mikehiow

My engine makes all sorts of odd noises, I'm guessing it's a combination of tired chains/guides/pads and tired/old tappets, however, I thought I'd check. Are the tappets being noisy a common thing? Can this be sorted to any degree with different oil, or perhaps it's the result of wrong oil? Oil change is the next thing on the list - While I'm on the subject, what oil should I be going for on a 130k engine, I was just planning on getting a "kit" from Opie. If it's the tappets, can it be sorted? What's involved? When driving it's not so bad, but idling in small spaces, and over-run, it's more annoying than anything else. Any advice would be much appreciated!

Quick question, I bought a set of 6 plugs from the dealer, Platinum tipped ones I believe. Would these have come pre-gapped? 300 miles later, and the car is mis-firing again :(

Oh sorry, I'll stick it in my sig. I have an L plate Corrado VR6 :)

Couple of questions. Firstly, I appear to have an oil leak, this appears to be dripping from the bottom of the gearbox housing. Is it likely to be the sump gasket, it this a common one? If so, what kind of price am I looking at for the gasket, and is there anything I should know about the job? (Is it simply dropping the sump, new gasket, and refit? or is there more too it?) Secondly, on a budget, which leads are the best to go for? I've been told to get the £35 jobbies from Dubpower? There seems to be no facility on the website to order, is it just a case of giving them a call Monday morning?

I'm quite interested, how much would you like for the discs and pads? The braking performance on my VR6 (with greenstuffs) is appauling.

Ok, I'd like to lower my VR6 (on a budget) but would like some information first. I don't want to go stupidly low, just enough to make it look nicer (with standard speedlines), and stiffen things up a little bit. Would springs alone be suitable, do I need to find something specific for the VR6? I don't want any thing that will take an adverse effect on handling etc. Any help would be much appreciated.

If you could keep me in mind, and drop me a pm when you do so, it'd be much appreciated. I have been looking at the Toad ai606's, which it seems can be picked up for little more than £100. Where is the standard alarm located? It'll be interesting to see how difficult it is to remove the old and fit a new. I'm competent with electrical stuff, it's a big part of my job :)

Just registered, to be told I don't have access to that topic! :(

I'm looking to check/do this myself, not pay someone else to do it :)

Quick question, I've just been looking through the book of receipts for my 94 VR6, I noticed a letter from a garage stating the car has a Scorpion 5000 alarm system. Presumably the letter is for insurance purposes. How can I check if the alarm is still functional? I wasn't supplied any keyfobs with the car, and there is no audible of visual sign of an alarm when locking the car with a key. I also noticed that the little red led (right of the steering wheel) has been snipped behind. There is however, still a siren under the bonnet. So can I check if the alarm still exists/works? And also, where can I find replacement keyfobs, and can I code it myself? Thanks in advance, Mike.

Being that that Slave looks like it's been changed, and the master is expensive, I think I'll give some known working second hand ones a try. But I really need some info on changing the master :|

I'd totally forgotten about that thread, to be honest. The Slave Cylinder is unpainted, so I believe it's been changed at some point, and surely, if it was leaking internally, the clutch would be slipping like hell? Seems to be pointing at the master cylinder at the moment? Where is this located, and how difficult is it to change?

Right, since my previous clutch not engaging problems (when cold), I've now flushed and replaced my fluid with 5.1 which seemed to resolve it, the clutch was fine when cold, however - last night when driving, I found after hooning the car through the gears it would start deteriorating, and wouldn't return all the way to the top. At one point it decided to stick to the floor, after stopping for a few minutes however, it slowly returned, and all was well again. I don't see how any air has got in, it was flushed via a pipe submerged in fluid (a poor mans easy bleed, basically), is it possible it requires bleeding again, or is something else at play here? The old fluid showed no signs of air at all.

Right, since my previous clutch not engaging problems (when cold), I've flushed and replaced my fluid with 5.1 which seemed to resolve it, the clutch was fine when cold, however - last night when driving, I found after hooning the car through the gears it would start deteriorating, and wouldn't return all the way to the top. At one point it decided to stick to the floor, after stopping for a few minutes however, it slowly returned, and all was well again. I don't see how any air has got in, it was flushed via a pipe submerged in fluid (a poor mans easy bleed, basically), is it possible it requires bleeding again, or is something else at play here?

Are there any that fit? Mine is very scuffed on top, ideally, I'd like to replace it with something OEM, but newer looking, and no bigger than the existing one! Is there anything that matches my criteria?

Is there a guide on how to do this somewhere? I've bled brakes before, using the old tiresome method, but I've no idea how to go about it all when the clutch is thrown into the equation.

I'm after some information on the central locking in my VR6 (94/L) I'd like to fit a transmitter/receiver for remote central locking. How is it activated? Is it separate for lock/unlock? normally open or normally closed? and where is the best place to splice into the appropriate wires?

The level seems ok, approximately 3/4 full. I had noticed the brakes feel quite ineffective (Green stuff pads with plenty left on them!) - they do improve once they've warmed up a bit, but had assumed this was a characteristic of the greens - however, on reflection, if the clutch and brakes share fluids, perhaps the fluid is naff causing the issues with both the clutch and the brakes. Is there a guide somewhere to draining, flushing and refilling/bleeding both brakes and clutch? Dot 5 recommended?

As per title, when the car is cold, (This has happened twice in succession now, so I guess the issue is here to stay) I have troubles getting in and out of gears, when it does go in, it goes in with an almighty crunch. At the same time, the clutch pedal is very "sticky" and will often sit at about half-way after letting go. As the car warms up, gears become easier to get, and the pedal goes from sticking, to just coming back up slower than my foot does, gears arn't perfect, but it's drivable - this is how the gearbox/clutch was when I got the car a few weeks back. When the car is fully upto temperature, gears glide in and out smoothly, and the clutch pedal feels fine - the only gripe I have is that the clutch pedal sits very high (approx 10-20mm above the brake pedal) - which is rather frustrating, perhaps related? So my questions are; 1. Are my problems, likely to be fluid related? if so, where/how do I change the fluid, and what with? Are my problems likely to be master/slave cylinder? Is so, is there likely to be any visual sign? Where is each cylinder located? Big job to change either? 2. If the clutch pedal sitting high, isn't related to my other problem, is there a way of adjusting it? I miss cable clutches, they were so much easier! :(

It was fine when I got it, then two cylinders died on the coil pack, replaced the coil pack, and it was fine - for a while, until yesterday.

I've not driven it since, but it's been "notchy" from cold since I acquired the car a few weeks back. I've not had a chance to check the plugs yet - I meant to change them shortly after getting the new coilpack, but never quite got around to it (Although, they, along with the leads are less than a year old).

Well, this will teach me to neglect my car all week. I've not driven my car since Tuesday, but this evening I decided to go get the shopping, first thing I noticed was an almighty crunch when putting the car in reverse, it was near impossible to change gear, and I had to switch the car off and release the clutch to take it out of reverse, I travelled a couple of miles rev matching, and this seemed to go away (I had a feeling it may, as the gearbox has been "notchy" when cold since I've had it). Then on the way back from Tesco, the car started sounding like an Impreza. When I stopped I pulled off each lead individually from the coilpack, and each one seemed to give spark. I've changed the coilpack last week, too - after the last one died. Any suggestions?

Fail.

I'm going to have to attempt a mock up retrim of something unimportant - but I might give this a go. Would be black alcantra for me though :)

All fixed, new coil pack fitted in about 10 minutes and sorted. Although, I now need to find a new engine cover, after failing to see the bolt on the top left hand corner :(