NickRStorm

Mine's on standard suspension & it squeeks like crazy in the glovebox area when cold. Once the cabin is warm, silence!

A mate has a Merc 190E 2.6 built in 1986 with 200K+ on the clock & that's completely silent inside & the interior is as good as new. Only trouble is, it is boring as hell as far as I'm concerned, so I'll happily put up with the little foibles of my VW's in return for the grins per mile.

Nick, I wonder if their efficiency decreases with age

Thinking back to when my VR6 Golf was only 3 years old, I can't say I remember it being noticeably better then TBH. As RW1 says above, I doubt time affects them much.

Don't get me wrong, they will defrost the mirrors eventually, it's just too slow to be of much practical use if, as in my case, it takes 10-15 minutes. If you're in the habit of letting the car warm up before moving, the time can be as little as 5 minutes.

I take it they should come on when you put the rear window demister on. Can't say I've ever seen the mirrors misted so I wouldn't know if mine are working or not.

Correct. Thing is Paul, they produce such a measily amount of heat that you wind up ignoring them & using a cloth anyway :roll:

My VR6 had exactly the same symptoms when the brake lines were replaced & it drove my mechanic mad trying to sort it. I told him to ring Vince @ Stealth & he was told to bleed the master cylinder LAST & suddenly the brakes had proper feel with the engine running.

Even though I have a VR, I don't know where the heat exchanger is yet :oops: someone who does will be along soon...! It's not a major job to replace it, but the coolant does have to be drained...

The heat exchanger (aka oil cooler) is the big silvery thing just to the right of the oil filter housing when looking down from the front. It has 2 small-bore black hoses connected at the top. They have a tendancy to rust inside if G11/G12 hasn't been used & changed regularly.

Failure looks like the head gasket's blown as you get oil in your water & vice-versa. Bl**dy awful job to clean out the resultant mess!! I speak from experience :(

Looking good, Paul. I cleaned & polished mine too, but was too busy with other stuff to go out & take piccies :(

Many GATSO type cameras will flash once as a warning that you are near to their trigger speed (I see this all the time in London on the A40 & North Circular) - it's when they flash twice that you need to worry! The front-facing cameras are the Truvelo type & work off strips in the road. As dr_mat says, they don't flash.

but would i get a 215 on the standard 15 inch speedline???

they're only 6.5 inches or so wide aren't they?

Shouldn't be a problem. I've got 215/40 x 16 on 6.5J RX2's and they're fine.

Clearance is virtually identical for the 280 & 288 calipers. The 288's are a different design entirely & yes, they will definitely fit behind Solitudes.

If anything, the 288's protrude out into the spokes less that the 280's do.

I'd do a leak-down test to check the sticking valve theory.

Assuming original suspension, it's probably just a spring not seated properly in the bottom of the strut. If so, it's nothing much to worry about.

Burgundy C on the bends through Aynho on the B4100 towards Adderbury at about 4:20 today.

01460 242294

If anyone is wondering what these badges look like, I received mine today & I'm very impressed with the quality.

I wouldn't be overly worried by the report of oil leaks - it's a 10 year old car, so a bit of oil here & there is to be expected. As long as there are no drops of oil on the ground after it's had a run & been stopped a while, I wouldn't be too concerned.

By all means try and beat him down with the RAC report, but I wouldn't say it was a deal-breaker. The first thing I'd do would be to change the oil cooler as IME they are prone to going at around 80K miles.

All 3 of my VR's have slight oil leaks where this one does, but they all run perfectly and use no oil to speak of. 2 are on 84K & one's on 153K miles!

They have 14 left if anyone didn't pre-order ;)

Right handers? In the wet?

If so, it's a badly fitting (or missing) splash guard letting water get onto the belt & it slips for a second or two.

Paynes (01753-653424) are fantastic from what I've seen of their work, but quality comes at a price :)

I've had one go noisy (as you say, just like a bearing on the way out) on the nearside rear. It had tons of tread left but was about 3 years old. Was told that they have a tendancy to go slightly oval with age?

Mine does this & I found by advancing the knob slowly that all the speeds do actually work, it's just that you have to position the knob slightly past the detent for each speed (other than 4). Annoying, but cheaper than £154 :)

Hang on, my p/n ends in 461 and has the metal case. Did any golf vr6s have them at all?

I suspect they did as I have one here that I got when I needed an unmolested airbox for mine. It's surplus to requirements for me, but it's yours for the postage. If you want it, PM me.

Part number is 021 906 461

It has 6 connector pins in a line, unlike the 462 which only has 4 pins.

Comes complete with plastic pipe.

As far as I can tell from mine, the Golf MAF sensors are identical to the Corrado ones. If you want, I can try & look for specific part numbers in the morning.

Never looked at the ISV.

Deffo 2 piece - I've got a set myself!

I would say that the majority of fixed position speed cameras tend to be used to make up for poor road design / surface material / maintenance. They merely (forcibly) shift responsibility from the road designers / builders / maintainers back onto the motorist, who, as an individual, is in the weakest position.

I also find it interesting that the revenue figures for specific cameras are practically a national secret!

However, all this will be as nothing compared to the possibilities that the national rollout of ANPR cameras present for the powers that be: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/15/vehicle_movement_database/

The police state is rapidly approaching!