Rpmayne

Gotcha, so my 82.5mm is only abit closer to 2.9L then. :( Sounds wicked what you're doing with yours, when are you going to try super and turbo charging together? :)

83.5mm bore, is that right? Thought 82.5mm gives 3.0L and 83.0mm gives 3.1L?

Had one done on mine, hub off job and press out/in as above, then wheel alignment will need doing again after disconnecting the suspension. Driveshaft hub nuts are done up well tight too so best undone with a garage air ratchet to shock it undone. Think it cost me about £70 for the garage to do it, money well spent as far as I was concerned.

As I remember the intermediate sprocket is not a 1-to-1 between the crank and the cams so the tooth pitch between the two runs out of time. Therefore, if I've got this right, it needs to be set with the marks lined up where both pitches are in line at 0 deg. You can take the sprocket off the rod which eventually connects to the oil pump and put it back 90, 180, 270 deg. out and it wont make any difference to the oil pump, just the cams and crank chains need to be aligned when the intermediate is at 0 deg. At least, that's how I understood it when doing mine.

I used a ring spanner round it (22mm if i remember correctly) after cutting the cable to get it over. Just about got access and a few 'taps' with a hammer sorted it.

Right, just an update on a few things you've suggested. Cheers for the help: ISV plugged in when cold - Original problems; poor idle, occassional stalling, sometimes hesitant and poor MPG (16 max v.careful driving). ISV unplugged when cold - Will fire but not start. ISV plugged in when hot - Original problems; poor idle, occassional stalling, sometimes hesitant and poor MPG (16 max v.careful driving). ISV unplugged when hot - Problems improved but not perfect; better idle, no stalling but still poor MPG. Lambda unplugged - No noticeable difference plugged in or unplugged. MAF unplugged - Idle becomes progressively irratic until it stalls. Although the above seems to suggest a problem with lambda primarily (changed about 3 months ago) and the ISV, is it feasable that the MAF could be giving duff information but not out of range so VAG-COM shows no errors and the lambda is incapable of sorting the problems out??

RS VR6, I haven't been able to try another MAF. I was going to borrow the MAF off a mates Golf VR6 but it was a 4-pin type and mines a 6-pin. To be honest I was hoping VW could positively tell me that was the problem as its alot of money, but alas the lambda was all the computer would tell them. Not to say that isn't the cause obviously. How would the ignition switch cause problems? I changed both the crank sensor and ignition switch about 2 years ago but I've got the fusebox exposed at the moment so can check things easily. I also bought a fuel filter but don't think I ever fitted it so will try and find that. Andy T, only reason I would get VW to do it is that they owe me 1 hours labour free. I think I tried unplugging the lambda before but will try again tonight now its got a proper connector on it and see what happens.

I started it from cold this morning to goto work with the ISV unplugged and it would not start, coughed and spluttered but would not idle. Plugged the ISV back in and it did idle. On the way I tried depressing the clutch and it was trying to stall again. As a test, once I was at work I switched it off, uplugged the ISV and it restarted and idled as it was last night when hot. Looks temperature dependant somehow. Cheers Andy, will get VW to have a look at the emissions later this week. You still recon the ISV is at fault? Guessing they'll be £100ish from VW so will look on ebay.

Tried unplugging the ISV tonight and drove around for abit. Although the MPG is still struggling to get into the 20's, the idling has never been better. Unplugged it didn't stall once, all but a few times going straight down to 700 and sticking there. What does that mean? Can't believe the difference, still something wrong with the MPG but so much more driveable.

I phoned VW earlier and told them that the symptoms have persisted and that I was suprised the test driver didn't notice any problems. It now turns out that the test driver didn't think all was well but thought it was better than when it came in and with no codes that was job done. I went on to mention whether the ISV had been checked and after a lengthy pause I've got a free hour labour so its going back later in the week. Will try the ISV tonight aswell to see whether it does make a difference.

Thanks Andy. I tried removing the ISV and cleaning it, and checked it worked straight across the battery. It did open and shut ok, haven't tried disconnecting it competely though so will try that tonight. They must have known it was rough on the test drive, and this lunchtime it started to hunt again... Recon you're right about the computer.

Just as an update to the rough running / idle problems, I finally got the VR6 into the local VW to have a go. They plugged the car in and the fault code they got was a faulty lambda probe. They suggested replacing the wiring loom connector to the lambda (had been crimped as the wires out of the original had broken). Three days later they said it was all done as no error codes were present so £190 later I drove it home. Slightly sceptical that this was the end of the story, and sure enough on the way home the general running seemed abit better but the stalling worse than ever. I'm not sure where to go now, the local garage have done all they can and to be honest I don't think VW are interested. They tried to tell me that the wiring had been modified so they couldn't do anymore... The modification they're talking about is grey harness tape I put on to cover the crap they put on originally which had fallen to bits. On the way to work today, when depressing the clutch to change gear the revs drop off really quickly. Most of the time, if I don't change gear in time the revs just plummit to 0 with no effort to idle. I have to hold the throttle position abit longer now aswell because otherwise I end up engine braking on every gearchange. Sorry to go on but any ideas?? Things changed as follows: Coilpack Leads Plugs Alternator Battery Temp. sensor Crank position sensor Cleaned MAF but no effect

Got the Golf back from the garage on friday, they gave it some stick and recon it handles well, just that the power steering was giving more assistance one way than the other so giving the illusion it was gripping better one way than the other (heavier feedback) so probably just overcorrecting. Tightened the PAS belt and it now feels alot more neutral. Maybe worth checking if yours has PAS.

Got the handling issues your talking about on a mk2 Golf, turning right it feels tight, turning left the steering feels light and the car dives so lifting the rear left wheel far to easily. Local garage is looking today as I can't be arsed in this weather so will let you know what they say. Betting its the rear bushes, think that cost me about £170 labour last time I got that done, and if I remember correctly the bias valve needed replacing because that had to come off aswell for some reason.

My first 1989 16v Golf had never had these valves fitted and nothing happened to the heater matrix. The pipes were completely intact so assume the owner never bothered to get them fitted when VW issued the recall. I've done exactly what Mancoor has done on another Golf with no probs.

I cleaned everything inside the maf housing except the wire itself. Went upto London this weekend and its never run so bad. Booked it into VW this friday, they sorted an alarm problem nobody else could sort so will give them another go. At 15mpg everywhere (very sooty exhaust) it won't take long to make back.

I bought some circuit board cleaner from Maplin and sprayed the wire. There's also a blade with two wires running from it infront of the wire. I cleaned that with a cotton wool bud, washed the gause filters then reassembled. Removed quite a lot of grease and grime. Took it for a 1/2 hour run, seemed to pick up better and didn't stall once. Really thought I had got lucky... but the next morning it was back to normal. Oh well, another fault to add to the list.. Worth a try though.

Must admit I haven't tried cleaning the MAF yet, still not hunting so recon cleaning the ISV sorted that out though. Keep thinking that at least its running, so may just order a new MAF rather than risk cleaning it and being without a car. I haven't noticed turning things on drops the idle revs but when its about to stall it does dim the lights etc, which I thought was just due to the alternator not producing enough power at that speed. Turning the steering wheel quick when its just about to stall sometimes stops it, must somehow help the pulleys round abit so starting it again.. Think ECP were giving me quite a mark up then, would have ordered one for £160.

I would get another openion to see whether the bores are completely knackard, probably are by the sounds of it but worth checking. May be lucky and be able to just change the rings for a shorter term fix if the bores are in spec. Assuming its possible to release the big ends and pull the pistons out the top, that could be done without removing the engine. Then depending on the condition of the head just change the head gasket. The more you take apart the more will need doing, seriously consider how long you are going to keep the car. Done it, must have stent approx. £4000 rebuilding mine, me and my mates doing most of the work (got the bottom end rebuilt) and still paying off the credit cards. Good cars but the cost can spiral, and finding honest openions of required work can be very difficult in my experience.

I take it the garage has taken the head off to check the rings? What work did they actually say it would need? How do they think the rings got damaged then?

It's in the knowledge base: http://www.the-corrado.net/wiki/index.p ... _Procedure

Maybe me being paranoid but just a few of many examples: Local Bosch tune-up centre Towed VR 15miles to this centre to find out why my VR would not run after a rebuild. £70 pounds later it was returned with the note that it IS mechanically locked and need stripping down. Actual cause, bodged alarm fitting, broken solder joint cutting supply to ECU. Lucky I didn't listen to that. AMD Took the day off to travel to AMD for a remap (closest to me). On the way up the car developed misfire. Got it there and explained the symptoms with no idea as to the cause. Had a chat with the mechanic when I returned several hours later and apparently the leads were arking badly, and he had tried to use insulating tape to temporarily cure it as they didn't have any. I wasting several hours there phoning local suppliers for new leads so they could complete the remap. No joy so returned home. Bought new VW leads and this wasn't the cause, was infact the coilpack. Where was the arcing then exactly? And there was no sign of insulating tape ever being used. Also during his expert diagnostics he also mentioned that its very likely that as the car has done 100k that the bores are ovalised. How the fcuk do you come to this conclusion when you have already said its the leads, not to mention that the engine is as tight as a mouses ear hole on only 25k since complete rebuild /rebore. Local gearbox specialists Gearbox will not disengage reverse properly (different car this), chatted on phone and internal selector was his diagnostic. Fair enough, without looking at the box this is a gamble, paid £30 (although originally someone else there said I could have one for nothing, didn't catch his name), fitted and same problem. Took the gearbox out and took to specialist, original quote was for £80 cash. Got phone call, stripped it and he can't find anything wrong with it but has reassembled it, used the internal selector he supplied (which made no difference) and has charged me £120. So total £150. Bear in mind that if I had said I didn't want the work done I would have got the box back in bits. Going to pick it up tonight.

Sorry to hear that mate, know its not a great feeling. AS Nick says though, at least you'll be able to swap alot of the good bits over to a good cheap shell with knackard engine. How fast do you recon you hit? Surprised the rear wing has buckled like that.

Definitely easy to provoke the back out. Don't do it so much in the wet now though, last time I tried that it was at the roundabout when coming off the A23 joining the A27 East bound. Backed the traffic up over the bridge, booted it 2nd gear and threw it round and waited for the back to start sliding. It did, I over corrected and a tank slap later ended up facing the cerb. :oops: Lucky I had backed the traffic up so I had time to reverse and leave the scene asap. All good fun if there's enough space.

I've only just changed a rear bearings, another way of telling which side it is by loading each side of the car. More load = more noise. Steer right and if the noice gets louder (ie. left hand side of the car under more weight) its one of the left hand side bearings. Steer left and if it gets loader its the right hand side. Alternatively jack the car up and spin / rock the wheels, was easy to tell which one was knackard on mine. I Left it quite a while before changing it (other car issues) and the disk is now warped and squeals at low speed, maybe not related but a coincidence. Needs skimming at some point, not as fussy as I used to be with these things. Rear ones are easy to change, I got a garage to change a front bearing because it a hub off and press in/out job. They charged me an hour labour which I thought was worth it. Only did the one which was bad (MOT fail because it was noisy apparently) and the other is still going ok.