dr_mat

I win! ;) Sounds a little high, it should fluctuate only from 0.95-1.05 ish... Time to try a replacement lambda methinks.

You can always just ... not worry about it and thrash the crap out of it till it dies .. ! After all, no point looking out the rear view if you're accelerating all the time..! ;)

I think you just need a newer car jim ...

Great if your spirit level is set to -1.2 degrees. Shit otherwise...

Plug in VAG-COM. It'll tell you what the ECU thinks the engine revs are. I think you have two problems: 1) valver dash meaning you *think* it's revving too high when it isn't 2) some other failure causing high fuel consumption. probably the lambda probe. VAG-COM will diagnose both. Over-revving by 20-30% won't cause 12mpg.

I think it's pretty safe to assume that no-one else on this forum has: - had to go slowly down a road because of an Amish horse/cart - annoyed an Amish person by driving past them - had an argument with an Amish person - been forced to call a police officer because of an Amish person - found that the police officer was polite and reasonable about it all Quite a lot of unusual things in one day! Did you take lunch at Milliways afterwards?

Would suggest you get the tracking (and camber) checked and adjusted at a tyre place!! ;)

Adaptation from bad components can cause this. So did you do the ECU reset and relearn or not?

Dammit, you search on ebay for a subwoofer for in-car use and there's nothing with a driver less than 8" in diameter .. hardly subtle ffs. Might be worth finding a PC-speaker system sub that runs off 12v ... ?

Not that I'm even vaguely interested in in-car audio, but I can tell you that basic physics says that if you want "strong" bass you have to have one of the following: - large speakers - a tuned "bass port" - providing a single resonant peak in the bass spectrum - lots of power The latter can overcome a lack of the former, but it's usually no more than "good enough". You can trick your ears into thinking that you're hearing deep bass with tuned ports and resonance chambers and the like, but it's not the same as really responding deep down. Sorry this post is probably no help at all, but I hope it'll allow you to set your expectations a little more Jim.. Perhaps the best compromise is some ultra-clean sounding mids+highs in the standard locations, and then add an ultra-compact subwoofer under the footwells somewhere to pad out the bottom end a little?

It costs you £30 a day to park in central london and that doesn't discourage anyone, so an additional £25/day won't make the slightest difference either. I do think it's unfair to slap it on residents too, and businesses, but for everyone else, who cares? Get the tube you lazy arses!

FWIW the diesels emit lots of particulates, but they are larger than those emitted by petrol cars. The ultra-fine particulates are the really dangerous ones to your health, since they pass through so many membranes in your cells.

The original article (which has been discussed before btw) states that cars will be graded on their emissions. Cars with bad grading won't be allowed (that means SUV/4x4s). The only reason the classic car crowd are annoyed is because cars over 15 years old will suffer a blanket ban, i.e. nothing to do with their emissions.

The VR6 had a pretty advanced emission control system, for it's age. Compare it to the low-end cars in the early 90s with very simple single-point injection systems. But even so, newer cars are better, noticeably. And as for the point of the pollution generated creating new cars - I completely agree with this point - it's much better, overall, to run a decently clean old car than to build a cleaner new one, but this type of policy is about protecting air quality in a specific location (i.e. in the locations where the vast majority of people live), not any wider aim.

I agree. I was having this conversation the other day. Sparked of course by that fabric softener advert. As it happens I just got back from the south of france. Pain free travel, courtesy of Eurostar. 6 hours from London. Awesome..! Just goes to show - the only decent train line in the UK is run by the French...

I doubt it will happen in the UK. Our traffic systems are too dependant on cars being able to pass through towns to get *anywhere*. Plus most VRs are too new to be impacted by that specific wording of the regs in Germany (and actually the VR's pollutant emissions are very low, it just pushes out a lot of CO2). But anyway, why do people driving polluting old bangers assume they have the right to belch smoke into crowded city centres? Just because they have done so for the last thirty years doesn't mean it should continue forever. Just like the smoking ban, the "right" to belch anything (including curry breath) in people's faces is limited.. Of course, they should start by forcing the ancient trucks and buses off the city roads if clean air is the aim .. (Lordy, if only we had a decent rail network freight could use!!)

GSF lambda .. ? I've heard of a few people claim they've failed early, so maybe start there? Yes 30mpg isn't bad.

ABS will report a fault if it's power feed drops below 8v at any time (even ignition off). You need to scan/reset the faults in the ECU.

Can't test the top mount play on VWs of this age when the weight isn't on the wheel.. they should know that.

You did, of course, try an ECU reset and relearn?

I'd recommend an airfield course too if it's your first time .. the armco tends to be miles away. Bruntingthorpe for example is huge, lots and lots of run-off space if you mess it up.

It's caster angle you can't easily adjust; the camber is simple as dinkus already said. The two bolt holes in the hub assembly are elongated so you can slide the bolts back and forth. Any decent laser alignment shop should be able to do this for you.

If they said they couldn't make any, I'd be worried..

Doesn't really matter what my school said.. just saying that it's not exactly a frictionless device, particularly with a significant amount of wear on the bearings. And I never said I got 35mpg ALL the time! ;) I don't think it's beyond comprehension to light up both front wheels on a car with the torque of a VR, limited slip diff or otherwise. You only have to put torque onto the diff at a *rate* that overcomes the wheel that slips first's ability to soak up the inertia by spinning it off, and bingo, both wheels spinning, smoke, car moving sideways. It's not hard. (Nor is it clever..! ;) )

Because of how they work. Open diffs send all the power to the spinning wheel and the one with the most grip stays still. Yeah, I learned that at school thanks! But.. a 135k mile diff isn't exactly 100% "open" for a start and secondly you can feel which wheel/wheels is/are spinning through the steering/your arse and thirdly you can HEAR it..! I don't need no bloody quaife owner telling me which wheels I'm spinning thankyouverymuch.. :-P