andy

I realise it will have to be VR6 specific, I'm just being tight really! I know my backbox was going a bit rusty 20k miles ago when I bought the car. I'm just wondering if I'm looking at cat-back expense or backbox expense when it gives up!

There are microswitches in the handle, you can hear them making and breaking contact when you operate the key to either end of its travel. They either work or they don't if you know what I mean. If the handle is plugged into the loom ok then as you say you have a fooked handle.

Aha I see, cheap related to other Smarts! Sounds well specced though.

I must admit I've never thought of them as cheap, more like horrendously expensive? I could be wrong, how much is very, very cheap?

I've got a standard VW system on my VR at the moment, what I'm wondering is will an aftermarket exhaust backbox alone fit onto that system or would I need an entire cat-back system?

The prices sound awful, rear bearings are sub £20 each and take no more than an hour to do both, depends if they're quoting you for new discs and pads too. That could add up. Coolant wise, are you losing any? If not then they're having a laugh. Even so its not a big job, I changed my housing earlier in the year, cost £25 from VW, about an hour and a half to fit. Clutch bearing, have you noticed any noise that disappears when stationary if you press the clutch in? Thing is if you replacing a clutch bearing you get into timing chain territory, have yours been done? How many miles? I wouldn't bther doing a clutch bearing without chainging timing chains/tensioners whilst at it. Get a 2nd opinion for sure mate.

Not had that as such with Toyos but I did have exactly the same symptoms as you when my original tyres (can't remember the make now) were very low on tread. I put Toyos on and the noise disappeared (for then)!

Indeedy :) Thats what gets my goat anyway, speed camera's are unable to catch careless and what I would describe as "dangerous" drivers but are extremely efective at generating huge amounts of money from people who may be driving appropriately for the conditions but perhaps not always to the letter of the law in terms of speed limits. I know if you get caught there are no excuses, do the crime..pay the fine etc etc I'm just not convinced they are as effective as other measures like a greater Police presence on the road. I can't believe how many cars I see with defective lights, more than ever this winter it would seem. The worst that will happen to those people is a ticking off and a "producer". If I drive along 5mph over the speed limit but with perfect visibility ie both headlights working I'll get a fine and three points. Is that right? I don't think so. The police could catch hundreds of people with headlights / taillights out but they don't. I think we all know why...

I wouldn't have thought so. I for one take the safety of all road users including road workers very seriously. I am not a sheep and I don't make the link between speed and accidents. I do make a direct link between carelessness/bad driving and accidents. I use a lot of country lanes on my 70+ mile a day commute, there are plenty of drivers that aren't speeding that can't keep to their side of the road risking a head-on at every bend. Doing a few miles an hour over the speed limit in a modern car with an alert driver is no where near as dangerous as someone travelling under the speed limit whilst buggering with their stereo/kids/phone. Its easy pickings for the Police and that is undeniable. I see people jumping red lights every day, people with defective lights/tyres etc etc. Thats what is dangerous, not exceeding the speed limit by a few mph.

KY Jelly :-)

Sorry, but that is just paranoid IMO. Possibly today, many motorists are becoming prone to that. A considerable number of people have been mown down and killed at roadworks - they are a known blackspot for accidents. As well as from news stories, I know this from personal contact with guys who work on roads. You would not believe (or perhaps you would) how stupid drivers can be where there are roadworks. I know of a person who ploughed into the back of a small family car killing the four innocent occupants at road works near here. I cannot grasp how anyone can fail to see that roadworks might be a hazard to drivers and people working there or how anyone can sincerely hold the belief that speed control measures are purely just for making revenue. I wasn't saying road works aren't worth slowing down for, not for a minute. I'm just saying not a bad earner £22k for 4 hours work. The 400 fines didn't actually stop those 400 people from actually speeding did it.

Inline V....hmmm...ponders :roll: There is a gap, but only one head!

Cheers Neil

In the paper today, a mobile speed camera clocked 400 people in 4 hours,on a temporary speed limit. Thats over £22,000. There was no history of accidents, just a measure to slow people up for roadworks. Not a bad earner.

Indeedy, there's a few people on here quite local, 3 in Portsmouth that I know of too. :-)

This is what happens over 100 times a second when your giving it some serious right foot action. No wonder VR6s sound so good. Apologies for quality it's only my phone!

I saw an old duffer reverse into a car once, I was standing with a group of mates chatting nearby. He started to drive off pretending he hadn't noticed, my mate taps on the window and says you'd better leave your details. OK he says sheepishly, a couple of mins later he's written a note and left it on the windscreen, smiles and off he goes. My mates and I then go and have a look at what he's written, its just a load of old gibberish, no contact no. or anything, no reference to what he's just done. I then switched into sprinting for England mode and chased him 1/4 mile to where he was queing at traffic lights. Door open, keys out of ignition, right, lets have your details now you weasel! No sense of responsibility at all, probably curses young drivers for bumping up insurance premiums etc etc.

I have one speeding ticket, driving carefully, not in a rush, it was down a hill, a dual carraigeway, open road, no side roads, no buildings, pathways or pedestrians. There was a camera sign a mile or so before hand, I was on the general lookout but how are you supposed to know if its fixed or mobile. I came down the hill, it always was a 60 limit. I'm doing mid to high 50s. Never thought anymore of it. Two weeks later, SP30 through the door, its been changed to a 50 limit and they've placed an obscured camera the far side of a bridge right at the bottom of the hill, (obviously to catch people out and generate money). Now thats harsh. I googled it and found it to be one of the most criticised cameras in the country. Loads of locals had been done, they'd literally just changed the number on the sign and placed a camera there. There was no safety safety issue whatsoever.

I had 39 mpg out of my old Golf VR6 over a 200mile journey, drove like the pope. The unbelievable thing is, that was the journey I got my only speeding ticket on.

Installing a camera at a "blackspot" simply creates a blackspot either side of the camera, one where everyone is breaking and piling into the back of each other and another where people are accelerating and changing lanes to maintain decent progress again. This has been documented. They are cash cows, that much must be unavoidably obvious to anyone. They do nothing for road safety but keep a lot of people in jobs and provide a lot of revenue which is just what this government is all about, figures and their manipulation.

Its not just a strip, that part goes all the way round the instruments, it should have several screw fixings, are they all tight/present. Two of mine are broken which causes rattling, I'm going to get another one and felt line it before it goes back!

It wouldn't cause a car to run on less cylinders but it could exhibit similar symptoms, rough idle, stuttering etc. I don't know about 16Vs but VR6s have them and they are not adjustable. Normally cleaned with carb cleaner or similar then a light spray or lubricant. Try the search for more info.

Try this mate http://www.dubforce.net/tuning/12v/vsr.html

Surely misalligning a clutch is only an issue when you are trying to put it back together, it won't go back together if its misalligned.

I can't beleive how many Corrados have come up for sale on here lately, every time I log on there's a couple more. No wonder the prices are rock bottom at the moment. A lot of people considering breaking too. Shame. :-(