600 fully comp. 34 yrs old & 9 points

"X" reg Vauxhall Astra 1.6SR was my most unfortunate car. Three days after buying it, I blew the engine (2 con-rods through the crankcase!! ). Bought & fitted another engine - £500. Around 6 weeks later, I fell asleep while driving to work and completely smashed it up - ending up in a farmer's field. Nice, full Recaro, interior though !!

Ooohhhh - I can't wait to find out..... :lol:

I think that will be the "adjustment" that my friend with the body repair workshop was talking about. I bought the car in April this year (full VWSH). The car has had it's n/s/r wing resprayed at sometime in the past. The respray is a very good paint job - the only thing that gives it away is that the side moulding was masked rather than removed when the paint was applied. I'm not aware of any history of the rear subframe, hopefully I'll just need some new bushes... :D I think the best "plan of action" will be to remove the rear subframe and inspect it to see exactly what the problem is. I'll just have to use one of my other cars to get to work while it's off the road... :(

Leeds - West Yorkshire (originally from York)... :lol:

Cheers for the advice. Now the car is lowered, the misalignment of the back subframe is fairly easy to see. It appears that the subframe has been mounted approx 5mm too far to the n/s. Not really noticable at the standard height. I spoke to a friend who owns a body repair whorkshop close to where I live and he says that there is a small amount of sideways adjustment that can be done. The n/s/r wing has been repainted at some time in the past and I'm assuming that either they have just remounted the subframe in the wrong position or it may have been slightly bent.