Derv

I would start at £6k and see if you get a bite.

It must be just because the 3L is just too rare in the UK, to the point where no one knows what it is, so they just take no notice whatsoever. Mine is bright yellow, so it's not like you can miss it in the middle of a paddock. Maybe people at shows just aren't interested in standard cars, rare, historical significance or not. It's probably all about the mods. I did get plenty of laughs taking it up the strip at Inters a few years ago, but I'm still not sure anyone appreciated the significance of the car.

I had this overboost problem once last year. I was doing just over 100mph into a headwind for about 10 minutes perfectly fine. But when I had to lift, then get back on the throttle it immediately went into limp mode, which was not pleasant. I was lucky I could quickly pull over into some services and check the codes. I have never got to the bottom of the problem, as this was the only time I had this issue. I'll be worried it will do it again at some point.

The classic statement by someone who's never driven a 3L. Taking a 3L to a VW show is a waste of effort, unless you just want to save money travelling there. I did get someone ask me where I got my grille from once.

So you have a fault, and you know where the fault is. Am I missing something here?

Oh yes. I have a friend that had a KH250, and I knew someone that had the 750. I grew up tinkering with 2 strokes before progressing to pushrods, then turbos, then EFI and so on. With the last engine I built I was almost tempted to go for mechanical cams for extra rpm, but going back to shims on a 20 valve engine seems like a headache these days. I still occasionally drive an A-Series on twin SUs (when it is dry), so I cannot forget this old skool stuff. Excuse us old farts for the OT, OP.

Points. Most of these young'uns have no idea what routine maintenance is. I was only reminding a friend of mine about the "rule of nine" the other day. Anyway, as Rich is pointing out a weak spark normally shows itself under high load. So I also doubt the distributor is at fault. There is no harm in making sure the ignition system is in good condition though.

You could do a quick check by feeling the radiator top hose as the engine is warming up. It should stay relatively cool until the thermostat opens. The best way to check is with VCDS. Get the engine up to temperature, then coast down a long hill and see if the temperature drops. The temperature gauges are not accurate. But if you spot the temperature dropping on that, then there is definitely something wrong.

Maybe you could export it, then re-import it? I have now realised that I cannot have that LHD manual D2 S8 that I wanted because of this.

That would have been a strange situation. Hopefully Rick will get his money back without too much bother. I guess by being a government organiasation the DVLA are exempt from The Fraud Act 2006.

Wow. That is excellent information, RAB. When enquiring about importing my 3L I was told the same as Rick, so I spent a long time only looking for 3Ls originally registered from March 2001. This is really good news. I thought it was about time you showed up in this thread.

In your situation I also vote for the petrol over the diesel. A 1.4 Sport would be a very nice first car. You are not likely to keep a diesel long enough to save the extra money spent. Especially if you are only doing relatively short trips. I don't think oil burners score you many scene points either.

There is a way to pressurise the combustion chamber, forcing and keeping the valve shut. So you can then remove the collet, retainer and spring. But I have never tried it myself.

I agree with the point lupoluke has made. I would certainly visually check for guide wear, then get a DTI on the valves if they visually look ok, especially the exhaust valves. It might be worth doing a compression test when you are done to make sure everything is good. At least Lupos don't have too many valves to lap. An 8 valve head would seem easy these days.

Or just fit good winter tyres and pwn the road. lol @ the PAS comments. I love the lack of power steering on the Lupo. You don't need PAS for driving, especially on snow and ice. It's only to make parking easier for weaklings.

I would just like to add another thing worth checking on the AYZ engine, the intercooler-inlet manifold hose. The metal end where the hose connects to the manifold is a pretty poor design, and the metal retaining barbs wear out, meaning the joint leaks. I am not sure if this applies to the ANY. I treat the hose as a service item, usually 60k km or every year in my case. You can normally tell if the joint is leaking without removing it. It moves around a lot, and gets very wet with oil.

You need a new accumulator then. When you check the oil level you need to disconnect the battery or the pump connector, then slacken off the accumulator. Clutch cable adjustment is here. Make sure the code is not an old one. It could be the connector has been unplugged, throwing a code. Clear the codes and see if it comes back. If it does check here.

Another tip I can give you is to rotate your tyres occasionally, front-rear. The rear tyres should hardly wear, so will end up getting old and past their best way before they wear out. I have 14 wheels and tyres, and swap them at each change of season. I always put the 2 tyres that have the most tread at the time on the front.

No. The ANY is not a bad thing. I was just working out what age it is without asking for you VIN. Just remember: Check the hydraulic fluid level first. Then check the accumulator. Check for fault codes. Check the cable adjustment. Do the gearbox basic setting. Pretty much all 3L fault diagnostics should be done in that order, and fixed in that order. That should cover most problems.

I have had to learn a lot of it the hard way, so it's hard to forget. It seems there are more 3Ls around these days. Don't forget to lurk on a2oc.net, as there are a few 1.2TDI owners on there too. Make sure you have the instructions for doing the clutch cable adjustment and gearbox basic settings using VCDS. I do this every other service, which is 30k km. Or twice a year for me. From what I know PAS means no stop/start. But I know not everything in the SSPs is correct. Is your engine an ANY? Is your battery in the boot, or under the bonnet? Do you have an E or a D on the gear selector? At least you should have an Mg/Al tailgate, unlike an '02 3L. The 3rd brake light should be behind the glass on the tailgate. Unlike a 'normal' Lupo.

Keeping an eye on the hydraulic fluid can give you a clue to whether there is a leak somewhere. For example my 3L has a very small weep on the clutch slave cylinder, and always has. In the winter it hardly needs any oil, but in the summer it needs about a teaspoon every couple of months. It has never got any worse, so I just opt to put a few pence of G 004 000 in it, rather than pay the £120+ for a new slave. If the fluid is even a tiny bit low the gearbox shifts into neutral, the engine just idles and the throttle does nothing, which can be a pain if you are just starting to climb a hill. I changed the hydraulic oil when I did a gearbox rebuild at about 200k km. The whole hydraulic system comes out as a complete unit. Weirdly the 3rd/4th selector fork broke meaning it would not select 3rd gear. The rest of the gearbox was in fairly good condition, but I just changed a few bearings that were less than perfect while I was in there. I also fitted a new clutch, but the old one only had about 1mm of wear, which should reassure other owners that the 3L seems to be very kind to clutches. As the gearbox gets perfect shifts all the time, I imagine the gearboxes are very reliable. To check the accumulator shift to tiptronic (+/-) and go up and down the gears slowly until you hear the pump whirr. Then count the number of shift you can do before the pump works again. It should do 6 shifts. The first time I had an accumulator fail I think it only did 2, then the car wouldn't drive. With this information it should solve ~90% of 3L trouble. It's amazing how many people I have helped out that have been at a complete loss as to why their 3L won't drive. The solution is almost always fluid level or the accumulator. As they don't give any obvious fault codes. I imagine there are a lot of 3Ls for sale with "getriebe defekt" that could be very easy to fix. Bare in mind that a 3L with electro-mechanical PAS does not have stop/start. Do you have the SSPs relating to the 3L? They are very useful for understanding how the car works.

Sorry, I figured most people these days owned at least 1 car that is less than 12 years old, so would be aware of the CO2 based tax system. It is no secret. Also not everyone is concerned with vehicle running costs. Take someone with a MTM RS6 plus. for example. Before I imported my 3L I did a lot of research. I enquired about many 3Ls for sale, asking for details and photos. I took 3 trips to Germany viewing and test driving more than one, despite giving myself a very narrow search band, because of the specification of the car I wanted. Sure, it cost more at the time, but it paid off in the long run when I found the exact car I was looking for. On the plus side I have now clocked up over 180k km of 3L experience, and I also know RAB has 3x 3L experience. So amongst others we are here if you need help in the future. But on the whole I would say they are very reliable cars. Just look after it with routine maintenance, including the 3L specific things like checking the hydraulic oil level, accumulator condition, clutch cable adjustment, on so on. Hopefully you can keep running costs at a minimum from now on, despite lacking a tax disk with "NIL" printed on it.

I know on my Lupo there is a single cable that connects to the inside of the steering wheel. That could be dangling around an earthing against the steering wheel, causing the beeps.

I think a 'how to' is probably unnecessary for something that most people would concider a basic check when buying a car. The tax change from March 2001 (Y registration and onwards) is widely known and the information is freely available. As for insurance, in Germany I got a short term export insurance from ADAC, as I am a member, which is required to export a car. This covered me to drive home. Once the car was in the UK I got another short term policy, just to cover the time it took to MOT, tax and register the car in the UK. Once that was done I got a regular insurance policy. It is still a pain each year, as most insurance companies will not accept that a 2001 3L exists.

I thought you guys may appreciate this one: It took about an hour to dig the Lupo out. After that it driving around in the snow was fine. I have snow chains, but I have still not needed them.