dr_mat

Brave man sticking your neck out like that around here Jim. People usually gang up against you for saying things like that .. :) I agree 100%. Something must be done. People can't just keep saying that "if I can afford it it's my right to consume everything I can till it runs out"... Actually it's not your right to consume the last of a resource that everyone shares, because it IS my right to have a share of it too. People get very confused about rights. Your rights end at the point where it effects another person, in any way, even indirectly. Not that I'm claiming for a second that "banning inefficient cars" is the right approach, but it's certainly ONE approach, and it WOULD work.

I assume you reset the ECU after swapping the cam sensor .. ?

It's not about needing it is it? Who needs McDonalds? Who needs KFC bargain buckets? Glad to see we agree as usual. ;)

Meh, I have evidence that my VR6 can do over 35mpg .. :) Anyway, the guy has a point "no-one needs a car that does 10-15 mpg"..

Another one with duff sills! People have been welding patches onto sills for decades mate, don't worry too much about it, just get it sorted and move on.

For me, go genuine. It's peanuts compared to the labour charges. YMMV.

And then you need another one as spare for when the first one breaks... ;) First things first: make sure your headlights reflectors are in good shape, nice and shiny and the lights are clean. Then get some "+50%" bulbs (http://www.powerbulbs.co.uk) and then see where you're at. They aren't the best lights, even in perfect condition, but they should be adequate. Many of the aftermarket looms have a disturbing tendency to fail, which is something you can't say about the original loom. "Not very bright" it might be, but it works for 20 years without intervention .. ! You'll be wanting some of these: http://www.powerbulbs.com/product_detail.asp?prod=43

Yes, all sounds normal to me ...

Indeed, I'm talking about the fronts...

And tonight it's quiet on the way home. :roll: Insane thing. So it's not much work to swap 'em? You just have to take the brake disks off? Might just go get a hammer and just smack 'em one... :)

Dredging this one up again .. How does the ABS rotor attach to the rear of the brakes? Is it screwed in place? My rotors appear to be "moving" - sometimes they're fouling the ABS sensor, sometimes they're not. They are slightly buckled too, which doesn't help, but the fact that it doesn't happen all the time tells me something is loose..

I think that the only way you're going to fix this is either: custom engineering, or just *be careful*. Most people note that you don't want to be moving the direction control if the fan is on 2 or above, or if the car is travelling particularly fast, because it increases the resistance against the plastics .. and they pop.

You can mark up the track rod when it's removed to avoid having to reset the tracking. It'd be near enough, if done right.

If you can get the front end lifted up have a look around the tie rod while you run the steering from lock to lock, make sure it's clear all the way along. Also make sure you use decent parts and you don't wind up fitting the boot "twisted", and that anyone who adjusts your tracking also doesn't wind up twisting the boot.

Haha. Worms everywhere. Use the search mate, DONE TO DEATH. And then resurrected and DONE TO DEATH AGAIN. It's a pointless discussion, buy the one you can afford and enjoyed driving and is in best condition.

Yes. The only drawback with this is that if you change laptops/reinstall the OS you'll have to re-register it. (But they don't charge for that, it's just hassle.) The genuine Ross-Tech cables have a built-in dongle that enables the full features of the software, so you can use the cable on any computer anytime.

It might be worth doing the ECU reset procedure, but you don't *really* need anything more advanced than a spanner so you can disconnect the battery for 30 seconds ... Do the search, there's a pattern of driving you need to do afterwards to "program" the ECU the characteristics of your engine. If you're getting fuel in the oil long term though, chances are you have a mechanical problem, not an electronic one ..

Yes, the xxx CP named ECUs have an immobiliser built in. There's a reader coil around the steering column that picks up the ID from the chip in your key. BUT typically if this setup isn't working the car will start, then cut out immediately, it doesn't generally prevent initial startup.

You need to reset the ECU after changing the lambda. It will ignore the new lambda till you clear the error codes and it's a good idea to do it anyway when you change a major electronic sensor .. Note that on late VRs unplugging the MAF at idle will not be noticed by the engine. But I note you have a '94 with the six-pin MAF, so I don't have direct experience of running one of those.. Mine is a '95 with coil pack and 4-pin MAF..

The shareware version doesn't let you *set* anything, basically. It'll still do all the basics in terms of assisting diagnosis but if you have to reset your ECU you won't be able to put the adaptation settings back to right unless you have the full version. Anyway, it's only $99 to register so that's less than the price of two cups of starbucks finest columbian tar..

Sounds like the hub is a little out of round.. Not much you can do about it short of replacing the hub (or use a lump hammer..). Mate of mine had a 3-series BMW where the wheels would rust onto the hub. You could literally remove all the wheel bolts and drop the car back onto the wheel - it wouldn't budge.. That wasn't hard to re-fit the wheel though, just remove it.

I didn't tell him to set it to -1.2, I said "do a 4 wheel alignment" and he set it to -1.2. I'm not arguing, I'm just telling it like it is .. Maybe he does it differently for your big arse wheels with your lowered suspension compared to my all-standard setup? Perhaps you are the unusual one, Mr Cheese Strings? ;)

It's normal to have to burn off the coatings on a fresh clutch, but it shouldn't stink massively. Did you perhaps reverse over an annoyed skunk instead??

Hmm, I think it's: - Bought car with MOT cert. - Local garage finds fibreglass. - Garage that did MOT (2nd time) says "hmm, well .. maybe we should have failed it again" and offers to patch sills with metal to avoid VOSA bad news - OP wonders whether to accept metal weld patches or to push for getting the whole sills replaced. Me? I think take the patches. It's common practice and doesn't invalidate the MOT to have patched sills, so can be considered perfectly safe.

Ah, life is cheap outside the UK ...