Funkster

Interestingly since I couldn't immediately lay my hands on the plug for the spoiler motor, I tried unplugging one of the cables on the spoiler controller on the way home in an effort to stop it going up and down. Wouldn't run with that unplugged either, I have no idea what they've wired the alarm up to! ttfn, -- Olly

Fuse (edit: 16) yes. I have now put the instruction manual back in the car so I know what's what in the future - had left it in the garage of course! I thought I'd unplugged the spoiler but it was going up and down on the way to work so I think I got the wrong plug! :oD /me orders more fuses Cheers, -- Olly

Toad, thank you thank you thank you! Unplugged the spoiler, moved the fog light fuse to the spoiler fuse position, and all is well ) Can I stand you a pint somehow? (did try to search btw, didn't come up with anything conclusive but I think I was being too specific, had spoiler and toad/immobiliser in the search as well as cut out). A thousand thankyous! -- Olly

Hallo all, Got stranded in a supermarket car park on the way home just, engine starts just fine and runs for a few seconds and then cuts out just like turning the ignition off. It'll restart straight away but will then do exactly the same thing again. There's pressure in the fuel rail (and pump was new 2 weeks ago anyway), it runs for the same amount of time if you give it a bootful (so it's not the ISV), and I've tried swearing at it, hugging it, giving it a wallop, all to no avail. Also, the spoiler has been working fine all day but is now stuck halfway up, the button under the dash doesn't do anything. What thoughts? Things to try? It smacks of an electrical issue, but what? If the spoiler is just a red heron and can be ignored, I'm thinking immobiliser - it's got an aftermarket alarm/immobiliser on it, anyone had this happen before? Anyone got circuit diagrams of where the immobiliser wires in? I have no transport now apart from a very unreliable motorbike so any help is greatly appreciated! Many thanks, -- Olly

Arrgh, silly dealer - I gave them the year and the numberplate and they still got it wrong! It'd be great to swap for a correct one, but I do need to keep the car on the road... what would you think is the best way? It's a driver's side lens for a 1995 UK car btw. Cheers ) -- Olly

lolol!!!!!!! ha ha.... ha..... :confused4: :cuckoo: :drinking: you must be very bored! :) Man, just a bit! Cheap ho, also ) Probably breaking the forum rules to sell things here, shall I put up a for sale ad in the relevant section? Obviously a good idea if you have a look in your tank first though and see what you need ) ttfn, -- Olly

Hallo all, I got a rock through one of my headlight lenses, so I got a replacement from the stealer and put it on today. All was well until I came to fit the black plastic surround, at which point I found that the new lens was about 1/8" deeper front-to-back than the old one! I've hacked at the surround to make it fit for now but it looks a bit ropey and will probably snap and fly off at some point. If I buy a new surround from the stealer is it likely to fit or have they given me the wrong lens? The beam pattern looks about right and the lens fit onto the lamp body just fine, though the approval markings were a bit different. Cheers in advance for any insights, -- Olly

Links to pics in case they're a bit big: http://www.funkster.org/misc/pump1.jpg http://www.funkster.org/misc/pump2.jpg http://www.funkster.org/misc/pump3.jpg http://www.funkster.org/misc/sender1.jpg http://www.funkster.org/misc/sender2.jpg http://www.funkster.org/misc/sender3.jpg Part numbers: Pump: 1H0 919 651 Q "N/STK FUEL PUMP" £116+vat Sender: 535 919 673 C "N/STK SENDER" £48.95+vat As you can see from the pics of the sender, it's a VDO part. hth, -- Olly

Both came from the VW dealer, they had to order them in so they weren't new-old-stock or anything. Maybe the last cars got the new pumps? Will take a pic of the pump and sender later and stick it up here along with the part numbers of the new bits. Yep, happy to sell you the sender - saves me having to explain myself to the parts chap at the dealer ) ttfn, -- Olly

The pump on my VR failed the other week, it had been running a bit poorly at high RPM but wasn't pinking as far as I could tell. Then it just quit totally one day, no graceful failure! Got a new one on on Friday and it's flying again ) Aparrently sometimes you need to replace the level sender at the same time as the pump due to a change in part since the cars were made, but the one I bought from the dealer was identical to the existing (original) one in my 1995 car, so the new sender I bought is a bit redundant! Maybe the dealer will take it back... hth, -- Olly

I rebuilt my VR at 163K, but I didn't replace the valve guides as I clocked them all up as per the Bentley book, and they were all well within wear limits. I just lapped the seats back in and put new stem seals on. I also had it bored out due to (what I thought was) horrible piston slap, but all that cash for new pistons and it still sounds the same! It's probably the little ends, but I'm too lazy to tear it all apart again so it'll stay rattly. I would vote for new chains + clutch and maybe fit new stem seals without removing the head. fwiw, -- Olly

Hallo all, My fuel pump quit on the way to work this morning, recovery guy banged on the tank and it came back to life for a few seconds then quit again so fairly confident it's the pump. Is there an aftermarket option available? New pump from the stealers is £136, couldn't get hold of anyone at Stealth to get their opinion. GSF don't do one for the VR6. Thoughts? Cheers in advance ) -- Olly

Just had a look at the wiki, outer has 32 teeth inner has 18, so rotating it 180

Both Bentley and the wiki here state that it doesn't matter whether you use the top or bottom mark. There must be an even number of teeth on the outer part of the gear so in theory it should make no difference... but theory and practice are often quite difference! *edit* scratch that... if there are an odd number of teeth on the inner gear then putting round 180

I suppose it depends how far off the cams have to be before performance is affected. If they can be out half a tooth at the cam gear with no measureable ill effect then you're absolutely right. Cheers, -- Olly

I can explain it - the two gears on the intermediate shaft (obviously) have different numbers of teeth, I forget the math now (it's late) but for the sake of argument let's assume that they don't divide into each other at all. Thus, to get any given tooth of the inner gear to line up with some imaginary reference position, the outer gear can only be in one of its n (n = number of teeth) possible positions. Every other position will cause the inner gear to be out by 1/n teeth. In actual fact the ratio of teeth between inner and outer gears on the idler is 2:1 (right?) so moving the outer gear one tooth moves the inner by a half - so the idler is in an acceptable position once every two outer teeth. Or, something. I could've sworn I got it lined up when I put it together, though. I reckon I'll check the timing myself and if it's wrong, ship it off to Vince. ttfn, -- Olly

Need to sort the morris too - the diff exploded while doing this: That was well over a year ago and it's been languishing in the garage ever since. Funnily enough, the diff pinion bearings failed in the MG due to one too many enthusiastic departures from traffic lights. Old hot rods in garage: two Working axles in garage: zero! ttfn, -- Olly

tbh I might just take the car to stealth and get them to sort it, it needs new front wheel bearings anyway and I really can't be bothered with taking the engine out again. I want to get on with sorting my MG out in time for the good weather! Cheers, -- Olly

Indeed, tried a battery-off reset this morning and it hasn't majikally restored my power. Urgh, cam timing... am I right in thinking that if the idler is out of position with respect to the crank, there's no way to correct it without taking the engine out / flywheel off etc.? B@$!@£€ Corrado! Why must you taunt me so? Cheers all, -- Olly

Had a crack at this on the way home, but couldn't see a measuring block with knock in it. Blocks stopped existing at ~10 and I got bored of clicking 'up' after 100 or so and not finding any others. I'm only running 640x480 on the pooter in the car, so can only see four elements in each block... are there more, with the knock one off the right hand side? If so I'll just do a log and read it back from the .xls later. Cheers, -- Olly

Thanks for a very informative post! I'll do exactly that on the journey home, and try taking the battery off this evening to see if it makes any difference. That's my next thing to check, I thought I lined it all up as per the manual but it might be half a tooth out or something. Think I'll get a set of tappets and check the timing at the same time as changing them. Cheers again, -- Olly

I cleared the fault codes, is that the same thing? Cheers, -- Olly

'lo all, I fitted a new cam sensor last night as that was the only fault code showing, but I still don't have all my horsepower back. Is there any way (using VAG-COM or otherwise) to check if the ECU is retarding the ignition for any other reason? That's what it feels like it's doing, no torque anywhere really and it gets hotter than it should I'm sure, plus it uses more fuel than it really has any right to. Just to give you the full story... tore the engine to bits (at 161K) and rebored +0.5mm, lovely new OE pistons and shells, had a very slight head skim and lapped the valves back in, fitted new chains. It's run in now (1700 miles) but it's not been properly right horsepower-wise since it went back together, plus to be honest it's still quite rattly - I'm thinking (hoping?) tappets. However, I *think* I have breifly seen all the torque while the cam sensor was dicking around, it was just very sporadic. Now it's fairly rubbish all the time. Pretty fed up with it as you might imagine - the performance is the only thing that justifies all the bloomin' expense! Cheers in advance for any ideas, -- Olly

Expense indeed! At £36 from the stealer I think I'll make sure mine is *really* dead before replacing it... Now, where's me pins? Cheers, -- Olly

Many thanks for the help all - pressed the unlock button and all was well. Glad it was something daft :oD Alas, I now know that I have an intermittent cam sensor open / short to B+ which explains the variable horses. I wiggled the plugs and it didn't go away so I guess I'll spike the wires with the 'scope later and see if the sensor is really dead... do they tend to spontaneously fail? The sensor was sat on the shelf for quite a while when I was rebuilding the engine. Cheers, -- Olly