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Diesel electric technology has been around for many decades & is used because it can be an efficient use of fuel, has any of the manufacturers produced a diesel electric car?

Thanks Alex arrived today, great work cheers Mick

Blue temp sensor is easy to test if you have a multimeter, on the ohms range it should test approx 2000-3000ohms when cold & approx 200ohms hot, they do go open circuit which fools the ECU into thinking the engine is cold even when its hot which kills your mpg not to mention lambda & cat.

Dont know about Lupo wipers/arms but the standard arms/wipers work fine by grinding a small amount of metal/alli off the shoulders near the arm spring & hinge which stop movement of the arm short of perfect when the spindles become worn. Should be done with a Dremmel ideally but I did mine carefully with a Metal drill bit in the Black & decker. Mine now work like new. Lupo arms may have the same problem. Mick

The idle screw has a small rubber ring to seal it but unfortunately over time due to the fact it gets very hot right above the exaust manifold the rubber degrades & breaks. The idle screw complete with sealing ring was still available from the dealers a few months ago part no 037 133 432 £11.20 + vat

Unfortunately its not as easy as that, the ECU could well be trying to compensate for a faulty sensor via the ISV, I have had an idle fault on my G60 for a few months now, idles fast when hot 1000+rpm, I have checked or changed everything, all sensors, all vacuum pipes, the wiring loom including all earths & its still the same. I am suspecting the ECU on mine because it seems to be linked to the fast idle on startup program. As you probably already know idle problems on G60s are usually the blue temp sensor faulty or vacuum pipe leak or sometimes the idle screw seal on the throttle body leaks air, or the idle switch not being operated or faulty. Good luck I hope you find your problem easier than I have. Mick Good luck finding it

Very impressed with my G60 a couple of years ago came out from work at about 5pm the road looked wet but unbeknown to me it had started to freeze on the roundabout a few yards down the road, I entered it not going very carefully & was going to take the last exit, as the sideways G started the back wheels let go, more by instinct than anything I took my foot off the throttle & steered slightly into the slide & she corrected herself perfectly. Needless to say I then drove carefully home, never had the back tyres let go like that before, more used to the understeer when applying the horses thro the front wheels.

No rush here Alex, the list of jobs to do is gradually growing & its winter, hope to be busy next year tho & the passenger window rattles so much when its down in the summer its does affect handling, or maybe its phsychological!

The garage got the old one out, said "the bolt was a bit tight" when I asked & went on "the distributor body was seized in the block they always are & you just have to wiggle about until it eventually frees" then he said "its a bugger getting the new one in engaging the skew gear & then the oil pump drive is a bit fiddly". Sounds like it was a real pain in the arse job, didnt feel so bad about paying the £117 it cost me in the end.

The plug/socket on the dizzy needs to have good clean contacts & be water tight, small voltages +5v,earth & signal wire all require no contact resistance to work properly. Give the contacts a spray of contact cleaner & make sure the little soft plastic gasket is in place to stop water ingress & that the plug clips securely into the socket.

What fuel are you using? If the knock sensor detects pinking when the timing advances with revs it will start retarding the timing cutting power, if you dont already use it try a tank of good 99RON fuel to see if that fixes it. Although the G60 will run on cheaper unleaded they do like higher octane fuels especially in the summer. :D

Yes I suppose it might have been chipped without a charger pulley change but having said that I think it is a cast alloy pulley which if what you say is true then it probably has been changed aswell. It certainly isnt steel painted black. I have e-mailed BBR to see what they can tell me about the mods. Mick

Always thought my G60 was completely standard, as I bought it one year old from a dealer in 93. It always has been quite lively but I thought it was just a good example of a stock car. Recently however whiltst trying to fix an idle problem I have found that there were some quite subtle mods carried out in the 1st year of its life. The ISV has a vacuum non return valve in the pipe to the the boost return effectively stopping the ISV from dumping boost & I have today cracked open the ECU to find a BBR 7246 MD2 G60-346 3/93 chip in there? Not sure wether the charger pulley is standard size now, I always assumed it was. Found BBR on the web in Northampton maybe I'll give them a ring to see if they can throw any light on the mods although 93 is a while ago. Mick :lol:

Yes I did remove the piece of plastic with the vacuum diagrams on it & the charger pipe to the plastic pipe to the intercooler which gave better access from above but the size of spanner is limited by the fan/radiator etc down by the distributor, as you rightly say access is difficult. Just had a quick look at the fan/cowling which seem to be bolted to the radiator with 4 bolts one of which by the fan temp sensor looks tricky to get at. Dont know if its possible to get the fan & cowling out without draining down the coolant because the top radiator hose is above?

Hi supercharged, yes I have removed the plastic cover to reveal the bolt head & it may have been just nipped up 18years ago but time & corrosion have stuck it well & truly. I have got some flexi head ratchet spanners, they are marvelous tools, will keep spraying with penetrant & try again. Its booked into my local backstreet VW garage in a couple of weeks, they are very good, but if I can just loosen this bolt myself I will enjoy fitting the new distributor, & re-timing it. Cheers Mick

Having trouble shifting this particular bolt on my G60, not surprising I guess as it hadnt been touched since it left the factory in 1992. Have been soaking it in penetrating oil from above & under the clamp although its very tight down there. Looking at it today I wonder wether the threaded hole in the block casting is open to the elements on the underside as it sticks out slightly, if it is I may be able to spray penetrant in from that end as well although the little pipe that comes with the can isnt very long. I can get a standard 13mm ring on the bolt head but I cant shift it at the moment. guess I better get a can of spinach & try again.

I have a lightened G60, Cat heat shield removed, flappy bits under the splitter removed, wifes doorpocket emptied (good for 0.4sec 0-60), & lighter battery, all makes a difference, sorry to highjack this thread Alex, keep up the good work Mick

Sounds almost certainly like a problem in the clocks or the power to the clocks, light switch is a separate problem, there is probably a loose piece of plastic inside the switch fouling the movement, common problem.

Have noticed the torque steer on my G60 gets much worse when the front tyres are on the limit, also affects brake steering on rutted roads, how are your tyres?

Used to get this problem when I 1st got the G60, then I realised the steering lock was doing it & a wiggle of the wheel has done the trick for the last 18yrs.

Removed the plastic cap on the distributor bolt & gave a good spray with WD40 on my G60 ready to put in a new distributor & re-time it next week. Not sure how I'm going to get at the 13mm bolt as in true Rado fashion its partially hidden under the body of the distributor so normal socket is impossible. :shrug:

The dizzy is quoted as Bosch 0237520044 on GSF webpage, apparently used on many of the older 1.8 VWs, also listed as £96 + VAT = £113, not as expensive as I feared. Dont know what the dealers price is but I imagine it will be more. Trip to GSF next week not too far away in Poole.

Check the big earth cable that comes off the -ve of the battery, it has 2 main earthing points, behind the battery it bolts to the chassis & then goes on to bell housing behind the starter for the engine earth. Cable should be in good condition & the earths good clean metal to metal contact, any corrosion or dirt can cause problems. Mick

The more I think about it the more I'm convinced its an electronic fault as it wanders up & down while I watch it without touching anything. If it was a vacuum leak idle would be constantly high which its not. And its something thats affected by temperature, my moneys on the tired old hall sensor still. If I had a Bosch part no for the dizzy I'll check with dealers & GSF price of new dizzy if they're still available...

I have been careful not to disconnect the ISV with engine running or ignition on as I read it can damage the ECU & the ISV seems to work ok. Wish I had timing light maybe I'll purchase one, I'm pretty sure the timing is wandering because when I monitor the boost pressure on the display its 530 ish at idle while idle is 850rpm which is about right for a stock car but when idle starts to rise to 1000rpm the boost pressure falls to 470ish which can idicate timing too advanced. Trouble is I'm not sure wether this fall in boost pressure indicates the cause or wether its just the result of the engine running slightly faster...