Tempest

Goes to show that on the other side of the planet (rice-land) they do still aspire to our European superior car styling :lol: Tempest

On the way to the airport this morning in the heavy rain and soaking roads, I didn't notice any squealing, not even when trying to reproduce that sound whilst stationary on the car park at work at 6 am :lol: Tried both with the clutch out and clutch pedal pushed in (to eliminate gearbox etc. (following Steve's advice ). Hmm, strange ... Tempest

I still don't get why you guys are sooooo annoyed when someone calls your Rado (in effect a Mk3 Rocco, I have proof for this fact) a Scirocco? Be grateful they don't call it a Golf or something else that came from Wolfsburg (remember: our babies came from Karmann in Osnabrück, NOT VW!) Tempest

Right, now that I have my Mum staying with me, I had the chance of driving the Rado a little bit more, and also had my Mum to do the listening whilst I did the driving. After I had checked the ignition timing (wasn't the reason for the squeal), my Mum confirmed the squealing noise coming from the area to the right of the engine block (when standing in front of he engine bay). We have been able to reproduce the squealing sound when pushing the throttle sharply, then letting go again all whilst the engine is idling. The squeal was audible during the sharp throttle kick down. It definitely does NOT come from the idle screw. It seemed to originate from the area where my ABS stuff sits (remember: I have a LHD US-spec Rado :-) ), also where the cruise control pump sits (all hoses sit tight though), and the area lower down where the gearbox sits. Unfortunately I still haven't been able to place the exact location of this rather annoying squeal. Well, I now know it's definitely not any of the pulleys or belts on the left hand side of the engine bay (when standing in front of the engine bay). I will, of course, kindly ask those at the next Midlands Meet to have a listen :-), as it's doing my head in not knowing what causes this squeal. In the meantime if anyone shouts "Eureka, I know what causes that squeal!", do let me know :-) Tempest

First one I saw? TV programm whilst living in Germany, back when the Rado was first introduced. Liked the looks of it, always turned my head when I did see one on the roads later on, but preferred (and still do) the shape of the Mk1 Rocco. Well, some time went by, a Mk1 Rieger Rocco somehow managed to sneak into my garage :lol:, followed by a Mk2 Storm Rocco into another garage, and after a 3-day test drive of a mate's G60 Rado, I had my US-G60 within a month :lol: Yesterday again, I noticed some teenagers staring at my Rado, whilst I drove by slowly, enjoying the moment :lol: Thankfully I wasn't accelerating, and hence my Rado didn't squeak (see corresponding thead in Engine Bay) ;-) Tempest

Doesn't seem to be the ECU or chip either. Fitted the 636-ending chip, tested it 2x, first time my Rado started fine (after a 13 hour stand still, this or longer is where it typically will play up), 2nd time, yesterday, it stuttered again for a few seconds before the engine caught itself on the first turn of the ignition key. Waiting for my fuel pressure testing kit off ebay to arrive ... Anyone any further suggestions? Tempest

Well yesterday the squealing sound had returned in all its glory :-( Might as well try another idel screw and seal, yet to try the GT85-trick, but somehow I just don't think these items are the cause. I'm somehow fearing something in the drive train / gearbox area, as it seemed to just be little louder from the left hand side of the engine bay. That won't work in my case, as I mentioned above, the squealing sound is only present under part-acceleration. I cannot get that sound when standing still and playing with the accelerator. Anyone any other ideas, or possibly to lay my fears of drive train related sounds at rest? ;-) Tempest

Who needs a rear tow eye? Who would drive their Rado in the mud? Not me, proud US-G60 owner :-) All the toys and gadgets on board make it one hell of a nice car that can easily still stand its ground amongst today's modern, gadget-overloaded pieces of crap leaving the automotive assembly lines, and this despite it being a 15-year old car :-) I always point that out to my mates, who want to rabbit on about how many gadgets their modern pieces of automotive crud have. Just another piccie of a US-G60 :lol: Tempest

No, no boost return kit, as those things are dangerous to the engine in terms of the ECU not being able to bleed off excess boost in response to knocking. My G60 is more or less tuned for longevity and reliability, not outright performance, hence I also did not go for smaller pulleys. Porting witout a smaller pulley doesn't make that much difference, so I also forewent that option. The RS outlet kit is only there, as I hated that stupid plastic silencer box, that is usually leaking air, a swine to get off etc. :lol:, plus the RS-kit does give the Lader a bit of a sharper sound :lol: Haven't had a chance of driving it yesterday. Tuesday night on my way to Coventry airport to pick up my Mum from Germany, I hadn't noticed any squealing after I had temporarily sealed off the idle screw a bit better. But that may not be the reason. Will have to do more testing. Tempest

WinOLS http://www.evc.de/en/download/down_winols.asp is a potentially good starting point to edit the maps both in HEX or in 2D or 3D graphics. The demo version won't allow you to save, but any other hex editor that you can copy your code to will do. Any old 27C256 EPROM chip will do, you then need a UV eraser (to erase any previous code from the EPROM), and a reliable EPROM burner (some of the stuff on Ebay is crap, better to buy one from places like Maplins). The EPROM access time on the VAG chips is either 200 or 250 ns, so anything faster is fine. The problem with all this is, however, to exactly know where exactly the maps lie within those 32K of code, and what sort of tinkering os required to get the the code best adapted to your engine. This is not a simple 5 minute job. Some of the engine EPROM tuning software can identify the fuel maps and display them graphically (WinOLS doesn't !), but even that may not be sufficient to get good results without at least some experience. Increasing the rev-limit is simple: On a 189-ending chip it's stored at location 4BF2 (value is 12 E6), on a chip with 636-ending it's stored at location 4456 (value is 12 C0). The equation to determine the hex value for a given rev limit is: 30,000,000/rev-limit(rpm), this gives you the value to store in the either of the above locations in decimal, convert this to hex, and store. Some examples: 12 07 - 6500 rpm 10 BE - 7000 rpm 0F A0 - 7500 rpm A lot of tuning chips will just change this location and sell you such a chip for mega-money. What you're still missing is the corresponding timing and fuelling maps for these new higher rpm values, and since they're still set to the original values, this means that your G60 will be running too lean! TBH: I'd get a chip sorted by a reputable guy you can trust, there are too many con-artists out there, as chip- and engine-tuning is still regardied as black magic, which due to the vast amounts of expereince required, is to a certain degree true. Tempest

That's 2 (not so) Smart cars gone, then :lol: Tempest

I think I'll try that first, actually. Come to think of it, that squealing sound has only started ever since I had the crankshaft bolt replaced by my garage (as I couldn't get the original darn thing out myself, despite all effort of pressing the brakes, blocking the flywheel et al), who, as mentioned in an earlier post, had bodged it up slightly. they had to take the whole crankshaft sprocket and timing belt off, etc., which then made me as a precaution immediately recheck the ignition timing and also reset the idle. I remember that I was turning the idle screw out quite a bit. So, that could be it, *fingers crossed*, as that would be nice and easy, for once :-) Tempest

Yes, that's what I was after, so I'll buy this baby then, shall I? Selling the Rado should buy me, ohhh, 10 of these, one to trash each year :lol: SUVs all the way :lol: Only kidding, folks ;-) ADAC=Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil Club, in case you wondered :lol: Tempest

Well, I now have the current ADAC club membership magazine with the crash test results on said Chinese Landwind 4x4 (a copy of the Isuzu Rodeo) in front of me. Apart from the appalling crash test results they also slate its overall handling (soggy steering, soggy handling, too soft suspension, rear can break away), straight line run is difficult (Chinese probably not very good at the definition of tracking :lol:), the normally actually reasonable Mitsubishi 2.4 L petrol engine heavily overstretched driving this 2 Ton heavy vehicle :roll: Apart from that they mentioned the fact there are not that many dealers for this thing yet, nor will getting spare parts be easy. Oh well, guess they're saying to avoid this thing, and there was me thinking of finally being able to show off to my mates with a true 4x4 :lol: Tempest

Nope, definitely not, as I have checked the free-running of all belts. The cambelt covers are also nicely secured and in place as they should. Willt try the GT85-trick next. Went for another drive today (any old excuse), with both windows open in the early evening hours :lol:, and could not place the location of said squeal, other than somewhere from the engine bay. Tempest

Timing out? Tempest

Having discussed this one again whilst meeting at Utterly Veedubberly at Donnington, I have now had a good look several times inside each cylinder through the plug holes, and can confirm that there is no injector weeping. All piston crowns were dry each time I looked :-) Hence I don't think that's the root of my starting problems. I have temporarily fitted the original chip (ending with 189, 1990 VAG G60-code) into the original ECU (B-ending) again, and the Rado started each time on first key turn (although I couldn't help but notice that as I didn't drive the Rado during these tests, starting did get a little worse each time / each day). I have not driven the Rado with its old chip yet, however. Currently I have refitted Zoran's chip again but into the old ECU (B-ending, was using one with a CR-ending), driven it, and yes, it did stumble ever so slightly again on starting when cold. Tomorrow I will create another chip with the 636-code (1991 G60 VAG code), and further test Zoran's chip in my old ECU to rule out a potential fault in the ECU itself. Tempest

:2gunfire: :lol: Just as well :mrgreen: :drinking: Tempest

Barely getting to the bottom of one problem, up comes the next, well it was there for some time already. As Jim has also noticed on my G60, whenever I accelerate part throttle, you can hear a squeal sound coming from the engine bay. Push the accelerator softer or harder and the squeal vanishes. It happens in any gear, irrespective of what rpm (1000 up to 3000 typically, but can be avoided by either accelerating a bit harder or softer), if I accelerate gently. It does vanish in each gear, and then stays away. I cannot really place the exact location of the squeal, as it only occurs when driving (not when idling and playing with the accelerator), and then it's difficult to stick an ear into the engine bay :lol: Right, so I thought it would be some pulley. After I have changed all my belts and the timing belt tensioner pulley, checked the two plastic tensioner pulleys on the serpentine belt (they all run nice and loose without resistance with the belt removed), tried different tensioning settings on the timing belt tensioner pulley, the squeal is still there :-( Can't be the brakes, as I've replaced the disks and pads on the front, copperpasted the pads to stop any squeals from that region, and the squeal happens when accelerating gently. Conrod bearing shells? If so, I thought they'd make themselves heard by slight knocking sounds between 2500 and 3000 rpm. Gearbox oil? Any tips welcome. Tempest

And of course, it's a LHD Rado :lol: Tempest

Already tried loads of solvents, chemicals, wonder-potions and what not, but other than with hard tedious graft, you're not going to get that glue off, oh, and without destroying the paint, of course. I've got 2 bonnets to do, one on my G60 Rado, the other on my Mk2 Storm Rocco :roll: Tempest

Ohhh, you oldtimers :lol: Just had mine for 2 years 2 weeks ago. The Mk1 Rocco is approaching its 4th year of ownership, the Mk2 Storm its 3rd. There you go: 4, 3, 2 years, Mk1, Mk2, Mk3 Rocco, respectively. Easy to remember :-) Tempest

Yes, as mentioned above, I will take my Storm back to my bodyshop in Coventry, as £80 seems like another typical Stealth-price, unfortunately. My bodyshop charges far less, and is around the corner :-) Still gets me how tyre places can claim to be doing wheel alignments whereas every textbook definition on the planet defines the term wheel alignment to include camber, except for tyre places' dictionaries, apparently :roll: Tempest

G60s might be rare in the UK, but not elsewhere, certainly not in Germany. That's all to do with oad tax bands, as in this country the road tax is the same for a G60 as for a VR6. In Germany, VR6 owners had (and still have to) pay a lot more than G60-owners, as the Germans have further tax bands above our 1.5 Liter band. Tempest

Cheeky sods at PVWs MacDaddies (the Photochop) section. There's a piccy of a photochopped Mk2 Rocco (hey, what else caught my eye on page 28 :lol:?). I just happen to know the original car, and that picture has made rounds around the world. Car and picture belong to my mate Dirk over in D, and the picture shows his 1984 GTX Rocco driven by his US mate Doug Teulie (a Scirocco-god on Vortex) in D on their way to the Roadstar Rocco meet in the Netherlands. Here's the original again: Tempest