red_baron

That was me! First time spotted on here. Well chuffed. Was great to see another parked alongside. Would have left a note to say hi but lack of pen & paper & the heavens opening made me scoot off!

Well... this may or may not be a fix. My Dad (much more patience than me, and also retired so lots of spare time) took a look at the car today. After changing the ECU relay there was no difference. Today he took the ABS fuse out and ran the car - same violent loss of power under acceleration. Put the same fuse back in and it appears as though the problem's gone away. He did about 10 miles with a couple of bursts of "proper" acceleration (he's nearly 78 so I bet he surprised a few people) and there were no issues. I've just driven it home and there was no evidence of it either, although I didn't give it the full beans as I didn't want to tempt fate. The sudden loss of power seemed more mechanical and I suppose looking into the braking system was a logical step. Seems weird but if it's fixed then so what! Fingers crossed its not just a temporary fix...

ECU relay replaced but the problem's still there. Seems to have appeared only after oil change - haven't a clue where to start. The loss of power seems more mechanical than electrical, I'm hoping I've not done something to the clutch with putting it on ramps (it's been on ramps quite a few times lately). Any more suggestions?

Hi All, I have a confusing one... the car's not really been used since November (its had the odd trip out, but nothing longer than 5 miles at a time). I've been having some bodywork done for the past few weeks - picked the car up on Friday & ran it to and from work with no problems (about a 30 mile round trip), in fact it seemed to be running better than ever. It was fine on a short trip on Saturday too - did an oil change up on ramps (not sure if it is the root cause of the problem) and ever since then even under moderate acceleration, the engine dies quite violently momentarily and then runs ok. I have to drive the car with virtually no throttle when accelerating, otherwise the power disappears and the car lurches forward. It doesn't stall, no lights come on the dash & it only lasts a fraction of a second. I've run VAG-COM and there are no fault codes logged. The car starts & runs fine otherwise & I can boot the throttle no problem with the car stationary & out of gear (i.e. no engine load). The car's a 1993 VR6 with about 125k on the clock. Any ideas more than welcome! Cheers, Ian

M plate classic green Storm with bra at White Cross Bay, Windermere over the weekend. I was in the missus' 1-series so may have looked a bit odd gawping!

As promised here's some piccies of car & wheels. Apologies as these were taken on the mobile and it was FREEZING cold at the time! Still chuffed. Still inflated and looking really good.

Hi Everyone, Having had air leakage problems on my rather old and corroded looking Speedlines for a few months (if not years) I finally took the plunge to get them refurbed. Didn't really have a clue where to go as I have a nasty habit of seeking out cowboys whenever it comes down to any garage related services. I picked up a flier for Prestige Wheels in Furness Vale at the Tatton Park car show a few months back and decided to get in touch. From the off everything seemed good - great communication, and they were happy for me to go and take a look at their facilities before making a decision. So I took the car in last Wednesday after work and picked it up Friday morning. In a word... superb! They chemically stripped them, sorted out the corrosion and gouges (kerbed well before I owned it) and re-coated them to match the original colour. They also swapped the rear tyres for the fronts and balanced them the best they have ever been balanced since I've owned the car. Oh, and they have maintained the correct pressures since Friday morning, even after an 800 mile jaunt up to Scotland and back. £250 for 4 wheels, including cleaning up and painting the nuts, and with a courtesy car thrown in for a couple of days too. They also offer a mobile service if you need it, and will collect your wheels from you for a small additional fee. I couldn't recommend them enough. http://www.prestigewheels.co.uk Speak to Helen and get yourself booked in! When the weather's a bit better and I've given her a clean I'll put some piccies up on here. Cheers, Ian

I had a blast through Scotland last summer being followed by a mate in a Caterham 7. The only smoke was a "puff" when dropping down a gear to overtake slower moving plebs. I've just had everything off down to the cam cover and there was a fair bit of oil around on the top of the cover (haven't a clue where from other than leftovers from when Dubsport were let loose on her a couple of years ago :mad: ). There seemed to be a fair bit escaping from the cam cover gasket at the front right of the engine. Everythings been cleaned up and the garkets have been replaced so I suppose I'll just see how things go for the time being.

On the way methinks...

Right. I've had a look at the new plugs today (one week old) and there's a tiny bit of oil knocking around. I think this is as a result of a leaking cam cover gasket which I'm in the process of changing at the moment. All the plugs look reasonably ok apart from number 6 - this one seems to be a bit blacker on the electrode than all the others and there's also some gritty deposits building up. The photo shows number 6... I think the cracked plug from my previous photo was number 6 too, as it had similar deposits. Anyone any thoughts to make me feel slightly happier about the car?! Cheers, Ian

Well in that case its cracked... Didn't notice that myself as I was too busy worrying about the oil! ... but it still feels like its misfiring even with the new plugs in. I'll check the new ones for oil tomorrow when I get a chance.

No, apart from the oil the plugs looked as they should for 2 years old...

The threads and electrodes are all dry as snuff... its just the top half of the plugs that have the oil on them. I'm worried that the head gasket may be on the way out :( although oil usage is minimal and there's no water in the oil & vice versa

Definitely didn't spill any oil, so perhaps it is the cam cover gasket. I think I also have a misfire and lack of power at highish revs - got absolutely pasted the other day by a Golf VR6 and she really seems to labour at speed :( I get the feeling there's some money to be spent soon

Hi everyone... after a number of months of trouble free driving (apart from a couple of incidents with a knackered coil pack!) I decided to treat the beast to a new set of plugs today as the old ones have been in for a couple of years now. On removing the old ones, there's a significant amount of oil knocking around on the body of the plugs and onto the insulators. The "business" end of the plugs are all fine. 2, 4 & 6 are the worst (the front three), number 1 is dry, but 3 & 5 have a small amount of oil on them but nowhere near as much as the front three. Does this sound major? Otherwise at almost 120,000 miles she's running fine and not using too much oil. I'm just off on a 200 mile round trip so will check the new plugs on Monday when I'm back. Cheers, Ian