Serial

Bump... does anybody know if the upper chain tensioner pad should be slightly loose on it's pivot pin, i.e. it wobbles slightly from side to side...

OK, this evening I took off the upper chain cover. The small green O-ring was all present and correct, although there was a fair bit more sealant than I think should have been. I gave the oil gallery a good poke with a pipe cleaner and it's definitely clear. Couldn't see any sign of any broken chains/pads/guides. However one thing I did notice, is the upper tensioner pad appears to rock slightly side-to-side on the pivot pin, is this normal? I could imagine that may make the rattling noise....

Er, yes, I also was only joshing about cutting it off... :) that would be a last resort if you got clamped by some cowboys. As it's the council, just pay up and then complain, there's a good chance they'll refund you if they have genuinely made a mistake.

For much less than £110 you could probably get yourself an angle grinder and grind the damn thing off...

I'm pretty certain I put the seal back, it was a small green O-ring if I remember correctly. I'm gonna have one more go at priming the bolt, I'll leave it in oil overnight to make sure there's absolutely no air in it, then pre-tension it a bit by withdrawing the plunger a tiny bit more than I did last time and see if that fixes it... If that doesn't work I guess it's time to take the top cover off and have a look, I suppose it's possible something has snapped or come loose in the last 2k miles... Thanks for all the help, much appreciated. :-) T

I've got the 'early' one I think, it's got the little bump on the end with the hole that you poke a wire in to release the check valve. The tensioner pad has a groove in for the bump to sit in. Took the car from Manchester to Colchester and back this weekend with no problems, however the chain noise is still there but possibly not quite as loud as with the old bolt... I'm not sure if it's a problem, although it does make me nervous, I keep having visions of bent valves and cracked pistons.... :pale:

Yes, plenty of oil in the head....

This is what it sounded like before I replaced the tensioner bolt with a new one: [youtube:imxkwyg8]v9K5U2zV8Fg[/youtube:imxkwyg8] ...and this is what it sounded like afterwards... spot the difference?... I couldn't either... :scratch: [youtube:imxkwyg8]AQGA00ZzUs4[/youtube:imxkwyg8]

I think the tappets are ok -- I had the head rebuilt by Impulse and I'm sure he'd have said if they were worn out... The chains have about 12000miles on them as far as I know, but looked absolutely fine when I put them back on during the rebuild... and its definitely coming from the passenger side of the engine, but not sure if its the top or underneath as I haven't had a chance to jack up and stick my head under whilst it's running... It's definitely a chain-ey sound, as far as I can tell from listening to various sound clips I found on tinterweb. It starts about 10-15secs after starting the engine, then gets gradually louder. Its loudest when the RPMs are dropping off, i.e. after a gentle throttle blip. It's loud enough to hear from the drivers seat with the doors/windows/bonnet closed. I took a couple of videos last night which I'll post up when I get home... Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated :)

OK so I took the cam cover off just to be sure that I didn't skip a tooth whilst the tensioner was out... got a brand new tensioner bolt, primed it with oil, fitted it, put everything back together and... the noise is still there. If I try really hard I can just about convince myself it's a little quieter, but it's definitely not gone... Any other suggestions as to what I could try next? I'm thinking maybe insufficient oil pressure to the bolt, but not sure how to test for that (or cure it) Also would it be possible that the oil I'm using is causing the problem? After the engine was run-in, I changed the oil for Silkolene PRO S 10W-50 Ester Synthetic Oil, which I think is slightly thinner than the recommended stuff... the chain noise seemed to start at about that time, and I also started getting loud oil-pump whine on cold starts after the oil change...

I recently rebuilt my VR6, all is going swimmingly except for a rather disconcerting chain noise from the right hand side of the head... During the rebuild I checked all the chains & tensioner pads etc, and found them all to be in good nick... but on reading more thoroughly through the forum I think I may have missed out priming the upper chain tensioner bolt properly. I basically just popped it back in and torqued it up. So... assuming this is the cause of the chain noise, I'm going to take the bolt out, prime it properly and pop it back in and see if this stops the noise. My question is... can I do this without removing the cam cover, or would that risk the chain slipping a notch and the timing going out?

The wire colours on mine are blue/green and brown/grey. I had the same problem as macas32, the coolant temp sensor and IAT sensor plugs were mixed up, but it didn't seem to be causing me any problems... I only noticed when I plugged into VAG-COM. Much better that they're in the right way round though! :)

The socket on the engine with nothing plugged into it is the intake air temperature sensor, and it should have a wire plugged into it -- if I recall correctly the wire exits the loom at roughly the same point as the wires from the two water temp sensors in the thermostat housing, and the plug is a right-angled type. Can't remember what colours the wires are though right now. The blank socket on the breather pipe is the same on my VR6 and there is also a wire plugged into that -- no idea what it's for though! HTH

I see what you mean, sorry fla, I misread your first post...

Disconnecting the battery whilst working on the electrical system helps avoid this kind of thing, also.

id like to see some evidence to that effect please. I know water expands when it freezes but not when it thaws! Ice gets more dense as you cool it down further below 0C, so as you warm it up it will expand until it turns into water, when it suddenly contracts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice#Freeze-thaw

Cleaned it, drove it, listened to that lovely VR6 noise and smiled a lot... :-)

Only the head & block were renewed so all the other cooling system components are the originals, however I did give them all a good flush with a hosepipe before putting it back together again. It does sound like I'm worrying a bit too much though, I guess as long as it's not actually losing any coolant the colour doesn't really matter hehe.... :D Re the ARP studs -- I've found some conflicting info on here regarding retorquing the head studs, some posts saying it's necessary after the first heat cycle, some say it should be done after 500miles, and some saying it doesn't have to be done at all..! :scratch: I got the head rebuilt at Impulse and Adrian there reckoned it should be done after 500miles, so that's what I'd planned... Bit late but I think I'll do that ASAP, flush the coolant and replace with new and see how it goes :-)

Hi all, just took the car out with it's new engine for a little run round the lanes and when I got back, I noticed that the colour of the coolant in the header tank is no longer bright pink (G12++) as it was when I put the rebuilt engine in... it's still pink but much muddier looking... thing is it's only done 600miles since the rebuild and I was under the impression it should look nice and clean for quite a while... The engine is running fine, I've been treating it gently (no more than 3500rpm, no harsh acceleration) to run it in. I used ARP head bolts but haven't retorqued them yet, so I'm hoping I haven't bust the headgasket already :pale:

Also received mine, thank you :-)

I bought a cable with the serial port, and downloaded the shareware version of VAG-COM from Ross-Tech. Worked first time, no problems at all. IMHO serial to USB adaptors (which are contained within the plug bodies of the USB versions of the cable) are evil and should all be shot at dawn.

Hi KUR2Y, I'd like a 3-relay loom if possible please. Thanks Tom

Solved, it was indeed that I had attached the handbrake cables before pumping the brakes, so I guess they hadn't self adjusted.... So... FINALLY passed the MOT today so the car is back on the road after 15 months! :clap: :D

Car's still at the garage over the weekend, waiting for it's MOT, but I spoke to them on Friday and they said they'd sorted it, but didn't tell me what was wrong... I'll ask on Monday and post an update. :)

Thanks for the suggestions, will give them a try tomorrow :) :salute: