cainey

After a battery change last week I had to reset the double touch window switches as suggested on here elsewhere. A couple of other things have also cropped up straight after the battery change so I assume its related: lights-on buzzer not working tailgate doesn't unlock on the normal fob double press I know these things can have different reasons but they definitely only started going wrong after the battery change. Any ideas? Many thanks

Just got back from the trip, Ive done the figures for the outward leg as follows: miles on full tank: 395, ~50% motorway, cruising at a frugal 70, ~30% dual carriageway, the rest on A roads, a few little blasts thrown in for the crack! and including an hour sat on the M5! trip computer mpg: 46.5 Average speed: 48mph fuel added to first click, (not particularly accurate I realise): 33.18 litres calculated mpg: 54 trip computer error: ~14% Not as bad as last time, but still a big discrepancy. I was pleased that the range was still showing at the other end was still 85 miles - so quite good for one tank. Does anyone know what is being 'sensed' for the trip computer mpg calculation, I'd assume it is from the rate at which fuel is being delivered via the pump(s) - in which case if they've all been cleaned up as it was rebuilt the sensor calibration could well have been affected?

The car is 04, I am embarrassed to say that I don't know the engine code - the ECU wasn't touched. @DanHam and @felicia 16v - the grin factor is well and truly back and the right foot is probably a bit heavier than before! Thanks for the input - I'll update with more figures early next week.

Hi all just had major surgery on the vrs, head gasket and the usual associated stuff, cam belt etc. The car now drives like a dream, probably now getting the full benefit of the remap for the first time in I would guess 2 or 3 years! I was worried about the apparent change in the fuel consumption, the trip computer has read an average of 39mpg over the last 150 miles, a mix of urban and dual carriage way - on my work commute, 20 miles door to door, 5 miles of back roads and 15 of dual carriage way I was struggling to get 40 mpg on the readout whereas I would typically be high 40s. That said now that I've plugged some actual figures into excel it turns out that the average was actually 47mpg - ie pretty much what I had before the work. So the question is can anyone help me account for the fact that there is now an error of 18% when my average error over the previous 3 years was less than 2%. I know 150 miles isn't a lot to go on but I am starting a long round trip tomorrow of approx 800 miles so will have a better set of numbers when I get back. Cheers

Hi for info and/or advice? Had the AA out this evening due to a sudden very loud rattle on the driver side of the engine. On closer inspection the cover over the bottom pulley, (air con pump?) had come adrift and was rattling against the belt assembly. The man from the AA repositioned it and pushed it back in place, drove it home with him following and all seems fine. The cover looked to be a friction fit and is sat nice and square now back in place. Was wondering if anyone else has had this problem - or if anyone knows if it means something else is wrong? cheers cainey

Many thanks for all the info - Its still been hit and miss, bad again yesterday, ok again today! I'll start saving up

Hi So yesterday I felt like a bit more of a blast in the VRS, so planted the right foot a little more, ok - a lot more. I only did this when over 2000 revs as per advice I've read in the past. I noticed that the revcounter was bouncing up them coming back down before climbing smoothly. This happened in 2nd 3rd and 4th most noticeably. As you can imagine I thought my clutch was giving up - or the DMF, or both! I even came home and started to look into getting a repair done. Today - same approach to driving, just to get a better angle on the whole thing and no bouncing rev needle - smooth as you like - feeling much pokier than yesterday as a consequence. Any ideas whats going on? thanks cainey

Hi all I've got a vrs with a remap to around 170bhp at 30k, its now on 62k and I'm getting intermittent clutch slipping. I've never booted it below 2000rpm and I guess 80% of the time I've put the power in gradually when making brisk progress . Recently I've been putting the power in a buit sharper, its tourist season so overtaking opportunities are abundant! Occasionally, in second and 3rd gear, when the foot goes down the revs climb quickly to 3000rpm -ish, then go down a touch and start climbing more steadily - classic old clutch syndrome? The weird thing is it's not every time, sometimes it simply pulls steadily through the revs - any ideas? cheers cainey

My vrs is in the bodyshop after a sweet old lady reversed into it! . The body shop rang me yesterday to say it was done so I went to get it, it was a disgrace, paint runs, overspray, laquer over non flatted paint etc etc. Needless to say they still have it - the strangest thing that had appeared was a lump in the front bumper, as if it had been poked from behind, the picture shows the approximate position, not my car!, any ideas what has caused it, I'm guessing its where it was hung in a warm room to dry?, or there is some sort of support behind this spot that the bumper has been pushed onto? I think the structural bumper, behind the plastic one, is lower cheers cainey

Using search to avoid 'word vomit' would be essential - but don't forget the search on here is less than perfect and can throw up a lot of reponses. eg search for 'tuning' - 174 results search for 'cornwall' - 169 results search for 'tuning' and 'cornwall' - should be less than 169? - 189 results! it is do-able - eg on volkszone, the same searches give 3500+ish, 2500+ish and 210. that said at least non searchers are not usually burned at the stake! cainey

Angel were in Cardiff on the Monday - so the ecu got sent there hth cainey

here goes since 1987ish 1.7 Morris Marina coupe - L reg, paid £90 with 6 months tax and full MOT mark 1 escort estate - E reg, green, lovely car hillman avenger estate - H reg - held the boot up with a broom handle hillman avenger - K reg cavalier 1.6 saloon A reg mini metro - can't remember reg fiat uno - ditto Rover 414 sli - G reg - old man's car 1977 Bay 1971 Bay 1973 Beetle 1972 Bay Mark 4 golf 1.8T - T reg Mitsibishi Delica - still got it, L reg Mark 2 golf 1.8 kjetronic - D reg Daewoo Matiz!!!!! - V reg MG ZS180 - V6, loud and raw but not readily 'tuneable' and a temperamental intake system Renault Megane 1.9dci - sh*te Fabia vrs

Had to do it the hard way as the ECU stopped talking to byteshooter at the local remapper - so it had to be removed and sent to an Angel technician in Cardiff to be reset, flashed and returned The remapper was very helpful, lent me a vehicle, with fuel in the tank, to tide me over and went the extra mile to get the ECU to the courier depot 530pm on Friday to ensure I would have it back today, Tuesday. The only down side was a nervous weekend separated from the car hoping that it wasn't a hardware problem - the Angel guys were spot on though - it was just a software issue and quickly resolved. So far I've pot 80 miles on it, its bloody great!!! I've been protecting the clutch, no beans below 2000 revs, but it is transformed. Before the remap it was great fun in 2nd, good in 3rd but then a bit too refined in 4th to 6th, there is now a grin in every gear. I've spent a few miles driving deliberately as I did before the remap, on the same roads - looking down at the speedo really shows the extra power - but the torque is king - the pick up is rapid, and there is no perceptible dip after 3000ish as before. Can anyone explain in more detail the learning process that the ECU is now going through - I'm assuming to get best results the car needs a few 'spirited' drives over the first couple of hundred miles to get the best out of it. Any other advice also welcome - eg is 2000rpm about right for getting busy with the happy pedal? I guess I ought to put a PD160 intake on, anything else need doing? cainey

Can anyone tell me the correct procedure for whipping out the ECU - is it necessary to disconnect battery, what are possible probs if not done correctly? cheers cainey

Thanks guys I am thinking I won't rush in to this now! I am in Birmingham next week with an afternoon to kill - any recommended outfits in that area? thanks cainey