Storm Warning

How about an exchange of some GamerTags for some online Rado racing? Mine is "Final Storm"

:-) No, don't feel silly for the Extinguisher, plod did that... I might feel silly about the 2 fire engines that arrived though ;-) It didn't look or smell like a hose to any of us at the time. The car is overly serviced, and in the 5-6years I have had it I have manged to use a couple of dribbles of coolant and half a pint of oil, so it seems quite healthy normally. So, what will break next? anything worth changing while doing this one? thanks for the advice.

I don't know exactly where the hose is at the moment, but I will find out. It won't have to be too near to spray over the manifold though. May I ask what a sniffer test is? and what reasons are there for excessive pressure. I was driving steady and after 2 miles it was still fairly cold at the time of the problem. Could it simply the hoses time had come after 86,000 miles and 10 years.

The Mechanic has located a split hose over the exhaust manifold, hoping thats all it is. Only rolled a couple of 100 yards with low water level If it was head gasket, would the oil not have dropped or gone milky with the water?

Hi, A friend of mine has a set of brakes from a 1986 Porsche 944 Turbo brakes. They are 4pot Brembos, 5 Stud Discs. Does anyone know if they will fit any VAG motors? Looking for a market to sell them on. Thanks in advance..

Well, first time out in the Storm for a few weeks and its ended unhappily Set off to leave work, 2 miles later on the A1 noticed what I thought was just spray..duh.. mmmm, thats odd I am kicking up a lot of spray then I realised I was on my own doing that. As I started to slow the white smoke started to bellow from the bonnet and through the vents.. Oh I though, this is it.... I managed to get off the road very quickly and kill the engine. Flagged down a police car while ordering my Fire Engine.. Powerder Extingusher in all the gaps on the bonnet. Fire crews (x2) arrived and took a look with breathing apparatus and a hose, couldn't really see what it was. Smoke eventually died down. So.. my question.. A friendly Garage has the car, but I doubt I will hear anything for a while till they get around to it so I would like to speculate to find if I need start crying.. Symptons: no visible burning/ smoke damage No coolant left in system No noticable change in Oil Level or Oil colour/texture Car was running perfectly up to this point Was driving steady Water Light came on after I noticed the steam/smoke Looks like it was coming from the rear of the engine, towards the top and on the airbox side. No work has been done on the car recently Didn't look like steam, and was fairly thick and pungent... but possibly not as much as oil or electrical. It continued smoking 30 mins after the engine was stopped. Guesses welcomed :-) Thanks in advance.. btw, kick a man while he is down... check out my coilovers for sale and make me an offer.

Replaced battery, will tomorrow finally be the day I can go and play again or will somthing else break on the way off the driveway.....

I think I am sorted, this evening had me saying WTF! every couple of minutes. Following the first theroy above that the not very old battery is dead I tested it, with in conclusive results on the tested Disconected and reconnected, few alarm blips, then full on alarm, fobs worked again then stopped back to square one. Checked connections, no difference. At this point it had been on fast charge for 10 hours and was still drawing 10amps! Had a check of a few fuses, still scratching head. Disconnected fast charge and firmly shut the drivers door.... then the Alarm went off full tilt and lights and power came back up to normal and charge draw plumeted, huh working again! WTF, then it all died again. Decided that the plates must be totally knackered and moving inside battery and shorting. Pulled battery, found it was much smaller than should be and replaced with a new fat calcium job. Old battery has somthing loose inside. Everything normal now and turns over like a turbine - 620 cranking amps :-) Thanks guys.

My Storm has been stood a few weeks, long enough for the battery to be fully discharged as the trickle charger isn't working. Yesterday I gave it a boost while I repaired the door handle and it started fine from the battery with everything running normally. This morning it was nearly flat again, at least not enough charge to start. I put the battery boost on again and impatiently kept trying to turn it over every few mins :-S it turned over slowly and the alarm was making beeps like it was dying then the indicators came on... and stayed on. The fobs don't work now, neither do the indicators..they just stay on regardless of ignition position. I can start and drive the car fine. Current state, on trickle charge with lots of orange lights! The Alarm is a VW Fit and branded Scorpion which was in good health a few months ago (had a Cat 1 Health Check). I also tried pulling the fuse 17, which I thought was the indicators and they stayed on. Many Thanks in advance for your help.

Today I got in to my car via the drivers door handle for the first time in weeks, genius! Finally fixed it with a kit from daves16v. Top stuff! many thanks Dave.

Is it both the H4 and H3s you need? or is it not worth changing the H3s?

:D Only chance I get sometimes ;-) Today, Had my the Storm in for a service, fluids done and MOT. Couple of bits fixed: new track rod end, top mounts a rear break pipe. Had to have new number plates for MOT gurrr, slight spacing issue apparently. Finally got my RCs back on after being away from being reconditioned. So slowly getting my parts bin on the car!

Yeah, thats what I would expect through Parcel2Go or there abouts.

I bave used DHL to ship a set of wheels and tyres from Germany to UK, try parcel2go (its DHL)

I will check them out and check the rates, I do recall that the dampers have unique RSS codes on them, similar to the normal damper codes but ending in CS (Club Sport i assume) Mike I might be interested in that offer, what kind of p-ex are you thinking?. What I will do first is find out how different the dampers are and judge if it is practical to combine them with a softer spring and indeed what it would cost to do so.

My RSS dampers have no adjustment that I can see on the dampers. The PCS have the damping adjustment. Descriptions here: http://www.tirerack.com/suspension/suspension.jsp?make=H%26R&model=Coil-Over+RSS+Club+Sport I will try and get some prices on different springs as a fall back option if I find them too hard. I also need to find some detailed spec sheets on the dampers to double check what I actually have :-)

I have looked up the codes on a H&R fact sheet and I am a little confused! It looks like the dampers are the same on the Standard and RSS, but they have different springs? hoping someone can shed some light on this. PM'ed double-6s. he is thinking of getting something softer. I am willing to take a punt on them if I could "economically" change the springs. Just not sure if I could take the hardcore handling ;-) on the other hand I only do 4k a year in it at the most and Cadwell is calling me back so perhaps I should fit them along with an oilcooler, big brakes and ARBs :-D

Had an alarm health check - all OK Fixed my heater controls illumination, light has been flickering on and off. Removed bulb, turned around which made it tighter somehow?? put control back together, sorted. This work was carried out in traffic on the way home :-)

Yeah sorry, by comforts I mean the standard H&R coilovers..did they ditch the "comfort" name but are essentially the same product or something like that. This page has the descriptions of the 3 types: http://www.eurosportacc.com/coilover.htm Have you got the RSS versions then? They don't seem to be too common.

Hi, Some time ago I bought a set of H&R RSS Clubsport Coilovers for my Storm. For various (lame) reasons I have never actually put them on. Having thought a little more about it I am a little worried that they will be unbearably hard. What I am wondeirng is what differs on the RSS model from the "comfort" rated H&Rs. My thinking is that if I can change the springs if I am not too happy then I might aswell fit them. Otherwise I will probably try and sell them to buy some normal H&Rs as I don't want to wipe a load of money off the value of the RSS's by running them for a few miles. Thanks in advance for your help.

I often get "old banger" comments from my wife to wind me up. gurrr Plenty of always wanted one of those rocco comments too.

Having made this post and considered the actual sale of the Storm more seriously I have been miserable as sin. Heart still says keep, head says family euro box :scratch: What I need is one of you Supercharged VR owners to take me out for spin to make my mind up! I never used to be concerned about the mileage or what I lugged about in it. If I am honest with myself now I just need to consider what price I put on pleasure. In depreciation terms its cost 4k in nearly 45,000 miles. I may as well use it and enjoy it. Anything I buy is going to loose money quicker. If I bolt on the goodies in the garage, get the bodywork touched up will I be happy? and then perhaps charge it... will I be happy then?

What about an s3 or s4?

oh, I just don't know! and have an interested buyer on PM...

Having bored the office with my car woes, time to ask for your help too. I just don't know what to do! Bit of background: About a year ago I started to travel a little further to work (went from 20 to 70 miles a day) So I bought a Leon TDi to keep the cost down and the miles off the Storm. At the time both cars were used at the weekend for all the family duties. I expected to put 20-22k PA on the Leon and 5k PA on the Rado. 5 months ago my wife got a new mini which is well spec'ed. Now I find that the Leon goes only on my commute and the Storm does the odd commute and very occasional weekend use (less creature comforts makes it 2nd choice for family use). This pushes my milage down to 15k and 3k. The storm is often stood for weeks at a time. I think that the Storm and the Leon will cost me about £1000 PA each to run, insurance, tax, mot, servicing. without any nasties cropping up. So... I started to think that I could raise about £10K selling both cars with spares, and afford to spend more on fuel without having any difference in the pocket. What would you do (VAG ideas please). I like subtle OEM+ motors, family requires nothing smaller than I have now, I would like something with as much go! (or near as) The other idea, is to sell the leon, and do work on the Storm, but I'm not sure I'd be happy putting so many miles on the it and the servicing my not stay so cheap much longer! If I do sell the Storm it will be the hardest thing I ever do. Any Advice welcome, Thanks.