Hopefully test driving VR6, HELP needed.....

[stevewild777]

Hopefully I will be going to look at a VR6 and having never driven a Golf or VR6, is there anything i should look out for? Good/Bad noises? leaks? What are the things you don't wanna find wrong with one... Is service history nice or a must?

Oh and before i get told to look at the buying guide i have already.. . just wondered if there was any other pointers you might have for me?

[VR6-Joe]

Check everything you'd normally check when you're going to view a car

Listen out for rattling chains.. timing chains is an expensive job, so check service history to see if they've been changed in the past

Mk3's suffer badly from rust, check sills, rear wheel arches, jacking points etc..

[Wayne]

http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=101400.0

Main issue is the chains.

[DazVR6]

Hopefully I will be going to look at a VR6 and having never driven a Golf or VR6, is there anything i should look out for? Good/Bad noises? leaks? What are the things you don't wanna find wrong with one... Is service history nice or a must?

Oh and before i get told to look at the buying guide i have already.. . just wondered if there was any other pointers you might have for me?

Just boot it and if it feels good buy it.

[Dan34]

F*ck the chains!  just buy it 

But seriously, dont be too put off by the chains, it does cost a fair bit to sort £600+ and its not usually the chains themselves its the tensioners that start to break up abit. But there not gonna go instantly if you start hearing noisey tensioners either.

[Mikester]

Yep.

The tensioners will basically wear down, and as they are made of plastic and nylon it will break off, and fall down. Problem is that as it falls off it can bring the chains off with them.

I changed all chains and tensioners on the VR engine i had, and they were buggered after 60k!

[boneybradley]

later model tensioners are plastic (obd2 cars) while early's had metal tensioners (although both wear and it is fairly major work to replace them so most swap the chains while there at it..hence the £600!)

[DECKED-MK3-DUB]

Mines done 183 k and i dont know if it ever had a chain, ill drive it till it stops then ill buy a new engine for a few hundred and run that till it stops, cheaper than doing a chain...

I looked on the auto data cd and the chain dont look to pretty to do !! ive done bmw's and 1.2 corsa's etc there chain and a doddle, but when i saw on the vr6 you need to remove engine, gear box, hmmmm NO ! lol 

[Mikester]

The chains and tensioners are easy peasy to do mate, its just the fact they are on the gearbox side so the gearbox has to come off, and then engine needs to come out really. Which makes it a ball ache.

But once u have the engine in front of you, changing the chains and tensioners is a doddle. I done it with no mechanical experience.

[AudiA8Quattro]

later model tensioners are plastic (obd2 cars) while early's had metal tensioners (although both wear and it is fairly major work to replace them so most swap the chains while there at it..hence the £600!)

Do you mean the rails or the actual tensioners?
The upper guide rail is weak on vr engines, these are plastic.
The upper tensioner is also a potential problem, it is just like a banjo bolt with a piston in it.
The early ones are tensioned by oil pressure only, which are a problem when the car hasn't had a regular oil change.
Later upper tensioners are spring loaded as well as hydraulic.