bruny

Sad day Jim but fully understand it. Good luck with what ever you decide.

Fingers crossed thats sorted it mate. You will also have the comfort of knowing you now have spare dizzy, ecu, switches etc. if they ever go again.

Sorry to hear you aint sorted yet. Is the fuel pump priming on ignition, it should buzz/ prime before cranking? There is also a control box in passenger footwell behind lower left panel, can get water ingress leading to bad contacts, just a thought whilst you are checking electrics! Are you sure it doesn't have an after market immobiliser fitted? Any fault codes showing up on readers? Running out of ideas now though.

Search online 'VW Engine Management ECUs' site suggests Sharon Vr6 2.8 AAA is the same part number. Good luck with it.

Good question, honestly don't know. Need somebody with more knowledge than myself to clarify. UK are 2.9 but I would have thought any dizzy model would be ok. Mine is 021906958B. With a bit of luck the new ignition switch might cure it.

Ecu could well be the problem, however, I am surprised its still starting intermitently. It might be something as simple as the ignition switch. Cheap fix but fiddly job. I would be tempted to replace it for peace of mind!

Hi again. Stripping ecu showed obvious signs of burnout, severe discolouring. I was fortunate as I had a spare from a broken car in stock. You could pick up another ecu from a breaker. Is there an american equivalent of the forum? There is quite a lot of choice of beakers in the UK but shipping will put the cost up. Is it still intermittent or simply refusing to start now?

Good call, replacement dizzy will reassure hall sensor issue, but symptons were similar to my failed ecu. It stopped for seemingly no reason, refused to start again for some time then started as though no issue until stopping again. Replaced ecu and cured it. We stripped ecu to find signs of burnout.... must admit it had a super chip fitted in the ecu some time in the past which may have caused the problem!?

Hi, by block ground do you mean earth strap? That could be the issue. Guessing that if you have power to the coil then that rules out the common faulty ignition switch and probably the immobiliser? I have also had an ECU fail, so many possibilities. Good luck with it.

Hi, remove the dizzy and check the securing pin holding the locating block, which locks position onto the camshaft lugs, isn't slowly dislodging. I had it on mine to the extent of barely being able to remove the dizzy. If it drops out it falls into the timing chain… ouch. It was a reconditioned distributor and I guess they hadn't lactated the pin in place.

Mine is the same Jim, think they are inherently noisy engines. It is easy to listen too hard and perhaps become a bit paranoid about them, just drive it and enjoy it because they are an absolute pleasure.

Apologies but I am going to cry off the club stand, might go as a spectator to check out new show venue.

Alternator output, check battery voltage with and without engine running, should be reading approx 13.6v running. May be as simple as faulty connector on the alternator.

Oh dear, looks like I will be 'billy no mates' then. Hope the sun shines!

I failed to get early bird ticket, just wondering if the club stand got booked or is there a general lack of interest. Is anybody planning on making an appearance?

Registered on CCGB site

Brilliant, don't mind easy listening, are you doing requests? Count me in for the clubstand

Hi Eric, is the club stand outdoors do you know? can't be doing with the boom boom music indoors (its an age thing) great meet...great venue!

Honestly don't know what he did, he didn't have time to modify anything, he just seemed to have the knack. I couldn't do it at all. Sorry not much use but I do sympathise with your plight. The idea mentioned earlier about skimming with the head seems to make sense.

Had exactly that problem with mine too, never really figured out why. I spat the dummy out, my mate persevered with it. Tried a spare one too with same problem. Certainly challenging these Vr's!

Hope thats the answer Jim. I may be repeating what has already been said, and not pretending to be much of a mechanic myself… have you considered that there are two TDC on the pistons, Exhaust and Combustion. Engine would be 180degrees out. Just double check before refitting.

It can't happen again surely!!

Hi Jim, Sorry for late reply, have been away. The INA followers were inspected before fitting, I think they are identical(some time ago now though]. But comparing them some seemed more solid than others. Difficult to explain but when compressed by hand i.e. finger and thumb, some seemed to give others didn't. So tried gently in the vice. Again some gave easily, oil eased out of the little hole. Others gave with moderate pressure, but two of the new ones took so much leverage in the vice I thought they were going to break!! However they did give but with such a crack on release of pressure I feel they would have caused a problem had they not been relieved. Hope this helps, good luck, can't imagine what else could have caused the problem unless the camshafts had been knocked while in storage which may have weakened them perhaps. I may have some spare shafts if thats any help. I will check when I get back if you like. Let me know Jim.

Hi Jim, Sorry to hear of your plight. When we installed new INA cam followers we compressed each one in the vice before hand. I know this isn't generally advised but at least two from the set were unbelievably tight. The amount of pressure required to release them surprised me. It may not be the main reason for your problem but would advise releasing pressure prior to assembly. They will re-prime. Good luck with the rebuild.

Simply stunning