Henny

Depends on any other mods you are planning... The stock VW isn't bad and does the job well for the standard engine... 8) If you're thinking of going down the moddifying route, then I'd probably say get a mocal one which seems to be a pretty popular mod on the board... Do a search for mocal on the board and see what you can find... :D I'm thinking of fitting a mocal one when I start "playing" with my engine when I do my re-build later in the summer... :lol:

VDO do both Capillary and Electric gauges... Do I remember you having overheating problems before and mentioning that your MFA oil temp doesn't work 'cos of your extra gauge? If that was you, then it' deffo an electric one as they've used the original sender for the VDO oil temp gauge! Boost will be capillary driven, I've not yet found one that isn't. The TIM gauge isn't a bad one to be fair to it, they are a bit cheap and cheerful though... :? Pressure could be either, look behind the gauge and see if there's a thin plastic or copper/brass tube attached to the rear... That's the capillary tube... If there isn't then it's electric... :D (same applies to temp if my memory is as bad as normal! :roll: ) Your voltage one has to be electric! :lol:

Most of the boost gauges I've seen say TURBO... Ugh... Not in my G60! :lol: A capillary gauge uses a thin tube to run into the engine from the gauge, this has a TINY amount of oil/water/whatever you're sensing in it and that's how the gauge picks up the pressure/temp. (most boost gauges work like this) An electric gauge has a sender attached to the engine somewhere and a wire between that sender and the gauge... (think fuel gauge) Electric are much easier to fit, much neater, as accurate but slightly more expensive... BUT, if you break the wire electric stop working, and that's it... If you break a capillary, you get a leak of whatever it is you're sensing... Think hot, high pressure oil sprayed into your interior... Not good... :shock: The fitting the gauges into the ashtray was a shed load of experimentation using 2 old gauges from my MKI golf and a load of polycarbonate that I got from work... I'm talking to a mate to see if he can make up a mold based on my template so that we can make up some ABS plastic ones that would match the dash perfectly and fit spot on... It may cost a bit though, so I don't know if it'll happen... :?

I'm trying to get hold of 2 gauges at the moment... I'm after a dual oil pressure/temp gauge (has to be electric, not capillary driven) and a boost gauge. Other than that, the only gauge you possibly need to add is an air/fuel (or lambda) gauge/meter to warn you if you're running lean... It's looking like I may be getting Smiths to make me some custom gauges as I can't find any that are what I want... :roll: There's some nice ones that Smiths do, as do Racetech, but they're all Capillary driven and I don't like the thought of capillary tubes running around my car... :? Oh, and their boost gauges all say TURBO on them... :roll: I've made up a nice plate that allows me to fit 2 gauges into the hole for the ashtray without damaging the mountings for it too much, so I can re-fit the ashtray if I ever want to and leave very few signs... All it needs is a hole at the back for the cables, and a little bit of filing at the bottom of the hole... Once I get some dials, I'll put some photos up and may even make a few more up if people are interested... 8)

I've no doubts about 'em... They're great as long as you know the condition of them... I change 'em as a matter of course when I do the first service on any VW I buy now and then I'm happy with 'em... 8) It's worth the money for the peace of mind 8) It's only ones that I don't know the history/age of that set me off with a nervous twitch! :lol: :shaking: :roll: I had a MKII gti which went thru 3 head gasket replacements in 2 weeks because of an oil cooler... 1st time 'cos we didn't know it was the cooler and presumed it was the head gasket. 2nd time, 'cos we'd presumed it was the head gasket and not changed the cooler, it did the same again, but actually took the head gasket with it... 3rd time, it had weakened the seal in the coolant bottle when the cooler went, so it overheated, blowing the head gasket... :roll: :( Oh, and then 'cos it had thrown it's oil out a few times, the crank bearings started to make a really not nice noise, and 'cos it'd had oil in the water all of the water pipes started to burst... :? :roll: A quick rebuild later and I got shot of the car while it was still running... I still see it about, so I can't have bodged it that badly! :lol: See why I have a thing about the oil coolers now?!? :lol: 8)

Yup, that's what I've got on my C... You can drop it onto the deck, or set it nicely like I've got at the moment (-30mm) :lol: The ride quality is pretty good too, it's a bit harsh, but you expect that when you lower a car, but it doesn't crash and bang thru bumps like my last shocks/springs did... :roll: I got mine from Venom and they're about £400+Vat +P&P I'd reccommend them anyway... :D

I think it is to reduce the power drawn. Basically if you close/open both windows at once you are pulling a whole shed load of current through the relay which would make it (and the wiring) have to be heavier duty, heavier in general, and (most likely reason) more expensive! :roll: :lol: Dunno if this is the real reason, but it wouldn't suprise me with VW, over-engineer some bits and then skimp on really rather random other bits... :?

Yeah, glad you understood... I've kind of got this funny "thing" about the oil coolers on VW cars after one cost me a rather large amount of money... :roll: :( I don't want any other poor sod to go through the same drama as me... 8)

OK, just seen your photo... :oops: Definately NOT oil/water emulsion then... :lol:

Yup, and 420 fatalities because of it! :shock: :?

Fit sodding big air horns! :lol: Sounds like the actual horns may have got full of water or something... You may need a new horn/horns... :? Test the voltage at the contacts of the sounders and see if it's about 12v when the horn button is pressed... If it's not, then your problem is probably an earth either on the steering column or on the horns -> chassis...

:!: Check your oil level ASAP! :!: It sounds like you may have a damaged oil cooler, or worse a blown head gasket! :shock: The brown goop is almost certainly an emulsion of oil and water and is probably coming out of the pressure relef valve on the header tank... You can check this by opening the header tank (preferably when the engine's off and it's cold) and looking to see what sort of fluid is in there... If it's the brown goop, DON'T run your car until you get it sorted as you may be running without oil! :shock: Guys, anyone got any good checks to tell if it's head gasket or oil cooler?

I'm 27, 28 in October... First car :?: was a VW camper (bay window) lowered 180mm! :shock: with a porsche engine in it... :lol: Never got to drive it on the road 'cos the insurance company just laughed and hung up... :lol: Think they were a bit scared when an assessor came out to see it for agreed value and saw it wheeley! :shock: :lol: 8) I then bought a beetle which I never got around to finishing and sold at a huge loss... :roll: Bought a MKI golf GTI at 18 which got written off while parked a month later so I bought a MKI 1500 Auto golf off a mate instead... Kept this for a long time, but also bought another MKI GTI at 19 and plonked a 16V engine in it for a giggle when the original engine expired in a rather large way! (a conrod made a bid for freedom and became external! :shock: ) I got my first Corrado (Tornado Red '90 16V) at 22 and had that for 2 years until I met some diesel on a wet corner and bent the chassis... :mad: :cry: A '90 MKII GTI SHED followed briefly (and expensively!) then an Astra 1.4 Merit... I never did find any merit to the car other than it being cheap! :lol: And it spoiled my perfect VW history! :roll: :lol: Now got my G60 and am starting to throw money back at my MKI 16V to get her back on the road as well as at the C... 8)

Jees... 42deg is fatal! :shock: at that ambient temp the human body can't get rid of any excess heat made as you move around so it litterally kills you... :shock: Our Air-con in the main equipment room at work failed last year and I only found out when it was 38deg... Amazingly all of the computers stayed on and the only things that died were a single HDD and a sky decoder... :? I've not been into work today, so I dread to think how hot it was in there today... :lol: :roll:

I heard that Porsche dealers stopped using Magnetec as it was causing the cars to suffer from low oil pressure... I stopped using it straight after that and only use genuine Quantum silver or Vauxhall semi-synthetic (I get it free from a mate and it's good stuff, even though it's Vauxhall! :lol: ) This was a few years ago mind, but I'd still keep an eye on your oil pressure though if you're using Magnatec.... :?

Umm, I know yours is not a G60, but I did 400 miles today at an average of 80mph... Oil temp 122 :shock: Water temp just under 100 :? I slowed down to 70 from about 90 and the temps plummeted almost instantly! (102/80!) :roll: :lol: I think she needs a service! :roll: I think 128 is getting to the worrying side of hot, may be worth getting an oil change done... :?

I nearly bought one, but I'd test driven a nail of a G60 before and fell in love with the G60 engine... 8) (it was the body that was a nail, the engine was excellent! :lol: :roll: ) I get the impression that most of the 2.0 8V Cs are bought by people who just like the look and aren't really into the scene as is... Either that, or they like the looks with the slightly cheaper insurance! :) Dunno, I could be talking outta my @#$3, wot do you lot think??? :? :lol:

Hi Dom, The symptoms you describe would almost instantly point me to thinking it's a faulty immobiliser, or as Brian g60 corrado suggested, ignition switch or relay... 8) Don't rule out the switch just 'cos it doesn't work if you turn it harder, you're talking about a switch that has probably been turned at least 2 times a day, almost every day for the last 10 years or so! :shock: If I turned that much I'd want to break! :lol: The fact that you have several different items (all of them on ignition circuits) that are either getting no voltage, or much lower voltage than they should, yet the car will crank over OK makes me think that one of the 2 or more circuits that the immobiliser works on is not de-immobilising... A good autoelectrician or car alarm installers should be able to sort this out, or at least probe the system to find out where the voltage is being stopped and thus what your problem is... :? :) Just for the record, whenever I buy a car I take it to my local (TRUSTED! :lol: ) alarm place and have the electrics put back to standard and then a new alarm fitted... That way you can guarantee that some little fault with an old alarm is not going to come and bite you in the bum! :lol: It normally costs me about £350 for a new Cat1 alarm/immobiliser and having the wiring sorted first, but I know that the car will almost certainly be where I left it and will never have an alarm problem as long as I have the car... :D It's worth the money for the peace of mind and the lack of hassle... 8) Hope you find your fault soon and get both yourself and your C where you should be... On the road, enjoying each other! 8) :lol:

I've heard about things like this before, and it's always a total arse when it happens... :( I think that the insurance people will just put their hands up and walk away not wanting to know about it because it's classified as "theft by deception" not just straight theft, and so you're not covered by them for it... The guy I bought my first C off was REALLY overly careful... he made me get the bank fax a copy of the bankers draft over to him when they issued it along with a sheet of headed paper so that he could compare the fax to the one I was paying him with... Apparently the other scam is that they use a fake bankers draft, or a photo-shopped copy of one, at which point it becomes "theft by deception" and you are left screwed... :shock: He'd been done that way with a £7K jetski a few weeks earlier and no longer trusted anybody... :shock: I think that the moral of the story is that if you are selling a car, insist on a bank transfer in person while you are BOTH in the branch doing the transfer and can check it's all gone through OK, or a bankers draft and letting them know you will release the car to them once it's cleared... It's sad that the world is like this and that some people will rip others off in sneaky ways like this... :( Comisserations to your mate, and I hope the police find the toe-rag and he gets his car back...

Ohh, sometimes I like being single and not having to worry about stuff like that.... :lol: I may get my system up and running before yours then? I'll keep you posted... 8) I may "borrow" some of your ideas though... :roll: :lol:

I've also been thinking along these lines for a while now... not quite to the same spec as you though! 8) :crazyeyes: It'll be interesting to see if you can get all of this to work... Good luck!

Yeah, Trimsport had some at Santa Pod at the weekend, but I'd run outta cash.... :roll: They looked rather well made and well planned from what I saw... 8)

OK, fair enough... I didn't know you both had the same size wheels on :roll: and was pointing that out just in case you didn't and hadn't realised.... :) Just trying to be helpful... :? -65 is quite a big drop... she looks great! 8)

to be honest....i don't know.....didn't measure it before.....d'oh.....anyway from the bottom of the wheelarches to the top of the wheel-lip(not the tyre) its 100mm all round Just been out to measure mine :: 165mm all round from bottom of the wheelarch to the top of the wheel-lip :: -65mm!!! that's a serious drop!!! :roll: You're supposed to measure to the wheel CENTRE! the wheel lip distance will vary with different wheel sizes! If I've got 15" wheels on, and then put 17" wheels on, my car will be no lower, but the distance from the arch to the wheel rim will be smaller 'cos the tyre profile will be smaller and the wheel larger! The distance to the wheel CENTRE will not have changed though... :D

To get the plugs that black, you have an over fueling problem... Either that, or your engine is burning oil faster than a diesel! :? (I think you'd have mentioned that though! :lol: ) Reset your ECU (To do this I think you dis-connect you battery for a few minutes, then connect the LIVE, then the EARTH to re-set it, but I could be wrong on this 'cos I've just got back from the pub! :wink:) If re-setting your ECU (however you do it! come on guys, give the drunk here a hand to remember! :lol: ) doesn't solve it, then you really need to check your timing... Something isn't right here if your plugs are getting into this state and you can't get her to rev properly over 4K... I'll look back with some more suggestions in the morning when I've sobered up and am getting paid to surf the site! :lol: