dr_mat

See if the indicators work normally when you're not braking .. sometimes you get crossed connections in the rear light clusters that cause a short back through the brake light circuit. Sometimes caused by fitting single-filament bulbs instead of dual-filament too..

I usually manage to pay for these things with a credit card I know will expire before renewal .. or a card I'm about to cancel. Seems to make my life a lot simpler that way!!

Ah yeah, that's a short somewhere.. lucky it didn't set something on fire..!

Interesting. What was the amount of drain it was causing?

It's easy to make a profit on used cars when you have a pet mechanic who can spend 10 hours stripping things down without charging you a penny .. Count the labour rates on those old cars they've worked on and they'd have made a massive loss on all of them.

Epic thread. Does a superb job of confusing people and making them go away and make their own choices. This is a good thing ... :) Ah, the joys of getting a screw through the tread just those couple of mm closer to the sidewall than you'd like ...

I suppose it's inevitable that on a sports car forum the discussions around a mere TWO LITRE version of the car focus on how slow it is .. Back in the real world, outside the world of company cars and petrol head enthusiasts, there's plenty of people driving around in modest cars and not giving a crap about the fact that so-and-so has a wotsit that'll do 0-60 one eighth of a second quicker than you.. :) A two litre, even a lowly 8v with 115bhp (IIRC) can produce a rewarding drive in a ~1 ton car with a low centre of gravity and a wheel at each corner. This is a similar problem, and why I won't listen to high-end hifi any more. If I listen and like it too much it destroys the enjoyment of the high-end hifi that I've got at home..

If economy if your aim, you should definitely get either an 8v or look for one of the ultra-rare TDi conversions.

I've seen NINE mpg on the clock at the end of a 1 mile journey across Reading centre at 8am in -5 degrees.. These days I walk!

40mpg is really only achievable downhill and without use of the throttle! :) In my experience driving on a Motorway at a more typical 80-85mph pushes these numbers down to 29 to 31 mpg. And also worth bearing in mind that a fifteen minute journey in the middle of winter through a town centre with lots of stop-start and you'll be lucky to break double figures. I've seen 12 -15 mpg after journeys like that. 17 - 20 in summer if you don't have to start the car while very cold. The VR is capable of modest economy, but it's also capable of raping your wallet for no good reason. Reality will be somewhere in between those two states ..

If you want to know it's working, start the car and pull away. When you reach 10kph you'll hear and feel a little graunch through the brakes - that's the self test. As stated above it doesn't *do* anything when you turn the ignition on. Plus of course if the dash light goes on then off as normal there's a good chance everything's fine.

The VR got 205s to handle the additional power and weight.. As a nice bonus they overhang on the sides slightly and you don't tend to scuff the rims unless you're really badly taking the ****....

"Corrado breaks down." Oh wait, that's not funny because it happens all the time!

I think your biggest problem is the wheel bolt spacing will be bigger than on a Corrado .. No problem with taking those tyres off those wheels and sticking them on some Corrado wheels though. They'll be a teeny bit over-size and you'll find the speedo a teeny-bit under-reads, but they'll be fine.

I assume this is a OBD1 hot wire MAF not the later film type. I think the older ones have a four-pin connector. If you unplug and replug the MAF while the ignition is ON, the ECU will switch to only using the throttle position sensor to determine fuelling, and it'll probably run a shade rich. It may also run a MAF cleaning cycle (heat the wire up to burn crap off) before bringing it back into use. If you unplug it while the ignition is OFF, it will make NO difference whatsoever so you'd have to assume any effect is either imaginary or related to connectivity or debris build up inside the MAF.

Actually your best bet may be to simply let justice take its course. Report the crime, get the insurance to pay for everything, but make absolutely sure that the insurance company knows who did the deed. It's then in the insurance company's ball park and they have the option of suing the family of the kid to get their costs back. That would be MUCH worse for them than the offer you made. This doesn't necessarily help - you still lose out with your excess and future insurance costs (unless the insurer succesfully gets their money back at least). And I wouldn't write down the offer you made to them, either. It's not strictly speaking legit..

Suggest you take it to small claims then, they've not given you any choice there. Or Judge Judy.

Did you PM me? Not sure the PM interface is working for me ... I tried sending you one and it's disappeared .. Yet I have 123 new PMs ... (I kid you not.)

Hmm, no, typing too fast for brain - I meant the clutch master and slave cylinder if you have split them off .. :-\ Erm, PM me with a more exact location and I'll figure out when I can pop over. I have to get this stuff in one Corrado VR6, so it might take more than one go tbh .. ! Cheers!

Would like the subframe and wishbones, if it's all straight please. I'm in Reading too, which is handy! :) Actually, leave the rack on it .. I'll take that too .. ! Actually I'll take the brake master/slave cylinders, the coilpack and the alternator too.. Front indicators too please! Might buy half the damn car at this rate! :)

You can check the sensor resistances with a pocket multi-meter, and yes those cables on the suspension turrets go to the ABS sensors for the front wheels. Getting hold of a VAG-COM setup is pretty cheap if you already have a laptop running windows. Get any old USB VAG-COM lead off ebay (cheapest the better - the older designs tend to be more compatible with the old cars), then download the v3.1 (I think) version of VAG-COM from the Ross-Tech website. Run it, plug it in, hit the scan error codes button.. off you go.

Could be anything, tbh.. sensors are the most common failure. Note that the ABS does a self-check when you reach 15 kph (about 10mph) on pulling away the first time after you start the engine. Until that point it doesn't know if all the valves work properly, so you might well have a faulty valve block if the light comes on just as the "crunch" happens there. They're cheap and reliable so buy a used one, don't even think about paying for a new one... Diags is the quickest way to find out what the problem is though, laboriously cleaning sensors is a last resort if you're a million miles from someone who has VAG-COM .. (or you don't own a laptop!).

If it's not possible to even up the camber, either you're not doing it right .. :) .. or something is bent .. either the strut itself or the hub assembly where it fits onto it.

I believe the oil pump drive shafts can make this noise too, they're driven from the centre sprocket on the timing chains and the noise amplifies up the back of the block so it sounds like it's coming from the head.

It very definitely depends on the circuit. I took a completely standard VR on an airfield circuit with long fast sweeping bends and had no issues. You just have to not be stupid. If there's heavy braking zones then be smart and only do one or two fast laps at a time before coming back in to let things cool down.