fendervg

CV joints will last years as long as the boots are intact and packed with plenty of grease. I speak from experience, having ignored a torn boot, which ended in total CV failure and a tow home on another car. I'd say clean them up, grease and new boots and you will be fine as long as the threads are not damaged and no bearing surfaces badly pitted. The vibration could be many things - a bearing would show up when rotating the wheel by hand or rocking it with the car raised. Could also be alignment or any number of other bushes.

Yep, faulty FPR or leak down on the pump outlet in the tank will cause the residual pressure to drop - a vacuum leak will also affect the FPR (there's a short air hose going to it) as it uses that to regulate the pressure. The FPR is cheap and a simple replacement job as above and easy target when working through the list.

Could be any of the sensors - MAF, crankshaft, cam/hall sensor, distributor or coilpack, throttle damper, or most likely, a vacuum leak. There's a small test nipple on the manifold at the front right, get a hose and pressure gauge on there and test the intake pressure at idle and under load. Cutting out at low speeds/stopping or when returning to idle can be a fault with the ISV or the the trottle return damper (dashpot).

Great to hear - can you share what it was in the end to help others with similar issues? Thanks

As above - just test them with a 9v battery - the one that will be the switching wire that comes from the stalk will be the one that clicks. There is usually a small diagram on the relay as well. The feed will be permanent live from the battery. Check this page out - 86 is switched, 87 to headlights, 30 from battery (+, fused) and 85 to battery (-) https://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/relays/relays.html

As above - great diagram. The current coming in from the headlight switch (this will be the old main beam cable, which is one of the reasons why these are needed as the current goes through the stalk and the headlight switch) will open the relay to send current direct from the battery to the headlight. Will 9v be enough to trigger the relay?

I think I saw this on FB if you posted there too - dim dip resistor disconnected is correct if you have an uprated loom. Could be a relay failure, most decent looms keep the OEM plugs intact (if not they will use spade connectors), so you could try bypassing it by connecting the original loom back in - one plug (usually drivers side) should just be sitting loose and unconnected in the bay, and the other on the passenger side will be connected to the new loom to control the relays. If the relays and fuses are not in a water tight sealed box, they can get wet or corrode.

Welcome to the forum- they pop up on eBay once in a while, or as above - a tandem gear shift bicycle cable - at the end of the day it's just a bowden cable cut to a certain length.

Looks like the wiki went awol during a recent upgrade of the forum.....

Please use 2 x axle stands and wheel chocks for your own safety! Depending on the variation, the filter will either be held on with a round steel loop band with a bolt to tighten it, or a plastic cradle that it sits in, which has fixings on the corners that you need to undo to drop it. The loop band cradle type is often rusted to bits or seized if the filter has not been touched in years. First pic is the combined pump and filter housing, second is the VR6 style filter.

Pierburg will have a blue fuel level sender on it, with different mounting and loom connections - the VDO one is white and slots into the side of the swirl pot. So depending on pump, you will need the matching sender unit - as the Pierburg pumps are no longer made, this means buying a sender as well when replacing with a VDO or "VDO style" pump. It is possible to jury rig the old sender on to the new swirl pot, but not ideal - also if it is just the pump that has failed, it's possible to open the swirl pot and just replace the pump unit with one of similar dimensions. Somewhere on the Internet, there is a site that sells a billet mounting that fits inot the OEM rubber pads in the tank bottom and allows you to use a Bosch motorsport pump body with more fuel pressure than you will ever need! The main thing, as already said, is that you get a 4 bar pump for the 2.9 VR6 (ABV).

It's a bit of a pain alright - another reason why som upgrade to the later ABS system - this does away with the brake pedal sensor.

Sounds like the residual pressure was not holding, so the pump would have to build up the pressure again during starting.

Sounds like the mech is broken - most likely the lhs cable guide has snapped. There are at least early and late versions of the motor - some Mk3 ones fit. Best bet is to get the part# off your existing one and try and cross reference online.

Have you tried operating the sunroof with the allen key? It should slide back ok - if not, it's a sign of a broken mech or cables, or one about to break - most common symtom being tilt but no slide, and the lhs side one seems to go more often. Also sounds like your motor could be on it's last legs, probably overworked trying to shift a seized mechanism.

It runs from each corner of the sunroof cassette. There is a small plastic host attached to it which runs down the inside of the A pillar, into the scuttle area and out of the drain channel near the wing.

Also the sunroof drain as well as the door membranes. The water will pool at the lowest point, so it can be hard to work out where exactly it's getting in - but doing the seal on the fresh air intake is a good call. The issue is you will need to remove at least the right one of the three piece lower window edge trim, and this is most likely stuck on with sealant, which will have to be very carefully cut off so as not to damage the glass. Originally from the factory each panel is held won by a couple of two-piece plastic clips, but as these are old and brittle they are likely to break during removal - but replacements are easily got online.

Ha- "Stark Industries"! They must be having a laugh, or else it's a play on the German, "stark" meaning "strong", or in slang cool/sound/great.

Haha. In Ireland the premiums only ever go up!

With AXA on a classic policy here in Ireland, €290 fully comp with two drivers and claims protection. Need to have a daily insured with them though.

Based in Germany, seems completely legit. If they list on fleabay.co.uk they should be willing to ship? Could be an issue with the carrier, so maybe ask them to ship DP/DPD standard post. I get stuff from Germany all th time, alebit to Ireland, but I use an AdressPal service in the UK and US for sellers that won't ship internationally and just pay a surchage for the final leg.

Seems strange - from where? They just need to declare a customs value - it’s more likely the shipping agent they are using.

that's a good idea - I've only kept mentioning it because that is what seemed to sort my warm start problems after replacing and checking nearly everything else. The non-return valve and a new FPR fixed the cold start long cranks. I don't think the relays would be the cause - they'd either work or not, or give you lots of other problems, but they are cheap, so no harm in replacing.

My bet is on the cam/hall sender, unless it’s already been replaced.

Get a Sealey pressure bleeder that has the pump in the reservoir - never had any issues - and make sure that you bleed the ABS pump, clutch slave and master and the brake master in order, finishing at the brake master, after doing the callipers and alternating n/s and o/s. The idea is that you gradually work your way towards the highest point in the system. To be honest, none of these older cars have a great pedal feel anyway, because the mechanical advantage is just not there at the servo. Vacuum leaks and weeping seals in the pistons don’t help much either.