tonytiger

Definitely Off. Car looks great with out it.

Oh bugger :( Gutted for you - know how much time, effort and money you must have put in to that car from reading your posts on here. Hope you can get it sorted soon. Assuming you'll be doing most of the work yourself again, any idea what it'll cost to put right?

Very interesting drive to work this morning. Stopped for petrol, about 10 minutes after setting off and filled it up this time (only put £10 in the last twice). AFR gauge had shown no real problems up that point, despite car being fairly well warmed up and having used full throttle a few times, though it looked like the highest value shown was already starting to drop. After filling up with petrol, continued on for a mile or so (still no problems) and then stopped so that I could disconnect the MAF at idle. Car stalled when I did disconnect it so that does seem to be working okay. Continued on again (onto the motorway) - still no problems. Lights on gauge were flicking up and down at part throttle, 8 were lit at full throttle, and none lit on closed throttle. Some miles on, I did notice that the 8th light wasn't coming on anymore, and a while after that the 7th light was only lighting dimly. Pulled into the services - things generally still okay. Stopped car and took petrol cap off for a few seconds, refitted then continued to work. 7th light started to light fully again, but 8th still wouldn't. So, although I'd previously assumed that there was no problem with the fuel supply, it's now a possibility that it is the problem after all. Could I be getting a vacuum in the tank, giving problems with the supply? Could it be the fuel pump? It seems too much of a coincidence for it not to be fuel related - especially as the car got worse and worse to drive last night as the fuel level got lower and lower (nearly to the red). What I don't understand though, is if it is a problem with the fuel supply why am I getting through so much of it? I'd assumed that meant it couldn't be a fuel issue - or is it because the fuel supply is erratic? After I'd filled up, the car didn't stall once either (but perhaps that was just coincidence too). I'm feeling somewhat happier now anyway - it looks like a solution may not be far away. I'll probably replace the fuel filter again anyway, but if I do have to replace the fuel pump, does it matter whether I get genuine vag one or not?

Just got in from work (via the pub). Started off from work only using part throttle and keeping revs below 3000 rpm. As with this morning, everything seemed okay initially (though it seems to vary whether all lights are on only half for the first couple of minutes). However, once the oil got to around 80'C the gauge stopped going past 0.3v again. Gave it full throttle, at low and high revs - no difference. Same all the way home. Car was also very 'juddery' tonight too at times, probably only when on light throttle at any rpm. A couple of miles from home, I stopped at the pub. :) Was pleased just to stop the car at that point, as it was getting worse and worse to drive (though perhaps that's partly weather related as it was raining). Left the pub after about 90 minutes. Car was still fairly warm, and oil was soon up to 90'C again but everything was okay again. Gauge flicked up and down when expected and WOT did show about 0.8v. However, after 5 minutes or so, things started to deteriorate again. Gauge didn't show a sudden drop to 0.3v but the upper limit seemed to steadily decrease, so instead of flicking up to 0.8v and down again it would only go to 0.7v, then 0.6v etc, until wouldn't go past 0.3v again - it also got slower too. Now I'm just really confused. Is it a temperature related issue or not? The problems all seem to start at a similar time into the journey, which also happens to be at a similar oil temperature. Perhaps it's related to the intake temperature on the manifold, but I've not been able to run vagcom while driving though so don't know what the intake temperature is in each situation. Is it still likely to be the MAF? What else could fail/deteriorate at temperature but not result in any error on vagcom? Is there any thing I can rule out? Being as I'm getting through so much fuel but the lambda is usually seeing lean - would I be right to rule out fuel supply problems? I really need to disconnect the lambda again, to improve driveability but instead of unplugging it I think I might just cut the wire to the ecu. That way I'll still be able to monitor the output on the AFR and see how it compares.

Interesting drive to work. AFR initially showed readings as expected. From cold, showed about 0.4v for a couple of minutes. Then shot up to 0.8v and started flicking up and down (quite quickly). If came off the throttle, the lights would extinguish. All going well so far, but had only used part throttle. Once the car had warmed up I gave it full throttle, and this seemed to be when things started to go wrong. Can't remember most of the lights came on or not at this point, but when I went back to part throttle the lights weren't flicking up and down any more. Tried this a few times but with the same result. Not really sure whether the problem was caused by use of full throttle, or just that the car had reached a certain temperature. Cruising at part throttle, at any speed, gauge only ever showed 0.2v or 0.3v. WOT didn't change this - gauge display stayed the same. Fully closing the throttle did cause the lights to extinguish, but still never came back above 0.3v. About 30 minutes into the journey, I pulled into the m/way services to see what happened at idle. No different - still only 0.3v. Continued on to work, but stopped again (for petrol this time) on the way. When I started the car up again, things did look any different - but was the sensor going through it's warm phase again at this? Stopped watching the gauge, as I was only a couple of minutes away from work, until I noticed it flicking up and down after a quick blast on WOT. Seemed to be functioning like normal again, but didn't have chance to try it any further. So, I'll try not to use full throttle at all tonight and see if the same thing happens. Hopefully, this should show whether it's temperature or full throttle related.

I've now fitted a home made AFR meter (as per the instructions on this forum - thanks Kev). 8) I've not had chance to drive the car since fitting it, but have run it at idle for a few minutes. Don't know if I've done something wrong, but the meter starts with all the lights on during the initial couple of minutes, then starts to fluctuate. When you say it should 'fluctuate up and down constantly', do you mean several times a second or slower than that? Mine appeared to get to 0.8v and sit their a second or so, then drop quickly to 0.1v and again sit at that for a second or so (but obviously the car was no where near warmed up). I'll get a better idea tomorrow of what's going on when I drive to work. As for checking for leaks, well I've had a look as I did think that was most likely to be the problem but I haven't found anything. Covering the exhaust tailpipe briefly did cause pressure to build, but is there a more thorough way of checking? Thanks for the advice so far guys. I'm sure I'll get to the bottom of this in the end with your help - though no doubt it will involve parting with a load of cash. :roll:

Vagcom shows some other value - typically between 0.8 and 1.2. I've just had the car running on the drive, vitually from cold, with vagcom monitoring the values until the car had warmed up quite a bit. Haven't had a good look at the log file yet, but the o2 values definitiely look okay during the warm up period. Oddly, once the sensor did start to go out of range and would reach a value of 1.203 it would sometimes jump back to 1.0 (not sure if this is supposed to be stoich or not) without any throttle change and then climb back up to 1.203 again I'm hoping to fit an AFR meter very soon so that I don't need vagcom running all the time. I know it could still be the MAF, but I'd rather not replace that just yet - need more convincing.

The O2 connections have been cleaned, but hadn't thought about a new earth. I'm going to have a close look at the MAF, see if the wires look clean or not - hopefully there'll be something to see. I've spent a few minutes watching the readings from the lambda on vagcom, and it looks like it actually gets reasonable values initially until the car's about up to normal operating temperature. Once the sensor reading goes out of range, if I rev the engine and then close the throttle sensible looking readings are shown from the sensor again briefly - but then over a few seconds the value gets progressively higher until it's out of range again. I suppose this is probably what you'd expect - but I'm sure there's a clue there somewhere, just can't figure out what it is. I've read numerous other threads about testing the MAF, but I don't understand why it can't be tested with a multimeter. While searching for further information on them, I came across the following which I wasn't aware of (hadn't really thought about it either) : So the output values should form some form of curve (I think). But if the value's are out of range surely that can still be measured? It's a shame the values from the MAF aren't shown in vagcom (at least not that I could find).

I've recently fitted a replacement set of components myself, so I can tell you what I did. Of the two sets of original wires where the tweeter is, find the pair that goes back to the headunit (should be one set going down and off to the door, and one set going to the centre of the dash). Cut the ends off these, as these are the ones that need to go to the input on the crossover. You'll need to extend them to reach your crossover I expect - I mounted mine above the shelves under the dash (out of sight) as they wouldn't fit under the new tweeter. Either fit spade connectors as you said so you can plug in the extension wire, or permanently join it there (bullet connector, etc) Careful though, I found there wasn't too much spare wire so it made it difficult to get in to do. For the other set of wires (that run to the door speaker) either do the same with them and cut the ends off, or leave them as is and get some new speaker cable and run this directly from the crossover to the door speaker. Now put everything back together and enjoy! 8) Hope that makes sense. It's not too bad a job I found, just time consuming. Was very pleased with mine :D until I turned the volume up and found I had a vibration somewhere that I didn't have with the originals. :mad: I've now installed some dynamat (just on the driver door at the moment) and I think it's improved, though not necessarily eliminated the problem. Guess I need to make some further adjustments.

Congratulations 8) - sounds good. Gearbox, clutch, and engine rebuild should give you peace of mind for quite a few miles I'd of thought. Remember how happy I was when I bought mine. 10 months (18000 miles) on though and it's ready for a head rebuild (and hopefully not the bottom end) and stalls a lot - spoils the experience really. What colour and how many miles?

Problems continue :( I had a new lambda sensor fitted on Thursday evening. Seemed okay on the journey home from the garage (though it was probably only 5 to 10 minutes). Decided to do an ecu reset yesterday before I drove to work. I followed the instructions I found on here somewhere, and the rest of the journey to work seemed fine. However, the journey home was not quite so good. Car drove okay, but didn't seem quite right (though certainly nothing like as bad as it was in the first place). Plugged it into vagcom when I got home and had 3 faults showing: 00525 - Oxygen Sensor (G39) [list:f4ea7]03-10 - no Signal - Intermittent 00537 - Lambda (Oxygen Sensor) Regulation 08-00 - Control Limit Surpassed 00533 - Idle Speed Regulation 10-10 Adaptation Limit Not Reached - Intermittent [/list:u:f4ea7] Cleared those faults and drove the car again last night, and this morning, and now just have one fault code showing: 00537 - Lambda (Oxygen Sensor) Regulation [list:f4ea7]08-00 - Control Limit Surpassed [/list:u:f4ea7] This is the original fault, so having just forked out 70quid I'm no further forward :mad: Looks like I'm back to the original list of suggestions in the Bentley manual: I've run the DTM Output test in vagcom with no obvious problems - heard the injectors click, and the isv, and EVAP valve (though I haven't had the pipes off this). Also, I did think that running with the sensor unplugged had solved my stalling problem (didn't have any problems the first day or two) but that came back as well. So I'm no further forward there either - will stall with or without the sensor. Couple of questions on the ecu reset - - Is 4 minutes disconnected long enough? - Would that purge the stored fault codes? I can't afford to replace everything in turn until the problem's fixed, but equally I can't afford to run the car for long when I'm only getting 260miles out of 51litres :shock: What I should I do next? Suggestions please. Thanks.

Is that the metal filter thing in the breather? Do you mean the area I've circled in the photo?

I tried to get a touch up kit from VW for this colour at the end of last year, but was told it was obsolete. Think you'll have to get one made up somewhere - I believe Halfords should be able to do them. I'm sure this has been discussed somewhere else on here.

The paint code is LC3U. See this thread -> http://the-corrado.net/.archive/forum/viewtopic.php?p=47723#47723 for an attachment with the full list codes.

WIth regards the lambda sensor, I've got problems with mine at the moment (see this thread->http://the-corrado.net/.archive/forum/viewtopic.php?p=139699) and have had to disconnect the sensor to allow me to drive the car. Fuel economy is not great, but I've not had the car cut-out at all today, which could just be a coincidence but I suspect not as my car normally cuts out at lot when dipping the clutch for too long. Might be worth disconnecting the lambda to see if that stops your car stalling. I presume the reason mine doesn't stall in this situation is because the ECU doesn't bother trimming the fuel at all and so it never gets too weak - hence doesn't stall (could be wrong here though). Anyway, this seems to have eliminated coilpack, ignition leads and probably ISV as being the problem for mine (somebody please tell me if I've jumped to the wrong conclusion). Now seems it's either the lambda itself, or something which causes the lambda to get duff readings - leaking manifold, downpipe, etc. When (if) I get to the bottom of this I'll let you know.

Cheers Dicky. Interesting that they're only £76 inc. vat - I got quoted just over £100 PLUS vat from VAG. Are these for cars with a coilpack? What discount did you get in the end (if any)?

Well, I've disconnected the o2 sensor as advised and it does seem just about like normal. :D Took it for a run and fuel economy looked good (normal) again - at least until I floored it! Looks like economy REALLY suffers in this situation if driven hard. I'll find out tomorrow anyway going to work and back. It'll be interesting see if it cuts out as much too. I'll get the sensor changed as soon as I can and take it from there. Thanks again Andy T, as I didn't think I'd be able to drive it again until it was fully fixed.

Andy T, thanks for the advice. I'll check what you've suggested and try running without the lambda plugged in. Hope it stops raining soon. Cheers, Tony.

Dicky, I take it you did buy these leads in the end. If so, are they the red Beru ones, and how much did they cost?

I haven't noticed any black smoke while driving it, but did get some last night whilst idling it on the drive - revved the engine a bit and got quite a cloud - it's the only time I've noticed it though. The exhaust is sooty though (and has been for a while, just don't know how long). Regards the wiring, basically somebody has chopped the connector off the end of the lambda wiring and soldered a replacement on, so there's several inches of wiring at the end which is a different colour. From the connection on the engine mount onwards (to the ecu presumably), it looks like normal. Don't know if this is significant or not - it's been like that since I got the car last October. Have to say though, I don't know if it's a genuine VAG one or not (though the wiring looks the right colour up to the point that it's been cut). From what you've said about limp home mode, presumably it wasn't using that. So what would happen if I just unplugged the lambda completely? Would this put the car in safe mode, and drive better (and more economically)? My concern over replacing the sensor is that it's not the sensor at fault - it's one of the other things listed in the Bentley manual. Ideally, I'd replace the coil pack, the leads, the sensor, the MAF, the throttle body and the hoses - but that'll cost a fortune and still may not fix it. I'm getting the exhaust checked on Saturday, hopefully that'll find something. The only other thing I was thinking of doing till then was (possibly) replacing the ignition leads. Just been quoted £109+vat from VAG - is that likely to be the newer, poorer leads, or the original red Berus? Oh, nearly forgot, the problem did come back on the way to work (after about a mile), but just carried on (gently).

Just been out and started the car and idled it for a while - no problems this morning and the O2 sensor's not showing any faults and readings seem okay again. Think I'll chance driving it to work again today - and perhaps see if I can get a new set of plug leads to stick on. The last time I had this problem (possibly everytime I've had this problem) was under the same cirumstances - drive to work, and then go out at lunch time (a few hours later), so car wasn't completely cold. I'm sure there's a clue there somewhere as to what's wrong - what's the link between the that and the list of things to check above? Why don't I get the problem all the time?

I've just looked in the Bentley manual at the DTC chart for the O2 sensor (should have done this last night :oops: ) - does 'Control Limit Surpassed ' sound the same as 'Regulating Limit Exceeded'? If so, then I've got a few things to check and the O2 sensor itself may be okay: - O2 heater defective - Exhaust system leaking between cylinder head and cat (is there an easy way to check?) - Misfiring - Intake air system leaking - Injectors malfunctioning - Fuel pressure too low - Hot wire for MAF sensor not burning cleanly - EVAP canister purge regulator valve stuck open Not sure I'm capable of testing everything myself though, so if it's not something very obvoius it'll have to go to the garage :( If the car's still running the same today, would it be okay to drive to work and back (total of 80 miles) or is best left at home? Would I do it any damage, or is it just a case of it using lots of fuel and not being very pleasant to drive?

Problems with my VR today :( (Sorry about the length of the post) Drove to work this morning - no problems. Had to go out at lunch time (about 3 hours later) - seemed okay initially, while under 30mph, but then tried to accelerate steadily upto 50pm and it wouldn't pull/rev very well. Then the more I put my foot down, the less power it seemed to have and the revs just started to fall. Pulled over and let it idle for a few minutes and revved it a couple of times then set off again. Didn't seem too bad but just took it very steady. Going home (about 5 hours later) - seemed a little rough and lumpy when started but set off okay again. It was only when trying to accelerate upto 50+ that it was really noticeable again. Acceleration was very poor below 4k rpm, but seemed to go like normal above that. Further into the journey I flicked the MFA onto mpg and it was under 20. I reset it and at a steady 70mph it still only showed 20mpg (and falling!). Reset it a few times and it was consistently poor (and sometimes under 15mpg). I'd normally average around 30 over the whole journey. Plugged VAGCOM in when I got home and actually got an error (I've had pretty much the same problem before but not got any errors): 00537 - Lambda (Oxygen Sensor) Regulation 08-00 - Control Limit Surpassed From what I've read on other threads, I assume the car was in 'limp home' mode and just chucking loads of fuel in. Above 4k rpm (at least with my foot on the floor), the lambda reading is ignored so the car behaves more like normal. Have I got that right? I watched the readings from the O2 sensor in the measuring blocks (with the car running) and found that the reading varied from just below 1.0 up to 1.203 (which seems to be the limit). I actually just did this at weekend too (exciting life I have) and the values were between 0.899 and 1.055. Is this measurement in Volts? I know it looks as if the lambda needs replacing, but could this just be the symptom of something else? I'd rather not replace the lambda if this is an electrical fault or something. I thought they normally just died and gave back a static reading - that doesn't seem to be the case here. Would an ecu reset help? A couple of things which may or may not have an impact here: - the car does smoke (blue) from time to time on startup and over-run so it needs a head rebuild (and hopefully nothing more). - it stalls (a lot) - cleaned the isv, replaced the dashpot, cleaned the throttle body (as best I could), replaced the isv - made no difference. - at the weekend I ran a wire from the o2 sensor to inside the car, ready for an AFR meter. Could this have a caused a problem? I also found that the connector end of the wiring on the o2 has been replaced (the last few inches - different colour wiring but the the right connector) - I think there may be a leak in the exhaust but don't know where - could be near the front I suspect I'll have to replace the o2 anyway (to eliminate it if nothing else) in which case does it matter whether I get one from ECP or is it best to get a VAG one? Really appreciate any thoughts and advice you can offer. Cheers, Tony.

I'm sure there's a pdf file (or at least a link to it) on this forum already which details what to do, but damned if I can find it. As I've already tried this procedure on my VR (but it didn't make any difference) I have the instructions, which I've attached. (If there is a link already somewhere, perhaps on of the Mods would be kind enough to edit this post for me :) ) Note, there are 2 'star-type' screws which hold the rear plug lead guide in place - you'll need an 8mm spline key to remove them (Halfords sell them if you don't have any). If cleaning the ISV doesn't help, it could still be the ISV at fault but there are many other things it could be too. You could check the vacuum system for leaks and the throttle damper (dashpot). Changed the dashpot on mine as the old was worn out, but it still didn't help. Think Kevhaywire's the best person to ask about this if cleaning the ISV doesn't help, as he seems to have changed nearly everything that could cause the stalling! Not sure if his is fixed or not now though. The other thing I would suggest is trying VAGCOM to see if there are any logged faults (if you haven't already). For me, this stalling problem is the worst thing about VR6 ownership and if I can't fix it in the next few months I'll have to seriously think about selling - it really spoils the experience. :( Good luck with yours!

I bought some wheels off Ebay a couple of months ago (4x 15" speedlines - all with tyres) and delivery was under £50 - but I can't remember which courier the seller used. :? It'll definitely be worth checking the cost yourself with a couple of couriers and arranging for them to pick them up from him. Saves him the hassle, and should save you £50.