charlie_pank

This is almost certainly a stupid question, but a genuine one... Why don't we just mix our fuel with water then? - What do we need to mess about with another injector for? C

Rich, I was genuinely interested in this car, when it was first on ebay, and again when I saw you were selling it today. Your rants are not encouraging me to part with cash though.

Wahey, I'm in the market for a BEC, but am discouraged by the fact that you bought it then changed your mind. What made you change your mind?

Have you tried pressing the big red button (or turning the key) whilst tapping the solenoid with a hammer? - if that works, it probably just needs dismantling and cleaing with some wet+dry. Have you checked all of the connections to the solenoid. Solenoids don't get weaker, so it's likely you've got some high resistance somewhere in the circuit... Have you had a look at Mark's instructions on how to rebuild the solenoid - here?

Have you recently had to replace the ECU fuse?

Once you've undone the screw at the top you just stick a screwdriver in the gap and lever it out. Gawd knows how you're supposed to do this without damaging the black paint (if you have black headlights).

Easy tiger! If it came across that I was saying we DON'T have the technical nouse, that was not intended. What I was trying to do is make sure that we have answered all of these question correctly. Working in IT as I do (and I assume by the offence you've taken that you do too) it is always wise to clear these questions up first as they don't always occur to people outside the field whereas those inside take them for granted. Of course you are right that having a reliable list of members is the quickest way to provide accountablility, however, what would happen if we were to say to the offended party in one of these cases "it came from this IP address which is an anonymising proxy, you deal with it" - have we fulfilled our part of the legal obligation, in as much as we have audited as much as possible precisely where the connection came from? In a legal sense does this take the pressure off us? I don't know the answer to that and for all I know that's the point that the directors got to in their investigations and their legal advice told them that in this situation they would still be liable...

IP addresses are logged by your ISP - this is a legal requirement so even if you have a dynamic ip address it is still traceable. If you use an anonymising proxy for posting then surely the libellous material is traced back to the anonymising proxy, not blatchat, so again, no problem. I am really concerned that our beloved blatchat is about to be ruined for lack of technical nouse... someone tell me why my idea above is a bad one...

Would you consider this as a good p/x? 1600 K series 4-2-1 exhaust emerald ecu (old ECU included - along with it - swap takes 5 mins) Yoko AO21s 185/70/13s Full FIA roll-cage Full weather gear + hood bag swappable aeroscreen/windscreen Full height tillets 6 point driver harness (4 point passenger) FIA switch Honeycomb floor and tank protection Removable momo wheel Private plate S5EVN (I'd possibly keep this) Anti-cav tank Fully plumbed in Fire extinguisher Cycle wings Equally brilliant Kawasaki lime green Edited by - charlie_pank on 31 Mar 2004 15:20:26

I'm sure if you keep this fix quiet you'll be able to shift the new unit quickly in the for sale section, considering the number of starter related problems... 😬

PRS, you can find the instructions here they are very good and have solved the starter problems I still had after fitting the relay... almost £0 cost and only a couple of hours light work to do... (if that) - most tricky bit is just getting the thing off the car! - my tip for this is to use an allen key socket set and then you can stick the key in the head of the allen nut and use a spanner to turn the key (IYSWIM) - there's not enough room to attach the socket wrench.

Alan, I know what you mean, I rebuilt my starter solenoid and have had no more problems since (excellent instructions Mark - thanks). But I'm sure it can't be anything like that because those starter problems only happen to inferior K-series engines, not those fancy new all-singing all-dancing Duratecs! Seriously though Richard, if the fuel pump isn't running sometimes, then it must be a dodgy immobiliser mustn't it? C

Is it more important to have an fast-learning or knowledgeable ECU? What is knowledge etc... I had a EU3 ECU for a while and always removed master switch when it was left anywhere including home. Never really noticed problems with having to re-learn what kind of engine etc... Besides the first 10 mins is just the warm-up right?

Once those caps have blown once, that's it I've heard. So if you got covered in coolant and haven't found the cause, then it's got to be the cap.

Cat is nowhere near lambda, so why does it get relegated to 4th cylinder - surely all you need is a longer cable?

Franky, you're right and frankly, I've never understood why people would do such a thing!

Just get a normal immobiliser and an FIA key. When you get out of the car switch on the immobiliser, then remove FIA key. When you put FIA key back in the power is restored to the immobilised car - no drain on battery, but car is immobilised... (that's what I do anyway) C

Armed with the pinouts and appropriate plugs I made myself an adaptor so that I can use Emerald or original Rover MEMS. Not difficult to do - speak to Carl at Emerald to obtain the plug on the MEMS that the loom plugs into. IACV: make sure it is fully closed - it resets itself every time you switch the ignition on - that's the funny farting noise! so if you unplug it at just the right point then it is fully closed (you can check it by unscrewing it and blowing down the tube). Then use the grub screw to get the correct airflow at idle and then control it with the advance on the ECU. Good luck

I'm not really very up on carburettors as I'm from the injection generation, but I'm willing to learn. I there is a fuelling problem with my shopping car... the behaviour is as follows: 1. Car fine at anything over about 1/4 throttle 2. Below 1/4 throttle it kangaroos slightly, like it does when the carb is iced - (I know it's not icing as I have forced the intake to suck from directly over the exhaust headers) 3. Sometimes it is ok at idle, mostly stalls, so you have to heel and toe the whole time. It has been suggested to me that the carburettor has reached the end of its life (aparrently they have a finite lifespan - which I didn't know). Does anyone have any other suggestions? - The carb is the original (F-reg mk2 golf 1.3) with the really nasty automatic choke. Aparrently these carburettors are notoriously difficult to set up correctly. I ask purely for curiosity's sake as I have already ordered the Webber carb conversion kit (Webber carb supposed to be very easy to convert to and the unit is far more simple, reliable and easy to adjust/maintain, AND it has a manual choke (thank goodness!)). I'd like to feel more confident about my understanding of carbs, as once I've done the conversion I have to drive the car from London to its new home in Scotland!! Thanks in advance... C

OK sounds plausible, just wanted to make sure people weren't falling into the "doesn't have one in a bike - doesn't need one in a car" trap.

"No dry sump needed" - what makes you say that?

Warmer weather will not affect the bias of the brakes, unless the weather's warmer on one side of the car than the other. If you have already done a bias test, you clearly have a suspension setup issue. Don't wait for the warmer weather as it will make b***** all difference. Get the suspension sorted...

If you are managing to lock a wheel, then you have no problem with the force being exerted on the brake pad on that wheel, the fact that it locks before the other one suggests there's something wrong with the one that doesn't lock: different corner weight seized caliper leaking slave cylinder air bubble in caliper blockage in brake line suspension geometry Have you established whether the brake pedal exerts any force on this wheel at all? There may also be issues with your front/rear bias, but I would be more immediately concerned with the left/right bias you seem to have - after all in the dry the front does about 70% of the braking. I would start by jacking up the offending (ie non-locking) wheel and spinning it (you may need a friend at this point!), then applying the brake to see if it has any effect, then work back from there...

Oilyhands --> here the dark side of K-series upgrades...

Guys, put what you like in your engine, run it with glue in the coolant for all I care. I was simply passing on the information which I consider to be reliable about what is BEST for your engine. Thanks Oily for your reply, on the basis of that alone I would use polypropylene glycol in preference. This is the same Rover that tried to sell me distributor leads for a wasted-spark engine and still (after 6 months) have not called me to confirm they've got the coil-packs in stock. The same Rover who needed the entire car in order to reprogram the immobiliser and ecu even though I supplied them with both units, the V5 to prove it was mine, the plipper and they have a plentiful supply of k-series engined cars sitting on the forecourt. You want to be very careful believing everything manufacturers tell you, how many horror stories have you heard about work people have paid garages to do on their cars? Take this as one of many examples: here I have seen none of you doubting Thomases denying that polypropylene glycol is a better coolant than x-treme and we all know that K-series engines are made of cheese, so why risk it?