dr_mat

So that was 2 hours diagnostic/fitting work, £150 for the ISV, £200 for the coil pack, £136 for the ht leads, £30 for the plugs. Which at my local VW place works out at (2*80 + 150+200+136) * 1.175 = £759. (All aproximate dealer prices from memory.) I don't think £700 inc is a big surprise at dealers' rates. Of course, the fact that they pointless changed ht leads/plugs and an ISV is a BIG issue, but I'm sure they won't ever fess up to that one...

Um, try this (cribbed from another thread some time back)

I'd expect to see around 135bhp at the wheels for a completely standard G60, so yours is clearly unhappy. I've never heard of boost return being a cause for such poor power outputs though. I suspect there's a problem with fuelling - maybe your pump simply can't supply enough fuel above 5k rpm. If the torque graph was to carry on with that healthy 160 lbft torque you'd easily clear 175bhp on that power curve, so I would start with fuelling..

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The C gearchange takes some getting used to: it's so long throw compared to most others out there it's really tricky at first. Rearward visibility on the C, well, isn't. I've had people mouthing off at me cos I've been reversing across car parks and just plain didn't see them a number of times, it's truly AWFUL.

Spot the effect of the Schrick, eh?! :twisted:

And here's that nasty torque curve... :)

Actually I should have updated this thread myself: I had the unichip done, see. Well the pinking's gone, and my mid-range torque has benefitted hugely (199lbft @ 3630 rpm). Running is good, but it's too early to say if that's due to the chip or just cos the car is in a good mood. As you say, the flexibility of the unichip is cool. Plus, one day when I'm flogging the car on, it can be reverted to standard just by putting the OE manifold back on and unwiring the unichip, both of which can then be sold on as a package. This aspect appeals to me, definitely the best way to protect my Schrick investment!

Well, given that I had replacement tappets (again), I think that had the biggest influence on the smooth running of the engine. To be honest, the engine is variably smooth and rough depending on how many short journeys it's been on. After three weeks of 7 mile commute it runs a little rough, but after a 200 mile motorway jaunt it runs beautifully, even before the rechip. Perhaps it is a little smoother, but it's so variable anyway, I can't be certain of that yet.

Erm, just no pinking: I was suffering pretty bad pinking. The car does seem quite responsive, but then it always did when it was running right. Plus I'm nearly running the fuel tank dry so it's very light at the moment... I had no pinking for some time (and great torque) with just the Schrick and no remap, I was hoping to avoid having to get it done, but since I started getting serious pinking it's become necessary. The big problem was psychological though: knowing that there are times when it *might* pink, even if it doesn't, I was a little nervous about using the throttle, so it needed to be remapped.

How are the under-wing liners attached? I can see a bunch of screws around the edge, but is there a captive nut behind them, or are they going into metal, or what? I need to remove one and I'd like to know if there's any nasty surprises likely! :) (On the subject of wing removal the trickiest bit, from what I've heard, is the bolt under the sill, which usually rusts/gaks up over years of exposure to crap.)

There's a procedure in Bentley for working on the central locking system. The locks have to be installed in a pre-set state, otherwise the whole locking system goes out of sync. I don't know the details, but I know this procedure exists.

Maybe a late thing. But try locking the door with the key and the window open, you'll find you can't unlock using the door pin.

It does the delayed-lock thing even if you use the key in the door and don't arm your immobiliser/alarm. It's intrinsic to the locking system, nothing to do with your alarm.

Ok, maybe you're right. My cav never did it, it was just this one I looked at in a garage once. The guy tried to unlock it and it sat there pinging it's locks for an hour or so... I wasn't impressed, it was hugely overpriced and very tatty... I walked. :) And yes, the C does have factory deadlocks. And yes, the pump *is* supposed to come on again after a few seconds to engage them. Most don't though, because of idiots working on the central locking system and failing to set it up correctly after the work.

The only cavalier I ever saw doing that Kev, was doing it because the battery was almost flat. Obviously the control circuits weren't getting enough juice..

Hmm, 15 bhp and 15lbft torque gained just from a remap on a 2 valve naturally aspirated engine? I want some of whatever they're smoking! Having had my VR chipped recently I can tell you that I can REALLY feel a huge difference between the "before" 185lbft and the "after" 199lbft that it was developing!! Power dropped by 1bhp though. Not that I give a monkeys about that.. The reason I gained nearly 20lbft at 3500rpm was simple: the Schrick was causing massive pinking at those revs..

VW quoted a figure derived from an engine dyno... But of course, each engine that leaves the factory will perform differently, not much you can do about that. VW will tend to be slightly conservative, but not by much.

Disconnect the track rod ends (if you have the time/technology!) and try turning the steering wheel against no weight..

Have to say I've seen 3.4mpg on the MFA briefly.. But that was shortly after cold start, and having travelled only 200 yards... I spent 3 hours sitting on the M1 one lovely friday night heading north. Somehow the VR managed to maintain 31mpg during all that though!

Make ABSOLUTELY certain that they're not basing this diagnosis on a stationary engine. If the engine is turning and you still see this error code, then the sender is probably faulty. But that error code is always present when the engine is stationary. It's a bug in the ECU firmware.

Steam cleaning is a mixed blessing. Sure it'll make the under bonnet look nice, but it can cause no end of problems with electrical gremlins later on... Personally I'd rather see a grubby honest engine than a tarted up one that might be hiding leaky gaskets or worse...

It's normal. It's a fairly reliable system, but boy does it sound pathetic!

The only technical, mathematical treatment I have ever seen of any of this boils down to the simple summary: drive train losses for a normal front wheel drive car with a manual gearbox are around 10% of engine output, plus 10bhp fixed losses. So a standard C VR6 will lose 19+10bhp, or around 29bhp. Hence the at the wheels figure of 161 being "normal".