dr_mat

Your oil temp is too low. An unmodified VR6 will show 100-110 deg C at motorway cruise speeds. I actually think the temps on the way back are nearer to normal.. Sounds like your thermostat is stuck open.

Sooner, very much sooner. Do it today. Seriously.

Yup, 11v is "totally flat". Last time I took my flat battery off the car for charging it was reading 3.8v ... After a good 24 hours slow charge it's perfectly fine though, so just charge it and it'll be alright.

Just charge it normally. You managed to push a reversed charge into it that's all, it'll probably recover. Or did you just put the voltmeter on the battery the wrong way round ..... ;)

Once you've fixed the inlet pipe I'd give it a chance to recalibrate. I might even be tempted to do the ECU reset and force it to recalibrate from scratch (assuming you're talking about a VR here, since it's the only one that calibrates anyway).. Failing that sound like your lambda is hosed.

Define "a little work" ... !

Wasn't aware of that! [and have been drivin' 43 yrs] By driving docs - do you mean licence and ins cert? Surely not log book & MOT cert as well? Not true. You're not required to carry any documents ever. The law says that you must produce your documents WHEN REQUESTED, but that doesn't mean you have to carry them with you. You will be given seven days to show them at your local police station. If they have reason to believe that you will try something clever they must arrest you for something (and that can be suspicion of driving without insurance) at which point they have to do a ton of paperwork and you will then be required to produce your documents.. You have a right to remain anonymous unless the police arrest you for something. Fact is that if you're in a car they've probably already looked up your number plate anyway, but that's not the point. Don't give away your rights so easily. We don't have many left.

Actually it's less about the pressure and more about the heat. The system is designed to withstand pressure, no problems. In fact it's designed to retain enough pressure that the water in the system can become superheated (i.e. it can go over 100 degrees C without turning into steam). So what happens when you have an airlock is you actually don't have *enough* pressure and the fluid starts vapourising. The pockets of vapour moving around the system are MUCH hotter than the fluid would have been, so not only do they fail to cool the engine in the bit where they're sat, but they also have a tendency to superheat joints, fittings, pipes and so on, finding or creating leaks much sooner than a pressurised fluid at 100 degrees would. So retop up the system as described above - using the top radiator hose - and run the engine again, to be sure you've got rid of all the air locks before you assume anything else is wrong.

If it happens immediately after a breakage, chances are you have an air lock.. You'll know if the thermostat doesn't work - the rad will stay cool!

Turn the ignition on, you should hear it whirring very quietly, and you'll see a slightly movement in the water through the expansion tank.

Yeah, probably the old pump wasn't pumping very hard .. the new one get's the system up to full flow and the matrix can't cope any longer.

I don't think any alarms were factory fitted, they were all fitted by the dealers post-factory. I believe most dealers tended to use Scorpion 5000s? That's just some vague memory from reading the forum, so I might be miles off there..

So when it's failing to run do you have spark? Do you still have fuel? This might point to a failing sensor, but it's hard to say because iirc the 1.8 16v has a relatively simple ECU with not many sensors. And when you say "not a hint" of trying to start .. you mean it's not even turning over?

It would also make it impossible to get the tyre to seal to the rim. Your tyre fitters obviously fitted crap weights if they're rusty, they should be galvanised.

If it's making arcing noises then the obvious thing is to check your coil pack and HT leads over. It's not unusual for thermal changes to make coil packs STOP working or even START working as gaps open and close with temperature changes. www.ross-tech.com for vag-com bits, but you can get generic cables off ebay (the older the better, for a VR6) and use the freeware version of the software to do the basics. Yes they do lots of USB cables now (essentially doing USB->serial in the cable). Not sure about Mac support. You might need to boot Windoze.. As for the squealing .. sounds like you've covered every component except the power steering pump+alternator, so take the belt off and see if it still squeals. (Don't run it for long without a water pump though!!)

I don't know what the "best" result would be, but the exhaust bore should be tuned to match the air flow rate through the engine - which will be more or less proportional to the power output (within reason). So your best bet is to look at what diameter tubes e.g. porsche spec for cars with similar ower output. Yup, bigger ain't always better. The boys with the phat exhaust pipes are very much mistaken.. They're swapping power for noise ..

It's all about achieving steady flow. If the bore is too wide, you will only get turbulence in the exhaust gases and the exhaust will be no more efficient than no exhaust at all. If you can get a steady laminar flow of gas through the exhaust then you do get the scavenging effect Kev mentioned above, which can improve cylinder flush out the exhaust stroke (which in turn improves cylinder fill later in the cycle). For any system with deliberate obstructions in the outlet (turbos!) then clearly this no longer applies between the outlet and the turbo, but even on the exhaust side of the turbo this effect can still be helpful. A G60 engine has no outflow restrictions so you'll still benefit from a well designed exhaust with a suitable flow rate and diameter. FWIW the exact same principles apply to good inlet manifold design, and for a graphic demonstration of this look at the VSR/VGI manifold - all that torque comes about because of the narrower effective inlet at lower revs. "Widen" the inlet for high rev throughput (higher overall gas flow rate).

You should have gone for the group buy a while back ...

Hmm, might be that your indicators are shorting out somewhere and it's pulling the alternator voltage down hard - that can cause the revs to change slightly.

You mean the ABS light is on? Or no lights, no-one's home ..? The plug is on the control box, it's in the passenger footwell, against the outer shell of the car. Though it's probably a good idea to go check the connections on the pump/valve block under the bonnet too. TBH if you've had a "valve error" chances are the valve block is hosed and you'll need to replace it. That's no big deal, there's plenty on scrap yards (good supply means low prices) and they're usually quite reliable.

Really? I would have thought that if the engine ECU works on your lead and VAGCOM combo then the ABS ECU would too. Does your ABS work anyway? Tried re-seating the ABS ECU controller connector?

Hmm, let's get a sense of perspective here .. swap the engine just cos it's a bit clattery? You'll be buying a new car just because the dash creaks next! I'd be inclined to swap the engine if you're suffering from chronic oil consumption or big-end noises or bore wear, but if it's running fine and just a bit clattery, change the oil and get on with your life..! :)

I have a long memory. FWIW my VR is also noticeably quieter and smoother after a long cruise (an hour or two at speed). If you're just driving it backwards and forwards in traffic all the time it's always a little lumpier and a little noisier.

Only early VRs have a "hot wire" MAF .. A late VR with hot film MAF won't notice it being disconnected at idle. You'll only notice when you try to rev the engine.

They always do the "engine speed sender shuffle", in the hope you'll shell out for it accidentally. You want the other one. But I am relieve to find the engine speed sender is now down below a hundred quid. Bargain! It used to be ~£140. VAG-COM .. got a laptop? get a cable off ebay. Also look up the ECU reset procedure on the site, that might help you, but only if it's an adaptation issue.