Shakey/Lumpy VR6

[mr_ed 0]

Hello folks, I wonder if anyone can help?

 

My VR6 is not running verywell at the moment, when you first turn the key the engine is very 'shakey'. when stationary you can feel the car juddering with the motion of the engine. When you accelerate away it is still juddery untill you build up the revs, if i am crusing in 3rd and go to 5th gear the car really doesnt like it and will go very juddery again

 

I have come accros this problem twice before..the first time was after i disconnected the battery but after a 20mile drive the engine sorted its self out. I did read on here that it may have been because the engine management had reset its self.

 

About 6 weeks ago the same problem started, it had been running fine but 1 day the engine was all juddery again. I disconnected the battery for a while, then went on a hoof down the A14 and bingo, it sorted its self out again. I presumed that the engine management had reset its self again.

 

The car has been running perfectly ever since untill this week. This time i cant get rind of it no matter how long i leave the battery off for and no matter how long i drive for.

 

Has anybody any clues what could be causing this?

 

thanks

 

ed

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Do you think "lumpy" could be a misfire? Does it sound / look like it's running on less than 6 cylinders?

 

Usual things.... coilpack, leads, plugs... check those in the first instance.

[PaulMoVR6 0]

My vr had those same sypmtoms i took it to my local specialist plugged it into the computer and it came up with a camshaft sensor fault so i changed the camshaft sensor which is located under the plastics on the right hand side of the head just above the coilpack pretty simple job changed the sensor and she ran fine,sensor is about 40quid from your local stealers.

cheers

[mr_ed 0]

I am confused that this happend before but was sorted by disconnecting the battery, I am 99.9% sure it is not a misfire, when the problem started a few days ago the car was fine at low revs but got juddery as speed built up, almost to the point that i did not feel comfortable taking it above 60/70. Over the last couple of days it has changed to being juddery at low revs and getting better as the revs build up, how does that compare to your exeriences PaulmoVR6?

[PaulMoVR6 0]

When my sensor had gone the revs were very juddery at low revs, if i was to put the car in 4th or 5th gear at about 30mph to 40mph it would judder quite badly but in the higher revs it seemed ok its like the car is running on only 4 or 5 cylinders, best advice if you know someone with another vr try swapping the sensors around to see if it could be the problem or take it down to your local specialist and plug it into the computer.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Interesting. I've never known a VR6 to become 'juddery' as a result of a dead cam sensor, it's normally just sluggish and reluctant to rev cleanly because it no longer injects sequentially and retards the timing. Still, for £40 it's worth a shot. You'll get back ~ 30hp and more low rpm economy :D

 

I would also invest in VAG-COM! That would tell you straight away if the cam sensor is dead.

[mr_ed 0]

sounds just like mine, I dont know any other VR owners unfortunately but if i can get one for £40 its worth a punt

 

I just phoned the Stealers, they did not have a camshaft sensor on file but they did offer me the following....

 

engine speed sender £78.28

 

or an

 

Impulse sender £38.29

 

any clues?

[mr_ed 0]

tell me more about this VAG-COM :D

 

Where can i get it?

[dr_mat 0]

They always do the "engine speed sender shuffle", in the hope you'll shell out for it accidentally. You want the other one.

But I am relieve to find the engine speed sender is now down below a hundred quid. Bargain! It used to be ~£140.

 

VAG-COM .. got a laptop? get a cable off ebay. Also look up the ECU reset procedure on the site, that might help you, but only if it's an adaptation issue.

[Roger Blassberg 0]

Does disconnecting the Mass Air Flow meter make any difference to your lumpy low speed idle? If not, then this could be the source of your problem. Try a known good one, or at least clean the fine wire inside it with brake cleaner spray. Also clean the contacts with,.... er .....contact cleaner.

 

Best wishes

 

RB

[Kevin Bacon 5]

engine speed sender £78.28

 

or an

 

Impulse sender £38.29

 

any clues?

 

£78 for a crank sensor! Wow, I'll stock up! They used to be double that.

 

The impulse sender is the one you need for your cam mate.

[dr_mat 0]

Does disconnecting the Mass Air Flow meter make any difference to your lumpy low speed idle? If not, then this could be the source of your problem. Try a known good one, or at least clean the fine wire inside it with brake cleaner spray. Also clean the contacts with,.... er .....contact cleaner.

 

Only early VRs have a "hot wire" MAF .. A late VR with hot film MAF won't notice it being disconnected at idle. You'll only notice when you try to rev the engine.

[PaulMoVR6 0]

Its the impulse sensor you need ed, fairly easy job to do, while you have all the plastics off take a good look at your coilpack for any cracks or wear etc, has the car still got its original ht leads?

[Neil VR6 0]

Its the impulse sensor you need ed, fairly easy job to do, while you have all the plastics off take a good look at your coilpack for any cracks or wear etc, has the car still got its original ht leads?

 

Unless you've got a pre-coilpack distributor engine like me :( (which has been of the road for 2 weeks now with similar issues)

[mr_ed 0]

just done all the ECU reset malarkey to the letter (apart from the VAG-COM bit cos I dont have it.) with no joy, still waiting for the stealers to ring me back so i can order the bit. I will ask them when they eventually call me back but does anyone on here know what VW charge to plug it in to their diagnostic computers?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Last time I heard it was £80+VAT just to run a scan, plus the usual £80 p/hr + parts + VAT there after for rectification work.

 

Now you can see why so many people stump up the £100 for VAG-COM :wink:

[mr_ed 0]

can any one help? I have found this thread but i am struggleing to find the sensor....

 

http://www.the-corrado.net/.archive/forum/viewto ... e+plastics

 

I have taken off the coilpack and undone 2 hex bolts. once removed that lets me see into the engine but i can not see where the sensor should be? any clues?

[pete_griff 0]

cam, sensor is the bit in my very roughly squiggled elipse buddy :)

[mr_ed 0]

I cant see the wood from the trees with where this is supposed to go, If anyone can help please do. The photos are what i can see and the part VW supplied me with.

 

 

[pete_griff 0]

i'm not very familiar with the early vr6 engines with a dizzy i'm afraid, but it looks like the earlier ones don't have a cam sensor in the same place as the later ones (unless i'm mistaken - sure someone will correct me...)

 

the circle i've highlighted was roughly where mine was (in my coilpack engine). looks like the sensor you've got might be for the later engine...

 

that's certainly not gospel as i'm afraid i'm not familiar with the earlier engines; but it looks to me like it could be different

[PaulMoVR6 0]

Yeah ed the sensor is located just above the coilpack on the later vr engines, on the early ones i dont have a clue sorry, someone should be able to help though, good luck

[TomB 0]

I've got a dizzy VR and according to the garage currently tracing my misfire, the cam shaft sensor is located behind the distributor itself. I'm sure they labelled it the [strike:2l6t5bwf]lambda sensor[/strike:2l6t5bwf] sorry hall sender rather than the camshaft sensor, so perhaps a difference between the two?

 

Cheers,

Tom

 

EFA

[mr_ed 0]

this is wierd :cuckoo:

 

I was going to take it to a local VW specialist this week for a scan but today i went on a long motorway drive (without breaking any speed limits, honest officer :norty: ) and the car has sorted itself out! could that mean that a had a stuck valve or something?

[PaulMoVR6 0]

Did it start running better after you had changed the sensor ed?

[mr_ed 0]

I didn't change the sensor, it has just fixed itself after a good thrash!

 

I dare say it will go wrong again soon though, when it does I will get a scan, local Veedub specialist will do it for £30